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Annual goals: 2023 review and 2024 goals

My obligatory review of last year’s goals and list of goals for next year.

2023

  1. Write daily. I didn’t really write last year, for a number of reasons. I have a lot of stories plotted in my head, but they didn’t make it any further than that.
  2. Publish weekly. Can’t really publish if I’m not writing.
  3. Share a new crochet pattern monthly and finish a project weekly. I did a lot better with this one. I made a ton of new stuff, even if I didn’t share the patterns yet: hedgehog, llama, fox, pig, emotional support pickle, Cthulhu, devil, puka, nixie…the list goes on.
  4. Continue to live more sustainably. I didn’t ride my bike to work as much as I wanted (I work a lot of nights and have been too lazy to put a light on my bike), but I did stay pretty active. And I got more chickens. I don’t really need ten chickens, but we all know I’ll be getting more this spring too.
  5. Blog regularly. I didn’t do this, because I didn’t really have anything to say. Plus my site is kinda broken, and my computer is too old to fix it, so we’ll see what happens.
  6. Read 100 books. I read 30. Not my worst record, but also not my best.
Minivan next to a national forest sign with mountains in the background

110k miles on my appropriately-named Odyssey in just four years, including a trip to Alaska last summer. I think Honda should give me a sponsorship deal.

2024

  1. Write weekly. Baby steps to get me back into my groove.
  2. Publish monthly. I spent a lot on new covers for the Heartsbane Saga, so I really should push myself to get them out there. And there’s no excuse for not getting at least one short story done each month.
  3. Knock something off my bucket list monthly. I have this bad habit, that whenever I do something on my list, five more things take its place. I gotta step up my game.
  4. Read 100 books. Per usual.

If you’ve set goals for yourself, what are they? How do you plan to accomplish them?

Fall 2023 goal review

My quarterly-ish check-in on my annual goals.

2023 goals

  1. Write daily. Still no. Between work and school, I don’t really have time for much of anything, let alone writing.
  2. Publish weekly. Still nope. Maybe some day.
  3. Share a new crochet pattern monthly and finish a project weekly. I’ve made a couple new patterns. It’s fall craft show season, so I’ve been finishing a lot of stuff to sell.
  4. Continue to live more sustainably. I currently have ten chickens. Ten. No one needs ten chickens. I’ll probably get more next spring. And I’m planning on a backyard greenhouse still this fall. Once I get lights on my bike, I’d like to start riding to work again. We moved locations and I’m now closer to work, without a giant hill, so the only thing stopping me is having to ride there in the dark (and also waking up exactly 23 minutes before work starts, which is as close as I can push it and only be a couple minutes late. If they didn’t want us using that 7-minute grace period they shouldn’t have given it to us).
  5. Blog regularly. My site is still broken and I don’t have the time to call tech support to fix it.
  6. Read 100 books. 21/75. I don’t think I’m going to make it.

If you’ve set goals for yourself, what are they? How are you doing with them?

Spring 2023 goal review

My quarterly check-in on my annual goals.

2023 goals

  1. Write daily. No.
  2. Publish weekly. Nope.
  3. Share a new crochet pattern monthly and finish a project weekly. I’ve been crocheting a ton, but it’s mostly been to replace stuff I’ve sold at craft shows. I don’t have any upcoming craft shows, so I plan to focus on new patterns.
  4. Continue to live more sustainably. Weather is nice, so I should be able to start riding my bike to work as soon as I get around to replacing my tires. I’ve been doing pretty decent at changing my diet too (although that’s mostly because I either don’t have time to cook so I don’t eat at work, or I don’t have time to eat at work. Either way, I’m getting there).
  5. Blog regularly. Big negative-o. Also, I broke several plug-ins on my site and can’t get them fixed. So, this really is negative.
  6. Read 100 books. 8/17 is actually pretty good, for going to school full-time and working 50+ hours a week.

