..when you can’t fulfil them.

Snow in our back garden

Bobby thinking about going out

..and she's off.

Last year my resolutions included learning how to drive, lose weight and read more books and get a book out. So what happened?

Well I had 11 driving lessons, am still shit scared of driving , don’t enjoy it and I simply ran out of money for more lessons. The urgent need to become a confident driver (I have a licence which is valid in the UK) is simply not there.

Losing weight – well I didn’t make much of an effort, mainly because I hate dieting and because dieting makes you fatter and in my case sick. Besides it’s bloody hard to lose weight, when skinny hubby can eat what he likes and his mum buys lots of sweets and cakes almost every weekend. We still have chocolates and cakes from Christmas.

Reading more books – ideally 1-2 books a week. I started out well, but couldn’t quite keep it up, simply because some books are weightier than others, some are easier to read and because sometimes work got in the way. But I still think I achieved something here as I managed to get through about 20 books – some fiction, a lot of them non-fiction, some in German, most in English. I also started 4 books on writing and dip into them when I feel like it.

Oh and I managed to finish two fiction writing courses.

Getting a book out – well  I made a huge effort here, researched the book idea, wrote a sample chapter, table of content, cover letter etc and contacted two publishers. Both read it and rejected it on the understandable grounds that they have a similar book out for a slightly wider audience (my book idea was aimed at parents). I am not sure if I want to still pursue this, because parents get all the info free on the internet anyway and the subject matter is too close to me.

So instead I decided to write a novel. I am now on my fourth chapter.

This year I  aim to achieve the following:

Write my novel

Lose weight by eating less junk and exercise more

Watch less crap on TV

Learn to play guitar

Get more work

Continue reading loads of books

Go on a nice holiday

Learn how to make my own beads

Swear less

Get my jewellery business off the ground

Join a charity and volunteer

De-clutter the house

Some of this I have already implemented:

I joined the Prince’s Trust as a volunteer business mentor and next month I will go on two training days to learn what’s involved.

I also ordered lots of polymer clay and a pasta machine to get started with my beads and on the 22^nd this month I will have my first jewellery stall at a local Hafla (www.bellydancewales.com). So expect some photos of my jewellery on this blog.

Some of my resolutions don’t depend on me alone – so it will be interesting to see how far I will get this year.

I  will let you know on this blog how I get on with things.

It would be interesting to know from you what kind of resolutions you have made a year ago and which you have fulfilled? What are your resolutions for this year?