Do you really need another missive about new year’s resolutions?  Do you really think another 10-point bullet list is going to overcome years of comfortable habits?

Of course not.  Neither do I.

I never understood why we cram all our celebrations into the end of the year, when frankly I’m usually a wee bit exhausted, and then turn deadly serious at the start of the new year.  Can we lighten up a little?

Let’s celebrate, you and I.  I have the perfect excuse, if you haven’t noticed.  I promise, those resolutions will wait.

Friends, if it hasn’t been obvious, I’ve been struggling.

You may recall my first post on career design: why three jobs are better than one.  I meant every word I said when I wrote that post. But I have a problem: one of these jobs makes me much happier than the others.

It’s blogging.  I can hardly fall asleep at night because I’m so excited about the opportunities that are opening up for me right now.  I have lists on multiple scraps of paper of topics I want to write about.  My temp link folder in my favorites got so long, I had to create another folder.  And then I get such lovely fan mail, it kick-starts the insomnia cycle all over again.

Garrison Keillor laments in his own humorous way the rise of the self-annointed writer who blogs and publishes e-books.  As he says “18 million authors in America, each with an average of 14 readers, eight of whom are blood relatives.”  But the New Era writer also enjoys considerably more engagement with his or her readers, rather than relying on the filter of a presumably unbiased editor (who, more than ever, has to consider the bottom line).

Which is why I’m so happy to report the success of the Everyday Bright reader survey.  Nineteen people completed the survey (already 5 ahead of Keillor’s estimate).   I also got feedback in a variety of other forms: emails, phone calls, as well as the comments section of the Anniversary post.  I plan to keep the survey open indefinitely.  Good feedback never gets old.  But I thought I’d share some of what I received, and detail what I intend to do about it.