I’ve never really been one to make New Year’s Resolutions.  It never seemed very profitable.  People make them with either no intention to adhere to them or they intend to but then fail to adhere to them.  Usually people tend to make resolutions about their health, their family, or their job.

I’ve been working on eating healthier and losing weight since 10-3-13.  Not a long time, I’ll admit, but enough to start a trend.  I’m keeping track with an app for my iPad called MyFitnessPal.  In three months, I’ve only lost six pounds, but I feel like I’m eating better.  I’m using a fitbit bracelet to keep track of my activity and have been trying to move more.  It’s been hard with my bad knee, but just losing 6 pounds and walking and riding my stationary bike seem to have helped it, so losing more weight and getting more active must be a good idea.

I’m a pretty good family man.  My kids both love me and I love them.  My wife really likes me, even after 28 years of marriage.  Lately she’s been getting weepy because I’m “so wonderful”.  She thinks I’m a better husband than I am.  I’m okay.

I work hard at my job.  I’ve been doing it for 20 years now and it gets harder every day, but I do my best.  Very seldom does a day go by that I don’t see a former student who tells me I was their favorite or at least “one of their favorite” teacher(s).  I’m starting school in a couple of weeks to learn to do it even better.  So there you go.

So, I’m making some resolutions for my second career as a writer/publisher.  Here we go.

1.  I will finish at least 3 books this year.

I finished 5 books in 2010, 4 in 2011, 3 in 2012, and only 2 in 2013.  I don’t like the trend. If it continues, I’ll finish one book in 2014 and die in 2015.

2. I will write an average of 10 pages per day.

Last year’s goal was 8 pages a day– a goal that I more than met.  So this seems good.

3. I will publish a paperback edition for all of my books.

This really isn’t a big deal.  I never sell any paperbacks.  But I seem to have lots of friends and family who are neo-luddites and don’t own a kindle or an iPad.  So I can just give them one of my paperback books when they express an interest.  Of course some of them can’t read, so what can I do about that?

4. I will improve my ebooks.

I will make new editions of all my current ebooks that have hyperlinked tables of contents, and I will work harder to see that all editions of my books are as error free as any published anywhere.

I think that’s it.  Good luck to all, and have a very healthy, happy, and prosperous 2014.