I'm Back Into the Swing of Things

Welcome to the new year, folks.  It's that time of year where everyone swears things are going to be different, and that this is the year things turn around.  Heck we survived the Mayan Apocalypse, the Fiscal Cliff and a baby-off between the Royal Family and the Khardashian/West Family - 2013 should be golden!  As for this spot of internet real estate - I will be getting it ramped back up as part of a larger, yearly initiative  I know I've said the same thing in the past, but I swear this time is different...just give me another chance, baby...I promise I'll change.
 
Humans who know me in real life know that every year I give something up.  There is no reason for it, I just do it.  In the past I've made it through years without soda, red meat, beer (otherwise known as the longest year ever) and in 2012 it was fried food.  Three-hundred-sixty-six days without potato chips, Cheetos, fried chicken, mozzarella sticks, doughnuts, french fries, steak fries, sweet potato fries, curly fries, bacon and cheese fries (see a trend), deep-fried Twinkies and various other sweet, sweet oil-drenched goodies.
 
It wasn't really all that difficult, just the occasional craving for Chik-Fil-a sandwiches, and the year turned out rather well.  Actually, 2012 was a banner year at the Chicago Estate.  The Duchess and I got married, I got a job, got promoted at said job and dropped about 25 lbs. Not sure if that is all related to giving up fried food, after the one thing I learned in Pysch 101 is that correlation does not prove causation.  I'm not kidding that's the only thing I remember from that class.  Well that, and the teacher really, really, really liked experiments involving mice.
 
So the number one question I get from Christmas to the New Years is "What are you giving up next year?"  (followed closely by, "Who are you choosing in your Death Pool", but that's a story for another time). The answer this year - nothing.  That's right I'm giving up giving up things. There was just nothing that came to mind when I was thinking about a 2013 challenge   Not that I put a lot of time into it since I really planned on the world ending in December (guess I shouldn't have spent January's rent money on hookers and blow), but when the choices came down to giving up bread (a challenge I've failed twice) and going vegetarian (not going to happen) I figured it was time to take a different track.
 
Instead of giving something up every day I'm going to do something every day.  Everyday, from now until December 31st, 2013 I plan on writing something.  Some of it will end up here on this blog, some might end up on a Tampa Bay Lightning based website and some will stay private.  Sorry, the epic novel I'm writing about cats taking over the world isn't quite ready for the public yet. Even if it's just a couple of paragraphs or a revision of something that i had previously jotted down I want to see if i can maintain a dedicated work ethic in regards to this writing thing.  Already it started out with a bit of a challenge as I started jotting these notes down at 11.55pm, but hey it counts.  
 
I also want to see if I get any better as a writer. I guess that actually is the number one goal. If I really dedicate myself to this craft, can i get better? Shutting down for about three months helped clear my mind (and the number of site visits on the ol' blog) and now I'm writing because I want to, not because I feel obligated to. Forcing myself to write through any blocks that I encounter throughout this year will probably be the most difficult part of the process, but who knows what it will produce.  Some of the pieces that I enjoy the most started out as nothing more than stream of consciousness ramblings.
 
There's also the part of my mind that wonders how many words I can actually write in 365 days.  I'm not sure if I'll publish a word count or not (this page is cluttered enough as it is, but I'll be working on that as well), but I'm sure privately I'll keep a rough estimate of the words that spill out of my brain-hole.  Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully I'll keep you all entertained somewhat throughout the year.
 
Oh, and I'll keep you posted on the whole Death Pool thing.....