New Year's Revolutions 2008

So I had some good New Year's Revolutions last year. And I think I managed success with a few of them, and so I'm integrating this year's into my check up with Revolutions 2007:

1. I am two-thirds done a giant draft of the novel, and am quite further ahead then where I was last year. This Revolution will continue this year -- I want to get one good, readable draft done of what I'm no longer calling "the long story" but actually owning up to the fact that I'm trying to write a novel.

2. The weight thing...I have since discovered that it's probably the methotrexate that's stopping me from losing weight. I biked, had a dance class, did pilates, yoga, walked, stopped driving everywhere, and even made a very conscious effort to eat right, and I lost a whopping six pounds in total. And then I tried to not eat very much at all, at least a third of what I was eating before, and managed another two pounds. Lastly, I had a long conversation with an old friend who is also taking the meds, and she noticed the same thing, dieting, exercising and still gaining weight, so that convinced me even more that it's the drugs and not me. I am still going to try to be as healthy as possible this year but realize that there's not a lot I can do while I'm in my 4th year of taking meds for the disease.

3. Up next is something of a personal nature. I am going to try and be less judgmental of people. It's something I do all the time, make quick decisions about who and what people are before I really know them. We had a house guest for the past couple days and he said in passing, "You know, it's truly hard not to judge people." and I turned to him and said, "It's actually an impossibility for me." Maybe I'll be able to do as well with that as I've done with complaining this past year. And I'm adding in the whole stopping celebrity gossip here too. Because it's kind of the same thing -- I'm being judgmental when soaring through intimate details of stranger's lives.

4. I failed miserably at watching less television. But I did manage to read a heck of a lot more books this year, so I'm assuming that came from TV time. This year I'm going to keep up with my page a day challenges and keep reading. I'd like to get to 100 books this year. I made it to approximately 90 this year (including the Harlequins), which isn't bad at all. It's only 10 more.

5. Lastly, I'm going to keep better track of things, budget better, and not be so messy at home so that our weekly cleanups take hours more than necessarily because I pile all my clothes up when I get home from work. We'll see how that one goes. I have a few very particular things I'm saving for, and I want to make sure I'm not being frivolous with money. That's much easier said than done.