So, a new year has begun

I can't believe a year has passed and we're already a week into the new year. Okay, I know I'm a bit late with this (but I promise I have an excuse), but I have decided to make some resolutions for this year. This year is all about change, after all, I'm moving to a new place, and heading into a new career path so for me it's all about big change. 

So, what have I been up to? Even though it is a new year, and with Christmas holidays and all, that doesn't mean I can just lounge around doing nothing. I am throwing myself into a professional photography course and am working hard on the subject of digital imaging (which means improving my photoshop skills, and drawing… if you know me, you would also know that I can barely draw a stick figure by hand, but somehow I have better computer skills and can turn out images that look half-decent, yeah, the picture above was hand drawn by me directly into photoshop). This subject is special to me for two reasons: One is I want to be able to develop my photo manipulation skills, the second is that I'm in the middle of planning the cover design for my story Shinigami Eyes (I'm only hoping I have the skills to back up my imagination).

This is where I'm at for the new year:

• I've been accepted into a Bachelor of Visual Communication (basically a fancy way of saying a graphics design degree).
• I've got an interview for a job tomorrow, which I'm hoping to get because being low on funds doesn't help.
• Prepare for Shinigami Eyes to be released early in the year. I've got a lot planned with this, including help from my wonderful artist of a sister who has agreed to bring some of the manga to life.
• I'm also working hard to get the sequel of Shadow Embraced completed, so expect that to be released this year as well.

Okay, on to the resolutions:

• I'm going to complete three drafts this year (trying to get some of my WiP's finished).
• I'm going to focus hard to complete a portfolio of images. I would love to show you all the hard work I've been putting into these images (and soon you may just see them).
• And the standard resolution… I'm going to force myself to get fit this year (yeah, my sister says she's going to drag me to the beach for early morning jogs when we start uni… yeah, I'm at the same uni she's at).
• With reading, I'm not going to over-commit myself as I did last year. I'm aiming to read 60 books this year, but I'm still going to participate in book tours as I have been doing.

Okay, so what are your resolutions this year (if you have any?)

Resolutions? Do you have any?

Every new year I aim to stick to a few resolutions I make... most of the time, the resolutions are broken by the end of January. Yeah, why do I make them then? I love giving myself some goal to achieve. Why I can't keep them is simple... Life!

Life gets in the way, especially when I say I'll eat healthier, do exercise each day or focus on my studies more. These sound easy to keep, but when life gets busy, it is easy to get lost in all the commotion and activities that are required to do. This makes it easier to pick up some fast food snack or something else to break the resolutions.

This year, my resolutions are going to revolve around my writing (and this year I'm going to keep them :D). I'm going to:

• Complete the novels I've started and query at least 1 more.
• Focus more on blogging on a steady schedule, as well as replying to comments and commenting on more blogs.
• Get out more reviews for my critique group.

I think these are resolutions I can keep this year.

What about you? Do you give yourself resolutions for the new year? What are some of your resolutions or why don't you have any?