It’s a new year. (Oh my gosh — happy new year, guys!!!)

It’s a little shocking it’s here already. It shouldn’t be. Not really. Not when January 1st comes after December 31st, each and every year without fail. But it always sneaks up on me, this changing of the calendar, having to write a new date on all my checks.

I usually make a new year’s resolution. Lose some weight. Get organized. Stay in better touch with friends/family. You know, typical resolutions, the ones a million people make. And there’s nothing wrong with these resolutions. They are good, solid goals. It’s just that I make the same ones every year and I almost always fail to keep them.

So this year I’m doing something different. Jessica Corra blogged the other day about how she picks a Word of the Year instead of making a traditional resolution. She strives to keep that one word in mind throughout the next twelve months. In this way, I suppose it is a resolution of sorts. I love this idea. I love it so much, I’m hoping on the bandwagon. With…

 

Balance.

 

That is my word. The year of 2012, for me, is going to be about balance.

Since transitioning from Full-Time Web Designer Writing Only in Her Spare Time to Part-Time Web Designer, Part-Time Writer something has happened. I no longer know how to not be working. I love writing. I love it so much I don’t know how to stop. I get up, check email, read blogs, blog myself, outline/write/edit/revise, read, email more, write more… On and on it goes in this endless circle. I start at 7am and I don’t let up until bedtime. Yes, I pause to cook and eat, and yes, as inconvenient as it is, shower.

But I don’t think this is healthy. As much as I love my job and being a writer, my life is not solely writing. It is a million other things. Like sunsets, and going for runs, and making tea, and curling up on the couch with the Engineer to watch a good movie, and baking, and visiting family, and strumming my guitar, and taking photos, and ordering letterpress stationery, and grabbing drinks with friends, and geeking out over good typography, and Harry Potter. Everything Harry Potter.

The Engineer and I want to go to Europe sometime in the coming year, specifically Germany. I feel guilty when I think about being away from my laptop and my words for nearly two weeks.

And I shouldn’t. I need to stop feeling guilty when I’m not writing. I need to find balance. I need to know when to write and when to stop. It is my biggest struggle, each and every day. Maybe even more so than fear. (Brave was Jessica’s word and it was mighty tempting to pick that one myself.)

But balance. Sometimes, stepping away to recharge and travel and run and wander and explore is more important than staying at the computer and working. And sometimes nothing is more important than staying at the computer and working. Sometimes I’ll need to spend time with the words. Sometimes not.

It’s a balancing act. This whole year is going to be a balancing act.

And maybe, come December 31st, I will have figured out how to stand on this tightrope that is a creative, writing life.

That is my goal. Spot me, won’t you?

What are your goals for 2012? If you had to pick one word for the year, what would it be?