If you’ve set goals for yourself, what are they? How are you doing with them?

Annual goals: 2022 review and 2023 goals

Polar bear looking through a vehicle window

Picture my kid took of a polar bear looking up into our tundra buggy.

It’s a new year, which means it’s time for me to look back at how I did meeting last year’s goals, and then look ahead to what I want to accomplish for the year to come.

2022 goals

  1. Publish consistently. I published 12 pieces on Medium, but they weren’t consistent. My last piece was in September. This is probably because I started a new job in October but also stayed PRN at the previous place for a while, so I was working about 50-60 hours/week over 5-6 days, while also finishing up my last prereq class for nursing school. So, not a lot of time for anything else.
  2. Keep traveling. This is the one goal I blew out of the water. I traveled somewhere every month except December, and this was defined as at least 2 nights, at least 250 miles away. January we went camping in the Everglades and Florida Keys. February I wandered around Arkansas and Louisiana. March we took the train to Santa Fe and Albuquerque. April was a culinary trip to Detroit. May I headed out to Wyoming for a weekend of hiking. June was a weekend train trip to Washington DC for a rally for people’s economic and social service rights. July we went hiking and kayaking in northern Michigan and Wisconsin. August was an EPIC van life trip across southern Canada to visit the Vikings in Newfoundland. September we went to Minneapolis for the Renaissance festival. October was another EPIC trip to Winnipeg and then Churchill, Manitoba, the polar capital of the world, to see polar bears in the wild. And then November, I spent a weekend chilling in Milwaukee, eating pasties and walking along the lake and sitting in my hotel room’s whirlpool tub drinking beer, because I earned it.
  3. Be more mindful regarding sustainability and my health. I started out strong with this – I bought a lot down the street and planted a bunch of fruit and nut trees, I finally got my chickens – but then I got too busy trying to work too much and take classes, and it came down to cooking or sleeping, and sleeping won out. I’d either pick something up, or just not eat other than snacks during my shift. I also haven’t been going to the gym more than once every week or two. So sustainable, yes, but healthy – probably not.
  4. Keep plugging away on my Heartsbane series, both writing and marketing. I kept picking at edits and haven’t published anything, but I did reach out to a cover artist who’s currently working on new covers for all the books, which should be done in the next few weeks.
  5. Start a series on Kindle Vella. I have a couple stories written for a couple series, but I want to have half a dozen before I publish anything.
  6. Read 100 books. I’m not even going to mention the embarrassingly small number of books I finished this year.

Let’s move onto the coming year.

2023 goals

  1. Write daily. Over the last year or two, I haven’t been writing much at all. I need to get into a habit of doing it, or I’m not going to meet any of my writing goals. At this point I’m not going to define how much I write; I’ll see how this fits into my schedule (working full time, plus starting nursing classes) and check back in later.
  2. Publish weekly. Another writing goal I won’t hit without goal #1. Medium, Vella, publication or small press, whatever – I want to get something out there every week. Again, I need to get into the habit of this. And I also would like to start publishing other than on KDP and Medium, to widen my audience.
  3. Share a new crochet pattern monthly and finish a project weekly. Part of the reason I haven’t been writing is that for the past year, I’ve been crocheting almost every day. When I get home from a long, emotionally draining shift, sometimes my best self care is to spend a little time making something mindless while watching a mindless YouTube video. I really enjoy the challenge of creating my own patterns, and I’d like to share them with the world. I also have wayyyyyyy too much yarn that I need to use up. You can find my yarn adventures here.
  4. Continue to live more sustainably. This will include continuing to cut down on my clutter as well as just not buying stuff I don’t really need in the first place, growing more of my own food (I’m getting bees this year!), and walking/riding my bike/taking the bus to work. My new job is only 1.5 miles from my house, so there’s no reason I can’t stop be ready for work early enough to have time to not drive. I’m also trying to cut a lot of extra sugar out of my diet, as well as processed food (including fast food/eating out) and meat. I’m pretty sure my veins were pure Pepsi for a while due to substituting soda for sleep for a solid 8-10 months this year, and I need to move away from that.
  5. Blog regularly. I want to publish a new blog post on this site at least 2-4 times a month. And I also want to publish a social work-related article/post on Medium monthly.
  6. Read 100 books. As always.

