Reaching your New Year's Goals!

January is the month of setting goals. Everyone makes promises to themselves, or to others, for how they will change their lives in the new year. But so often those goals get pushed aside by the end of February. Why? It could be laziness or lack of time. Lack of motivation, support, money.... There are lots of reasons why people fail to carry out their goals.

Here are my list of Dos and Don'ts for keeping your New Year's goals!

DON'T make unrealistic goals. If you aim to get to the gym 7 days a week and lose 5 pounds a week, well, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. It's good to aim high, but in order to keep yourself from getting disappointed, start small. If you're joining a gym for the first time, aim for 3 days a week. And 1 pound a week is a healthy weight loss goal. You'll find it easier to reach goals if you start small and adjust your goals as you go along. And the small accomplishments will energize and motivate you.

DO adjust your priorities. If your goal is to write more in 2014, well, that takes time. And as everyone knows, time is precious. There's only 24 hours in a day, and that time has to be divided between jobs, kids, spouses, chores, eating, and of course, sleeping. How great would it be if we could sleep 1 hour and be completely rested?? But until science invents some kind of magic pill, we all need a good 7-8 hours a night. So the only option for eeking out more time is to give up some of the other ways we spend it. Do you really need to watch that TV show? Is it all that important to sit on Pinterest for an hour? An hour to write, or work out, or do whatever other goal you have, can be a very successful hour.

DON'T let others discourage you. It happens. People try to pull you from your goals for whatever reason. I think family is the biggest culprit for this....and the guilt we feel. The kids want to play, the spouse wants to snuggle. Stay strong! Talk with your family and make them understand your goals and how important they are to you.

DO let yourself off the hook once in a while. Life can throw all kinds of things at us. It's okay to step back and take a break, rejuvenate yourself. Pushing on when you're clearly tired, burned out, under the weather, stressed, etc... is asking for disaster. Step back, fix whatever is going on, then get back to your goals. And it's okay to play with the kids and snuggle with the spouse. Enjoy your life too. It's all about finding the right balance.

DO find a support system. Having friends to reach goals with is a great way to keep yourself on track. Not only is it good to have someone to celebrate the highs with and commiserate the lows with, having someone to keep tabs on you will help keep you motivated. It's easy to fail when there's no one to hold you accountable but yourself. But if you have to check in with a friend, you will be more motivated to do something. Find friends in real life, or friends online. Support is so so important

So there it is! Good luck in 2014! And if you want to chat about goals and making the happen, tune in tonight at 8 EST on Twitter for #ChickLitChat!

It's that time of year again! Resolutions!!!

I do this every year. I make a list of goals and resolutions. But I am smart about it and logical. I make goals I know I have a chance at achieving. I did really well in 2011 with my professional goals...achieved them all!! My personal goals, well, not so much. I didn't eat more veggies and I didn't take my vitamins.

So here are my goals for 2012:

Personal:

* Eat more veggies!
* Take my vitamins- B12, D, and calcium
* Read 30 books, 12 of which will be chick lit for the Chick Lit Challenge
* Continue to go to the gym and tone
* More family time
* Go out to eat far less
* Update my journals more often

Professional:

* Find a home for The Detour to Happily Ever After
* Find a home for Pretty in Plastic
* Write a full length novel
* Write a novella
* More promo
* Find more time to write
* Blog more and read blogs more often

What about you?? Do you make goals/resolutions???

Party Time!!

I admit, I love to go to parties! I love getting together with friends and family for good food, fun, music, games, etc.... We need no excuse to party either. Anything can be reason enough to get together!

But New Year's Eve is a great reason to get together! Friends of ours have hosted a party the last few years, adults only. And it's been a pajama party! So so fun! We all don our favorite jammies and eat great food while playing Wii, singing karaoke, dancing and playing games. Some pics from last year's party:

Some karaoke:



Just dance on Wii:





Me and some of my girls:



What are your plans for ringing in the new year????? Hope you all have a fab time!! See ya next year!!

***edited to add: I have no idea why my pics are so big. Tried to fix them but I can't!

It's that time of year again!

New Year's Resolutions!!!!

I make resolutions every year, but only things that I know I can take seriously and actually give my all to. I never make goals I know I have no way of reaching. I take these goals seriously and it really bothers me if I can't fulfill one of them.

For 2010 I had a few resolutions, as I talked about the other day: More family time. Get in better shape. Read 30 books. I did pretty good with all of them and I am happy.

For 2011 I have decided to give another go at the 30 book challenge. I did only complete 28 books this past year, with #29 on my night stand, but I still consider it a success.

I plan on continuing my gym routine, and hopefully toning up even more, and have decided to make it a goal of mine to keep hubby motivated.

Writing goals for 2011: Edit, submit and hopefully sign a contract for Karma Kameleon. Do a major rewrite of Spellbound. Write another book. I also want to bump up my marketing and promotion.

So, what are your goals for 2011??