New Year's Challenges

Every new year, almost each person that I know sets up resolutions for the following year. They want to be better people, treat their bodies better, be good to others, etc. Usually, within the first two weeks, each person has abandoned their resolutions. The caffeine is stronger than their willpower, the gym is too expensive, and who has time for reading a book each day anyway? Whatever excuse we use, we quickly abandon our resolutions to do better and be better.

I'm doing something different this year. I'm making New Year's challenges with myself. It's not a matter of "I will" it's more "I wonder if I can..." "I will" means "I must" whereas "I wonder if I can" simply means "let's see what happens when I try." It's a lot less pressure and a bit more fun, too. This year, I have two challenges.

My first challenge is to post every day to this little blog. Whether or not it's read by others doesn't matter. What matters is that I make the concentrated effort each day to come and make a post here. I may post about family, work, food, or any odd thing I wish, but the challenge is to post each day.

My second challenge is to write 500 words per day for leisure. There has been a plot running through my mind for about 6 months now. I've wanted to read a novel based on this plot but so far, I don't know of one. So, I decided, about that long ago, that I wanted to write the novel. One thing always leads to another and it usually comes down to my laziness. Too many other things to get done through out the day and then, by the time the day is done, I'm over tired and can't think any longer.

I figure that 500 words can't be overly difficult. At the end of the year, I will have over 180,000 words which can be trimmed down into a decent novel. Unless the book ends itself before then, and I wind up starting another. I'm not a writer, so this is mostly just for fun. I doubt that I'll decide to publish. The challenge is in actually doing it. Every single day, 500 words.

So what about you? Do you have New Year resolutions, or New Year challenges? What are your reasons behind either?