If you’ve set goals for yourself, what are they? How do you plan to accomplish them?

Fall 2022 goal review

Every 3 months or so, I take a look at my goals for the year and how I’m doing with them. Public accountability and all that, if you will.

Frankly, it ain’t good.

The last few months – hell, probably this entire year – have kicked my ass. We’ve been short staffed at work and I’ve been picking up hours. Too many hours (usually 50-55, but I just had a 70 hour week last month), plus taking a class or two to knock out the pre-reqs and gen ed classes I need for nursing school, which I’ll hopefully be starting in January. My schedule has basically wake up at 6-ish pm, go to work until 7-8 am (inshallah), come home and sleep for a couple hours, go to class, come home and sleep for a couple hours, and repeat. Weekends are for catching up on housework and yardwork and spending time with my kid.

But, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. I just started a new job – and yes, I know I said with the last one that I’d have more free time, but this one does have less hours (only 40/week!), plus it’s about 5 minutes from my house. I’ll be picking up the occasional shift at my old job, but that’s on my terms.

So, with all that in mind, here’s my goal review.

 

  1. Publish consistently. I’m at 12 microfictions on Medium right now for the year, averaging about 1 per month. Not great but not horrible.
  2. Keep traveling. This is one goal I HAVE been meeting. July took me up to northern Wisconsin and Michigan, back to the Porcupine Mountains and then over for some kayaking around the Apostle Islands. My dad tripped while hiking and broke his finger so we didn’t do as much as I’d planned, but I ate about half a dozen pasties so it was worth it. And for August, I went on a little 7000 mile roadtrip to Newfoundland, to the Viking settlement at L’anse aux Meadows. Two weeks of just me and my van was the perfect de-stressor. Also, Labrador is one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been to. And then for September, my kid and I went to Minneapolis for a weekend. We hit the Renaissance festival, Mall of America aquarium, and Midtown Global Market for an overall lovely weekend of eating. Depending on my new schedule, I should be able to take monthly trips for the rest of the year. And for the rest of my life.author standing next to life size metal silhouettes of 6 Vikings
  3. Be more mindful regarding sustainability and my health. My orchard lot is coming along nicely. None of the trees are dead yet, and I’ve added 3 hican trees. I hope to still get garlic planted this year, and I’m looking at how to turn my front porch into a greenhouse so I can grow a few things over the winter, as well as get a bunch of seeds started for the spring. My chickens are laying 4-6 eggs a day. I am sick of eggs.
  4. Keep plugging away on my Heartsbane series, both writing and marketing. I’ve been picking at book 1.5 whenever I need to procrastinate on homework, but that’s about it.
  5. Start a series on Kindle Vella. I’m almost there. First episode is done, but I want to have several more ready to go before I launch.
  6. Read 100 books. I’ve been trying to read before I fall asleep, but I haven’t finished any actual books yet.

If you’ve set goals for yourself, what are they? How are you doing with them? Suggestions for my November and December trips?

Summer 2022 goal review

I try to review my goals several times a year. I know I just posted them not too long ago, but I’m trying to get back into the habit of blogging semi-regularly so here we are.

