Happy New Year.

I’ve been reading posts all day about what people have learned in 2009, what people vow to do in 2010, how many old things are laid to rest and how many new beginnings wait in the new year. I have trouble joining in the uplifting of hope, the declaration of intent, the swelling of new vitality and new promise. Not because I’m feeling particularly Scroogish, no, but because to me 2010 means the same thing as 2009:

Keep trying, keep working, keep fighting, and never quit.

The rollover between one day and the next doesn’t change that. The shift in the last two digits of the year doesn’t make the anticipated victories of the new year any greater than those of the old year. It doesn’t make the failures hurt any less, and it won’t eradicate the many bumps in the road ahead. It won’t make it any easier to pick up and keep going after getting knocked down, and it won’t change the driving need to keep doing it over and over again until I find even footing and claw my way just a little further up. The attitude most assign to the new year, I keep all year round. I may suck at optimism, but I’ve got a goddamned monopoly on bullheaded stubbornness and determination.

Tomorrow is a new beginning, another chance, another day to try to make something happen – another day to do my damnedest, push another few steps along the road, and enjoy the sweat in my eyes as much as the quiet, sweet seconds when everything’s calm and for just a breath, I can live in the moment. Yesterday was the same sort of day, whether 2009 or 2010. The day after tomorrow will be the same – and the next day, and the next. The difference between one year and the next is all in your head, and if you really want to you can make a fresh start any day and every day.

Never forget that.

But don’t let that stop you from getting rip-roaring drunk, either, because I damn well know I’m about to. Happy New Year!

I am so late for work right now.

…and I’m posting anyway. This morning on Twitter, @inkyelbows posted a link to the 1000 words / 500 words challenge; you pick one, and then try for the next year to write either 1000 words a day or 500 words a day for six days out of the week. If you make it more often than not, you keep posting the badge on your site. If you don’t, well, hang your head in shame and take the badge off.

I’m giving the 1000 words challenge a shot, if only because I think it’ll be a nice kick in the ass – until I forget about it / get sidetracked by life / get writer’s block, which I inevitably will. But maybe it’ll motivate me to pick up the pen again sooner. So I start today, after I finish work and some web design stuff I need to focus on. Maybe I’ll stick a widget in the sidebar to post daily status, or something.

Wish me luck.