For the last week or so, I’ve been pondering 2009 and looking forward to 2010. I’ve read about others’ resolutions, goals and words for the year. I’ve thought about what I did and didn’t do in 2009, and wondered how I could make 2010 better.

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions or set yearly goals all at once in January, but the end of one year and the beginning of another does seem like an appropriate time to reevaluate where I’ve been and where I’m going. If opportunity is a book and today is the first chapter, what will 2010’s story be? A romance? An adventure? Hopefully not a tale of horror!

Whatever the story turns out to be, I must remember that I’m the author of my pages. Even if things don’t go my way, or something unexpected happens—and it’s bound to—how I react to what happens determines the words written on the page. And as the author, if nothing at all happens for long stretches, whose fault is that?

As my words trickle or pour onto the page, I’ll arrange and rearrange them, always looking for meanings and patterns in my experiences. At the end of 2010, I hope to have a masterpiece.

Welcome to the first chapter of the book of the new year. What stories will you write on its blank pages?