Even My Characters Make New Year’s Resolutions

Today marks the last day of 2009 and many of you will be celebrating the start of the New Year with friends and family tonight. I hope that everyone has a safe and fun holiday! In addition to champagne toasts and the singing of Auld Lang Syne, there will be millions of people across the country who will decide with determination that 2010 will be the year that they actually keep their resolutions. And, most of those promises will be broken by Valentine’s Day.

I thought it would be fun to imagine what the New Year’s resolutions might be for a few of the characters I feature in my three novels—Lifetime Loser, Finish Line, and Tuey’s Course. So, over the next couple of weeks, I will share those lists with you.

I’ll start with Justin Ventimiglia, one of the two teenage boys featured in Finish Line. Justin and his friend Keith are sent to work at the Prairie Winds Golf Course after vandalizing a neighbor’s house. During their summer maintaining the greens and golf carts, the two boys learn a lot about the importance of a good work ethic, perseverance, and appreciation for life.

I think Justin would have the following resolutions:

1. Volunteer at the local children’s hospital to spend time with children who have cancer, in honor of his mentor Curt.

2. Get better grades in school so that he is able to get an academic scholarship to college and relieve some financial stress from his mom.

3. Take some golf lessons so that he can join the guys on the course when he’s not working.

4. Find a cute girlfriend! (He is a teenage boy, after all!)

Do these look like good resolutions for Justin? Any others that you would like to add to the list? Also, let me know if there are other characters from my books that that you would like to see featured in the “New Year’s Resolution” series.