Good Day, and Welcome to 2011

First, thanks to all my wonderful blog followers and regular readers! I know I don't get a lot of comments, but I see the hits, and I really appreciate them.

The general sentiment (on Twitter, so it must accurately reflect the opinion of the masses, right?) seems to be that 2010, as far as years go, pretty much sucked. It really didn't for me, although it was weird. I moved my practice from the Northside/Perimeter area to Decatur, which cut my commute time by two-thirds or more. It also hit the two-year mark, and I found myself to be very busy, which was a very good thing. On the down side, my triglycerides fell, but then spiked just in time for disability insurance bloodwork (hmmm…), and I hurt my shoulder, which is still bothering me. So, all in all, it's a mixed bag.

One thing I feel guilty for is my lack of blogging, especially over the past few months with the office move and trying to get back into a routine. Trust me, I've been drinking wine, but I've kept all my thoughts to myself except a few that leaked out on Twitter. Apparently I got burned out on a lot of things, including writing.

One of my fellow writing friends misunderstood me when I told him I was taking a week off between Christmas and New Year's and thought I meant from everything, which, he said, would be a good thing considering how I've been feeling. I decided to give it a try, and my week away from work, writing, blogging, and even from Atlanta (we were in Alabama doing family stuff for most of it) gave me some much-needed perspective. Consequently, I've come up with the following problems and the corresponding changes I need to make in my life:

1. My life is out of whack when it comes to the work/life balance.

Moving my office closer to home has backfired in that I now don't have a long commute, so I can stay later, right? Wrong! Things have gotten much better now that I have an awesome adminion (administrative minion for those who are wondering), but I'm still spending way too many hours there, which is leaving me with precious little time and energy for any kind of writing.

Solution: Be more conscious of work/life boundaries and be home within an hour of ending client contacts. I'm also going to start building in transition/relaxation time at the end of the work day so I'm not as likely to bring work home with me.

2. Writer's block: it's real.

For me, writer's block is actually writer's overwhelm with lack of sufficient support. I have so much stuff I want to write that I look at it all and say, screw it, I'm going to pet the cat/get on Twitter/read… Not that any of that stuff is bad, only when I use it as a procrastination tool. I also feel like I've gotten stagnant with this blog, and it may have started to bore me.

Solution: Schedule time for writing, make it a priority, and reach out to some of the great people I've met through the Georgia Romance Writers and Village Writers Group. I also need to set daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Finally, I'm going to make some changes to this blog that I've been pondering since last year's Wine Bloggers' Conference. I need to do something to make it stand out, which will make it interesting for me as well. Stay tuned!

I do have to include one highlight... I am now a published author! I had work accepted to two anthologies and even got paid for my contribution to one!

I do feel so much better when I write regularly, just like when I exercise at least three times per week, which brings me to…

3. I feel faaaaaaat!!! And my triglycerides are high.

Even if I wanted to be in denial that I'm not taking as good care of myself as I need to, the blood work doesn't lie. I wrote for my oeno-lution last year that I wasn't going to worry about losing ten pounds, but it seems as though that's not an option anymore.

Solution: Yep, gotta exercise and get the eating back under control, and I really need to work harder at sticking to an average of just one glass of wine per day. Not that I'll give up everything I like, but try more for that moderation thing.

I'm avoiding the word "resolution" this year. People expect to break those. These are changes I really need to make to be a happier, healthier person in 2011. I'll let you know how they go!