I’m not fond of New Year’s resolutions; I forget them, get stressed out by them or just plain don’t want to do them about four days into January. I know I am not alone in this.

The only New Year’s resolution I have ever kept was that one year I decided to learn how to do something artistic and/or craft-y. I am notoriously bad at this sort of thing, so I decided that I was going to learn to do something. Thanks to one of those part-work magazines I learned to knit. I’m not amazing at it, but I can follow a pattern, increase and decrease and even turn a heel for socks although I have never mastered knitting on circular needles or anything fancy like that.

I do need to overhaul my life, though. This year I’ve decided to do three things. I am going to improve my physical health by eating healthily and taking more exercise. I’ve already started by rejoining Slimming World, and a good friend has already sent me a text demanding that I drag her with me. I have a subscription to the local swimming pool but I’m going to delay going until at least February. Too many Resolutioners will be taking up the lanes right now!

I am going to save money by putting some aside every day (I’m trying the penny for each day of the year method – a penny for the 1st of January, two pence for the 2nd of January, three pence for the 3rd of January, etc). It’s going to get difficult when the amounts start getting bigger, I know, but I’m interested to see how well I’m going to manage it.

My third resolution is to write at least 500 words a day. My real life job is incredibly time consuming, often encroaching on my time at home both in the week and on weekends. I need to keep writing, though – I have Ruttingdon 3 about a third done, with ideas for Ruttingdon 4, Victorian Vices 4 and a brand new series all being added to. I think that I can manage 500 words a day. I’d like to get three books written this year, which is asking a lot with my schedule, but I’ll see what I can manage. Ruttingdon 4 is supposed to be a novella, although the last novella I tried to write ended up being 70000 words by the end, so I’ll have to wait and see.

I’ve started the money saving, I’m 35000 words into Ruttingdon 3 and apart from a small blip at lunchtime today where I accidentally found myself in McDonalds enjoying their nasty, delicious food, I’ve been eating more healthily since the start of the year. there have been vegetables on my plate. Actual vegetables. Not novelty chocolate ones wrapped in foil to look like vegetables actual vegetables.

I’m definitely on the right path. As long as that path doesn’t take me through McDonald’s, I’ll be fine!