I don’t ever make New Year’s resolutions, mostly for the same reason I don’t make cookies: because I doubt I’ll be satisfied with them. It’s good to set goals, of course, and occasionally I’ll accomplish them (that’s how I got into swimming in 2006, because I challenged myself to swim 50 miles, cumulatively, during that calendar year…I totaled around 60). But things always change and goals get modified and there’s always a bit of dissatisfaction involved. Oh, well. I need some goals, and I need to make it public, so that’s what I’m doing.

Here, then, are my goals for 2008. Call them resolutions if you want. But be aware that you’re just using a longer, fancier word when a shorter word will probably suffice, and that’s bad writing.

In 2008, I plan to do (at least) these 15 things…

1. Write three books (no details yet, but I’m pretty close to being contractually obligated to fulfill this goal, so I can say with some assuredness that it’ll probably happen).
2. Maintain this blog on an almost-daily basis, especially so you can follow along as I write the new books.
3. Also maintain this blog, so that I can remember, in vivid detail, the stuff we do. I greatly dislike not being able to remember when-we-did-this and what-we-did-then and what- was-that-funny-thing-that-happened? Hopefully a digital scrapbook will help.
4. Take more photographs.
5. Take better photographs.
6. Read more books. This is hard when I’m writing, as I have very little unassociated free time. I read a lot when I’m working on a book, but most of it is for the purpose of research. So it’s work. Not fun reading, or reading for knowledge, or reading to be challenged. I need to do more of that, if only to become a better writer.
7. Produce more art.
8. Sell some shirts.
9. Go on at least one backpacking trip.
10. Stay in the exercise habit, but keep the means of exercise fresh.
11. Drive as little as possible, even in the winter.
12. Be outside more.
13. Maintain a regular Sabbath, especially from book-writing. This will be hard, because there’s a lot of time on Sunday to be spent writing. But it’s good to stop creating one day a week. Real good.
14. Flyfish as often as possible.
15. Get the other business thing rolling.

Those are my resolutions. What are yours?