Here's what I'm going to do this year...

Finally, my 2011 resolutions! ^_^ (No silly, I didn't actually list two thousand and eleven resolutions. That would make an impossibly long post!!! =P)

Last year was amazing, because I believe I've finally gotten over my shy nature, having traded it for a warm, friendly and sunny manner of being. ^_^ I love the person I've become. The one way I'd like to improve upon myself this year -- now that I am more outgoing -- is to become more ambitious. Therefore, I have given myself a few ambitious goals, as you will see below:

Writing related:

• Produce (at least) 30 poems, 5 short stories, and 1 novel. I'll give myself a whole bunch of writing projects. My deadline? 365 days. Shouldn't be too hard. ^_^ I'll keep you guys updated on my progress.
• Educate myself in the art of query letters and associating with publishers/agents/editors. I've always been secretly afraid of this, because I thought I needed to have a finished manuscript before I even contemplated that next step. But I would really like to be published someday. Whether my name appears in a magazine, on a children's book, among a collection of short stories or poetry, or on the cover of that full-blown novel I dream about being famous for, I want to be a professional author. So I'm going to act like it.
• Start or join a writing group. Maybe even have 2 groups! I would like to find young adults in my area who, like me, want to be published and might need improvement in their writing. So I'll have a physical group of like-minded strangers. But who wants to be a part of my virtual writing group? Will my dear blogger friends come and join me on my quest? C'mon, it'll be fun! ^_~ (If you're interested, please leave a comment.)
• Go to more author events/ writing conventions. As you can see, this year I am going to be very serious about attaining my author dream.
• On a side note, I would like to obtain the autographs of/ shake hands with more famous authors in 2011. Going to more conventions will definitely help out with this goal. ^_~

Internet related:

• Meet at least 3 of my blogger friends in person. I will probably be as excited to meet any of you guys in the flesh as I'd be if you were world-famous. ^_~
• Maintain a page for books I would like to read in the near future. Believe it or not, I don't think I've ever really kept a To-Read list before. =P From now on, as soon as I hear about a book I'm interested in, I will type it up instead of simply making a mental note.
• Read and review at least 10 books that I think are amazing here. As usual, I'll be reading lots. I don't think I'll ever stop being obsessed with reading. ^_^ But I would like to have 10 extremely special and awesome books that I can look back on next year and say, "Oh yeah, I'm soooo glad I read those!"
• Get to I-level in Cashflow Online, which is the highest you can go. Right now I'm at B-level, the second highest, so I'm pretty close. I'm no longer obsessed with this computer game, but every once in a while I'll log on for a couple ring-around-the-Rat-Races, and by year's end, I hope I'll come out one rich rat.
• Change my blog background every 2 months. Starting today. (I have also decided to change my profile picture. Pretty, no? ^_^)

Other random goals:

• See snow. The only time I can recall seeing snow in my life is when I was about 5 and we lived in Arizona, but that's because we have footage of that. I can't really say I have a true memory of seeing the fine, white, slushy stuff, you know what I mean? I don't care where I have to go, whether in Massachusetts, New York, or even Utah (^,~) but I would very much like to witness tiny white flakes falling from the sky.
• Become a money-magnet. I want to attract more cash in 2011! This could mean spotting change on the sidewalk, learning to sell stuff online, or perhaps finding a job.
• Finish all 10 of my Toastmaster speeches. So far I've done 6, so I'm more than halfway done. Perhaps if I'm feeling extra ambitious, I'll start an advanced speech manual too!
• Like my hero James Dashner, I will try my best to avoid seeing movie previews. I don't have any special reason for this. It is just an experiment that I've wanted to try for a while. Perhaps my viewing experience will be made more enjoyable, because I'll be completely surprised and not know what to expect from the story, save for what I hear from word-of-mouth. So when I watch TV or go to the theater and the inevitable previews come up, I'll walk out of the room and only come back when the main feature begins. At the very least, I'll try this out for a month, see how I feel about it.

And last but not least, what I feel might be my most important resolution:

• Make at least one person (in addition to myself) happy every single day of the year. ^_^ I want almost every day to be someone different. A family member, a friend, a stranger, anyone. I'll compliment them, do nice, random things for them without expecting a thing in return, or just tell them a joke so that they laugh and are cheered up. I'll make sure every day to write down the name/ description of the person I made happy, and by years end I hope to see a couple hundred unique items in my list. ^_^

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I actually have several more goals, but those are slightly more personal. =P

Anyway, that's my public resolution list for 2011! I hope I'll have your support in helping me keep all these promises to myself.

I'm sure you've been hearing this all day, but... HAPPY NEW YEAR! ^_~

~Bettina Levy~