New Year's Resolutions

It's that time of the year again! This year, I have three big resolutions and for each, I've devised some steps that will hopefully help me follow through with those resolutions.

So without further ado, here they are:

1. Lose 70 pounds, which will get me most of the way towards my ideal weight. Ok, I think everyone resolves to lose weight (I know I do every single year), but here's to hoping this time will be the time it works! To achieve this goal, I will:

• Consistently journal what I eat on Sparkpeople.com. It's hard to lose weight if you don't know what you're eating :)
• Regularly exercise. I plan to start out with 30 minutes of cardio three times a week and gradually increase the time and number of days I work out. I'll start strength training after a few weeks and maybe in the spring, I'll start the C25K again.
• Avoid soda and processed foods as much as possible.
• Eat more vegan foods. I'm not horribly fond of eggs, and dairy products make me break out badly, so this is probably something I should do anyways. Plus, the more vegan I eat, the healthier my food is likely to be.
• Cook 104 new recipes, which is the equivalent of two new recipes a week (on average). I love to cook so I don't really foresee this being a problem.
• No excuses! Thirty minutes of exercise and ignoring some sugar cravings is a small price to pay for around 20 years of extra life.

2. Stay up to speed on my homework! I'm a graduate student but I haven't quite grasped the fact that I need to actually work and not goof off and go out with friends. It's ok to have a break once in a while, but I need to focus on my education first and foremost. Steps to achieve this include:

• Doing a little bit of work for every class everyday.
• I have a planner that allows me to plan my day out hourly. I will make a detailed schedule for my day every morning (and this will include free time, exercising, and cooking) and I will STICK TO IT!!!
• Once I have a topic for my seminar papers, I will read two scholarly sources for each one every week. That's really not a lot of work if I spread it out like that.

3. Lastly, I will focus more on my own creative writing by:

• Writing at least 1000 words a day, five days a week, but I will be aiming more towards the 3000 words a day mark.
• Writing at least one short story each month.
• I will revise the short stories I wrote last year.
• I will finish the last 20,000ish words of my 2008 novel and do one revision of it.
• I will outline and write at least 50,000 words of a second novel (this will be what I use for my Writing the Novel class).
• During November, I will participate in and win NaNoWriMo.

And those are my New Year's Resolutions for 2011!