Time to make a 2008 resolution.

I’m not making my usual resolutions. This year I’ve chosen a different tack. I’m actually resolving something that matters.

For example, I am not resolving to lose the same twenty pounds I’ve sworn to get rid of every New Year’s Day since I was fifteen. I’m forty-four. If I haven’t lost them now, I’m probably never going to. Besides, they’ve been with me so long, it would be akin to losing an old friend. What’s great about being this age is that I no longer put all of my self-esteem into how much I weigh. If I would have known turning forty was so liberating, I would have admitted to actually being forty long before now.

I’m also not resolving to keep my house pristine, or balance my checkbook, or win the lottery. Those are lost causes. Better to let them rest in peace.

My resolution for 2008 — surprise, surprise — involves writing.

I resolve to write to please myself. Not to target a certain market. Not to hope to have the story fit a certain series line. Not to copy other hot authors or genres. I’m going to write stories I enjoy. Because if I don’t enjoy them, no one else will.

That is a resolution I can keep.