It’s been a week and a half since the beginning of the year. Are you the type who sets New Year’s resolutions? If so, how’s that working for you? Have you kept your resolutions so far? I hope so, and I applaud your efforts.

I have to admit something here. I, for one, don’t set resolutions – never have, don’t think I ever will. At this point you’re probably either thinking, “Hurrah, she’s one of us,” or “What a loser.” The truth is somewhere in the middle.

I’m the type of person who doesn’t like to be told what to do. This can be a problem, and I try to temper it, but it’s a fact all the same. So I wonder who decided that just because it was the beginning of a new year, that I needed to set some big lofty goal? I don’t know, and I’ll tell you, if I don’t like being told what to do by a person standing in front of me, I certainly don’t like it from some unnamed, unidentified source.

Let me tell you what I like instead. I actually like to set goals, but I set them as needed. Trust me, that happens way more often than once a year. Sometimes I set goals for my day or my week. With my novel it’s often a certain number of words to write in a day or how long I should take to finish a first draft.

Despite my earlier statement about not liking being told what to do, I’m actually a very religious person. I understand the value of commandments and often make goals associated with that, such as being quicker to love than to judge.

If you like to make resolutions, and that works for you – who am I to judge? For me, don’t ask me about my resolutions, but if you ask about my goals, be prepared for a long answer.