by Keri Rozansky | Jan 15, 2025 | Blog
Christmas and New Year have come and gone. How’s you’re New Year going so far? Ours is going fairly well, as we get back into the groove of activities and obligations that were put on hold for the holiday season.
There are some big plans going forward, many of which I can’t talk about yet, so check back often for updates. One of the big ones is my son’s final semester of high school. As you’ve read about here before, he’s a senior this year. He’s gotten through his college acceptance period and is now weighing his options. He started school again last week and is determined to keep his grades up and finish strong – there are no signs of Senioritis with this kid.
It’s been a long time since I was a high school senior, but I do remember the last semester being a good one, and a somewhat daunting one. It includes all the fun end-of-the-year and end-of-school activities like senior parties, graduation parties, prom, and more. He’ll participate in his last high school theater production. He’ll make two of the biggest decisions of his life – what college to go to and what field of study to pursue as a career, and some decisions related to those decisions.
Before we all know it, graduation will be upon us. We will sit on the bleachers of the school football stadium and watch as he and his classmates cross the field in their black caps and gowns. We’ll celebrate with fun and rewards. Then we’ll face the reality that he may be leaving the nest only a couple short months later.
Do you remember your high school or college graduation? Let’s talk on Facebook!
by Keri Rozansky | Jan 8, 2025 | Blog
“New Year, New You!” is a marketing tactic for gyms and fitness clubs, meal prep/delivery services, clothing retailers, and more. “This year, make a resolution to…” followed by a sales pitch for everything from home cleaning services, furniture stores, and even higher education institutions advertising shortened degree or certificate programs to entice adults looking to further their education.
I don’t make “resolutions” anymore. At one point, I realized they were a setup for failure. Saying you resolve to, for example, exercise five days a week, the first week you only exercise four days you feel defeated and stop trying to pursue that resolution. Many people don’t stop to think about the thing that held them back that week. Did a colleague have an emergency and need a shift covered? Did you neglect to account for an appointment you didn’t transfer to your calendar? Did you just not feel like it? There are an array of reasons, all legitimate, that you may not have been able to exercise on that fifth day. But it’s nothing to get down on yourself about, or simply stop because you didn’t succeed.
Instead, I make goals. As a writer, this year one of my biggest goals is to publish my debut novel by the end of the first quarter. It may seem far away, but as I learn more and more about self-publishing, I realize there are other things that I will have to do myself. I won’t bore you with the details here, but I learned a few things that need to be added, and some steps that need to be taken before I can push “publish” on Amazon, or put my book up on another publishing platform.
Another goal is to expand my Substack page to offer paid member bonus content. That will take some doing, as I have to brainstorm some things that are worthy of such status. What would you pay for? Behind-the-scenes? A tour of my workspaces? Special short story content? The best ideas will come from responding to what you, my readers, want.
Still another goal of mine is to continue writing business blogs, and add more. Last year, I ended my relationship with company that provided blog and website content for property management companies. I was able to pivot fairly quickly into writing a blog for a custom home design company. That company wants me for an additional blog for another branch of their company under another name in another location. No, this won’t necessarily take away from this blog or my novel writing. I write, then I schedule each blog to release on a certain date at a certain time (typically every Wednesday at 2 p.m.)
There are still other goals that will likely roll over into 2026 as well – yes, I have an entire year planned. How, you ask? A program called Fresh Start that is hosted by one of the writing communities I am a part of. It’s a free, week-long course that meets via daily Zoom calls from the day after Christmas until New Year’s Day. It covers everything, from setting goals (both writing and personal), gives tips and examples of effective methods, and offers you ways to keep yourself accountable. The workshop teaches you how to account for all of your “static” time, like your 9-5 job outside of writing, appointments, family activities, school, and all the other parts of life that can’t be put on hold.
I found this program last year, and it changed my life. While my plan was to publish my debut novel by the end of 2024, life got in the way. But I made it further than I ever have before, and I learned that goal setting and amending is the way to go rather than resolutions. I found a planner I love that I will be getting every year I possibly can until the company stops making it.
I plan to continue applying the principles to every part of my life to get even more done for 2026.
How do you prepare to achieve your goals in the upcoming year? What are those goals? Let’s talk on Facebook!
by Keri Rozansky | Jan 1, 2025 | Blog
Happy New Year! Welcome to 2025! Did you celebrate last night? What sort of promises about the New Year did you make?
My 2025 is going to be new and interesting. In May, my son will graduate high school. In August, he’ll start his college adventure. In between all that there will be so much more. I reached several of my writing goals last year, only moving the goalposts a couple of times. I did not see that as failure, like many others feel when they break a new habit they promised themselves at the beginning of a new year.
I’ll continue to strive to complete goals, even through minor setbacks. It was those minor setbacks that kept me from moving forward in years past. “I’m not going to be able to write this week” so I fall out of the groove and drop the ball, never to get back to a good place again. Then life takes over and the writing gets pushed completely to the side.
What are some of your goal – not resolutions – for 2025?
Let’s talk on Facebook!
