Painting With Light

“Spruce in Winter” © R.L. Herron

I’m sure I’m no different than most people when it comes to making resolutions for the New Year. There are the typical weight-loss promises, exercise plans and a host of other self-improvement ideas I start the year vowing to do.

Usually, they are forgotten by about the seventh day of the year (although I think I set a personal record this year by dumping one of them already, only two days in).

I’ll probably drop the others by Tuesday.

However, there are a couple of things I’m actually planning to accomplish this year. I plan to write and publish some short stories. I’ve already got six ‘in the can’ with several more in various stages of completion.

I even have an idea for a novel.

There are also several writing competitions I’m ready to enter, both for short stories and poetry. The entries for those will be going out this week.

Those are all things I’ve been ‘planning’ to do for years. This year I’m finally going to get real about it.

I’ve made another resolution this year, too. Another one I always make. I’m going to work for a better world.

That sounds like so much ‘pie-in-the-sky’ and I have to admit it’s a pretty nebulous resolution to make.

But I figure I have a jump on it this year.

Instead of looking for something from others, I’m going to work on making myself better. More tolerant. A better listener. A better father and grandfather. A better husband. A better friend.

I’m not sure the larger world will take any note of it. But I hope my friends do, and my kids and grandkids, and maybe a few of my friends and neighbors. Who knows, maybe even my wife. I figure that will make this tiny corner of the world better.

And that’s a start.

This entry was posted on January 2, 2011 at 6:43 pm and is filed under Lifestyle, Storytelling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.