New Year’s Resolutions NEVER work.

Why? Because there’s no sense of honor holding you to it. It’s actually a big joke: “Oh, THIS year I’m going to do x, y, and z!” Yeah, right. One friend told me that every year, she resolves to swear less. It usually lasts about 10 minutes into the new year before she slips, and it’s all over with.

This year, I resolved two things:
1. To blog here about pertinent issues at least three times a week; and
2. To read at least one nonfiction book per month.

The former you all know I haven’t done. I can assure you, I have not done the latter, either.

So, it being Ash Wednesday, I am renewing my vows. For Lent, I have decided to give up fictional literature. You see, I read every day – but I read fiction every day. As of today, no more fictional literature until Easter Sunday. On my walk home, I kept thinking about how much I ALREADY miss reading fiction, and the ashes are still fresh on my forehead. My goal is to complete three nonfiction books in the next six weeks – that will cover January through March, and hopefully I can pick back up on the one nonfiction a month bandwagon that I promised myself I would.

In addition to this, I am setting a goal to write in this blog every day. I haven’t made it an official Lenten promise (I’ve made it more arbitrary – write here regularly), because I know that is not as realistic a goal. However, if I make a point of blogging every day, and I lapse a day here or there, I’ll be writing 5-6 times a week – that’s double what my initial New Year’s resolution was.

I have lots of ideas I want to tap into, and I could start with this post, however instead, this post is meant to motivate me: you, my faithful readers, be sure you keep poking at me to write. Keep in mind, too, that with the advent of me writing more here, I’ll need to keep up with my own blog-reading, which has fallen off significantly since the summer. I hope, too, that the nonfiction reading will give me some fodder as well. I have some good books picked out, and if anyone has any additional suggestions, I would love to hear them.

I suppose for those of you who aren’t Catholic, you’re wondering what about Lent is any different than just a plain old New Year’s Resolution? Well, it’s a goal to work toward. The point of Lent is to do without (or, in some cases, make do WITH) something that is an everyday part of your life. Some say it is because the suffering brings one closer to God. I think it has little to do with suffering and more to do with resolve. By doing this, I’m resolving to make myself a better person in one facet of my life. I’m making an improvement on myself that will hopefully last me a lifetime. Each year, I’ve found this has worked well, and I expect this year to be no different.

So, expect to hear more from me in the coming days and weeks. And, too, expect to continue to hear from me regularly past Easter.