Follow Through

It's 2015. Happy New Year! With a new year, resolutions always come.  Most people make a list of things they want to change in their life: exercise more, become healthier, lose 50 pounds, write a book, get published; and they don't follow through.

I've had a problem with follow through my whole life.  In fact, two years I wrote a book, talked it up, and then let it sit on my laptop.  The word(s) of my year is "Follow Through."  To follow through, you can't give up.  The words inherently hold the other three words: don't give up.  Don't think you can't. Instead think you can.  

I don't know about you, but for a lot of my life I've been scared to do things. I'm a capable person, but I always had this feeling I couldn't. I'm not smart enough to do that; I would never know how to start; What if I do that and it bothers people?  I had this little voice in my head just talking me down, sending negative feedback, that, unfortunately, for a long time I listened to.  Until, one day I didn't. One day, I thought, "Hey, if that idiot can publish a book then so can I?"  If that guy who used to weigh 300 pounds can run a 5k, then so can I!"  I changed the way I thought but letting go of the fear, which is so hard, but can be done with practice and by setting small goals and achieving them one at a time.

This year, I'm going to be busy, because I'm in a group to write 1,000 words a day.  I also recently joined Jamberry, and I'll have to put some time into that if I want to be successful.  I need to finish editing my book, so I can self-publish.  I also want to begin querying again, so I can add to my rejection pile.  All of that with three kids, a full time job, and a house to clean.  Everynote's daily checklist is becoming my best friend.

But all of this is to say though it may be overwhelming the way to get things done is to FOLLOW THROUGH.  Tell yourself everyday: I CAN DO THIS!  And realize that a way to a happy life is finding your purpose, your reason why for getting up every morning and braving the world.  For me, my purpose is writing, and I'll do whatever it takes to succeed.

Be your biggest cheerleader.  Get it done. Achieve your goals.  Be tenacious.

FOLLOW THROUGH!

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What will you do in 2015?

2015 is knocking on our door.  Every year seems to move faster and faster.  I remember when I was little, and my parents used to say things like, "This year went by so fast," and I thought they were so ridiculous because the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed like an eternity, and the time between New Year's and the summer seemed even longer.  Now, I get it. As your perception changes, life seems to move faster.  Only yesterday, I had one newborn son, and now I have three kids and the oldest is 10.  Time keeps moving, and you can't stop it no matter how hard you try.

Every year, I set out to make goals for the new year.  Sometimes, I manage to achieve these goals and other times the year flies by and I've done nothing (well not nothing, but just nothing in the way of achieving my goals).  This year, my goals are going to be mostly writing oriented, because at this point in my life it's the most important thing to me.  Plus, if I don't set the goals I'll never get anywhere.  You never know what you can achieve if you don't try.

Here are my goals for 2015:

• In 2015, I will publish "No Turning Back."  I'm working, slowly, but surely on editing it right now.  I am also finding a cover, then I will format it for e-publishing.  I'll have a soft open and then a promotion period on Amazon.  Self-publishing is about a lot of self-marketing too.  So, I'll be on Twitter, Facebook, here (my blog), and Google+ doing giveaways.  Stay tuned for that, as well as some teasers from the book.  I'll be posting the first few chapters on #Wattpad the first week of January, then the book should be out on Amazon by mid-January 2015.  
• Polish "The Devil Within," and re-write certain sections.  I'm releasing a chapter every three days of this book on #Wattpad.  You can read it here:  http://www.wattpad.com/story/26698809-the-devil-within
• Finish my work-in-progress.  Find a suitable name. Edit. 
• Query one agent a month 
• Write at least 1,000 words a day.
• Blog twice a week

And now for non-writing goals

• Exercise at least three times a week
• Read one book a month (I tend to put down books while I'm writing, and this is not good). 
• Lose 10 pounds
• Start a professional blog. I'll keep this blog for personal blogging, but I'd like to separate out my writing blog. 

That's all folks!

Make sure to check me out on Facebook and on Twitter:

Check me out on Wattpad. 

Follow @laurenegreene