My life starting... now. Wait, no. Now. Actually...

I do this thing every year where I buy journals and calendars and planners-- yes, all plural-- with jumbo aspirations to fill them up. I start plotting and designing ways for me to really change my life this time. Never mind how the past few months went and how much I still have left on my previous plates, I prefer to focus on the days ahead.

Don't look back, but still look back at the stuff I didn't get to accomplish for one excuse or another, because those are the things that need to get put back on the list of things to do for this fresh. New. Year. New me needs to be reminded with lists from the past every now and then.

There are no resolutions in my head. They're way too willful. I do goals instead. Always start with the goals. Big solid ones, fancy carefree ones, strange ones and wonderful ones, all of which I hope to complete one day, preferably in this lifetime or at least in the next.

I list a hundred of them, (because I watched Steve Harvey once and he said to do that-- or at least I think he said that-- and okay I don't really remember if it was him or some other bald man-- or woman, but it was a really good idea regardless, so I've been hammering my way at it ever since.)

Anyway, I list my plans, religiously placing them in order of importance right down to the sacrilegious parts that I'm still iffy about, making sure I know what I need to do to reach them. I even write contracts with myself-- yes, contracts with myself as if I'm some kind of banker that intends to charge interest on my own interests because someone (Steve Harvey again? Not sure) said it was a good practice because it helps one keep oneself accountable.

So every year, one hundred.

Except this year.

My main goal this year is to KISS ASS. Keep It Simple So All Stuff's Satisfied™

Seems easy enough, but we'll see how goes it by the end of the year.

I've been on Vocal for a few years, reading and liking and whatnot but I didn't actively start sharing my work with this community until last year. It's not that I was shy, or that I didn't think my work was good enough, I've wanted to be an author since I was in the second grade, about the same time my poetry and short stories were being sent to libraries and malls for display so that people could enjoy.

I guess my biggest problem was that I got hung up over things that were said to me-- not by strangers, but by members of my own family. Criticisms about my books and my works and questions of who did I think I was to write what I wrote were viciously whipped at me left and right, and even though I should be used to it (because I've dealt directly with that evil and with their demons every day for the first half of my life) it got to me.

So goal one is: to never let anyone or anything get to me again.

Goal two is to write. To let the words pour out of me so I can splash them everywhere I go so everyone can see them. I don't have a set idea of how much I should write, only that I will. Everytime I feel inspired to, I will rip the sentences straight out from my heart and share them with everyone. Like it or not, it's coming.

Goal three is to read more. I have bookshelves of writings from hundreds of authors but my eyes and my brain can stand to feed on a few more. Prepare yourselves Vocal writers, I'm aiming to devour everything I can find.

Goal four is to love more. I am a loving person, no doubt, but I feel like I need to show it more often. The world can be so full of it sometimes and the only way to change it is to change our views so here I am, ready and willing to pour positivity into this community in hopes that it trickles out all over the place.

Not sharing my other goals, not because I'm selfish, but because I've read psychological studies (probably sponsored by Steve Harvey) that say it's harder to accomplish goals when they've been made public. But I think these are safe. I know what I'm going for in 2024.

I am unstoppable.

That's my theme for this year.

Un.Stop.Able. Watch me.

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