Resolutions

My 3 year old niece’s New Year’s Evolution is to use her words better because she sometimes gets messed up and uses the wrong ones. Calling them evolutions instead of resolutions is so cute, I think we’re all hoping she fails to achieve this self-inflicted goal.

As for my New Year’s Evolutions, I have a few. Except calling them resolutions or evolutions or whatever just doesn’t seem right. Goals is a much close description, but even it is a little off. Really what I have is a list of New Year’s Hopes. There are things I want to have happen in 2012. But most of those things are not entirely in my control. Some of them are entirely out of my control.

For example, one of my biggest hopes for 2012 is a signed publishing contract. I got my agent in 2011, so the publisher in 2012 seems like a good goal. But there is nothing I can do to achieve this goal. I can keep writing. I can work with my agent. And I can cross my fingers and hope with all my might that a publisher gives me a contract so I can sign it. Yet sign a publishing contract is still at the top of this year’s resolution list.

Most of my other resolutions or hopes for 2012 are very personal and I don’t feel like sharing them with the world at large. But most of them are also outside my control. I still hope they all happen. But I know they might not.

At the start of 2011, I had a list of resolution/hopes. Getting an agent wasn’t anywhere on the list, it seemed way too unobtainable to wish for. One of my goals for the year I achieved during the second week of January. And another one I didn’t achieve and have instead rolled over to the 2012 list. 2011 was still a great year for me. So even if I don’t achieve all my New Year’s Evolutions this year, I’m going to allow myself to dream big.

What about you? What are you hoping for in 2012?