Change (Sydney Salter)

I usually love resolving. Often over-resolving - like the year I naively set the goal to write, publish and win awards for a manuscript in the same year.

But I hesitate to get all goal-ie in 2018.

I know that it will be a year of changes for me - my youngest daughter is headed off to college in the fall. No longer will my days be bookended by school schedules, soccer games, and impromptu talks. I will have much more free time. But will I miss her to the point of feeling nauseous for weeks, like I did when her big sister headed off four years ago? Or will having so few shoes scattered in my entryway console me? Bottom line: I'm not going to expect much from myself in August and September.

My mother-in-law is on hospice care for small vessel dementia. A big dip in her health put my writing on the back burner for nearly four months last year. Sometimes it's not just the time something takes, like stopping by assisted living most afternoons to eat cookies and watch Dr. Phil, but the toll it takes emotionally. I have no idea what 2018 will bring.

I will try my best to revise my WIP so it's ready to submit by the end of 2018, but I will expect change. And change will mess up my plans.