  1. Publish consistently. Nope. My goal is a couple times a month, and my total for the year is 8 publications, all of which were 100-word microfictions on Medium.
  2. Keep traveling. This I HAVE excelled at. I’ve been able to take a trip a month, with trip defined as at least overnight and at least several hundred miles away (ie, day trips to Chicago or Madison don’t count). The beginning of January we went to the Everglades and Florida Keys. In February I went down to Arkansas to hike around the forests near Little Rock and Hot Springs, and eat alligator and gumbo. In March, the kid and I took the train to Santa Fe and hiked around the desert and mountains (and as I discussed with the hiker I picked up in Wyoming, it’s a good thing we went when we did because the whole area was later on fire). The kid and I spent Easter weekend eating our way through Detroit. When classes were done in May, I headed out to Wyoming to hike around the Grand Tetons and Laramie, which is my happy place. For June, the kid and I went to DC for the Poor People Campaign’s Moral March. And I have some truly epic trips planned out for the next few months too. Knowing I’m getting away each month has been wonderful for my mental health.

    Map of the US with red dots marking destinations visited in 2022

    Google gives you a dot for every place you visit. This is my 2022, so far.

  3. Be more mindful regarding sustainability and my health. Several years ago, a house on my block burned down. The lot finally went up for sale last fall, and the price had dropped enough that I bought it this spring, as a place to grow everything I don’t have room for in my backyard. As of right now, I’ve planted 3 pear trees, 3 apple (want 2 more), 2 pawpaws (not sure what these even are??), 2 cherry, 1 plum, 1 juneberry, 1 jostaberry bush, and 2 pink current bushes. There was already a mulberry tree (which was used to make yummy apple mulberry strudel). In addition to the apple trees, I still want a walnut tree and several hazelnuts. Plus maybe some grapes, and then a big garden plot and all the spaces in between the trees. Also, the kid got chickens this spring as a 4-H project. His three are Magnus, Vulcan, and Alpharius (from Warhammer 40k), and my three are Carmen, Mercédès, and Frasquita. My three are sassypants assholes, much like their namesakes. They should start laying eggs in another month or so.

    On the other hand, I’ve been working 50-55 hours a week for the past few months, and my summer class is 3-4 hours/day 3 days/week, so I barely have time to sleep or eat, which probably ain’t so great for my health. Fingers crossed we’ll be fully staffed soon so I won’t be working as much. And my fall schedule is a lot lighter, with just one class a couple days a week, which maybe will give me some breathing room until I find something else that’ll take that back away.

    chickens next to several shrubs

    Damn chickens have since eaten every single leaf off that honeyberry bush on the right.

  4. Keep plugging away on my Heartsbane series, both writing and marketing. Another nope. I’ve started a few more ads, but I don’t exactly have much writing time right now.
  5. Start a series on Kindle Vella. Nope again, although I’ve started on a few short stories based on “The Diarassia Not Taken.” I think they’re going to be a horror/speculative fiction mix.
  6. Read 100 books. I’m not even going to say the embarrassingly small number of books I’ve read so far this year. Suffice to say, it’s bad.

Overall, I’m not doing so well on goals. Like always. I’ve been spending almost every daylight moment (when I’m not sleeping, since I work nights) outside, either working in my yard or my lot or doing outdoorsy stuff like kayaking. And traveling. Oh well. I’ll get there eventually.

Random Carmen thoughts, of which I have many: Elīna Garanča is the best Carmen, Yannick Nézet-Séguin is the best conductor, and this is the best scene in the whole opera. Roberto Alagna (who was almost 50 in this production) is wayyyyy too old to play Don José. Keith Miller should be in everything, and they should’ve left in the part where Dancaïre and Remendado set him on fire, as he shows up later with scars but without any explanation as to how he got them. Carmen: The Hiphopera is actually a really accurate, pretty decent adaptation. And Lillas Pastia is an awesome cat name.

If you’ve set goals for yourself, what are they? How are you doing with them? Also, thoughts on Carmen?

Annual goals: 2021 review and 2022 goals

Wow, I am really late with this.

Every year, I set goals for myself. And every year, I look back at how I didn’t meet those goals.

This year is no exception.

About a year and a half ago, I started a new job, as an overnight admissions social worker at a local psych hospital. I really enjoy it; not only is it a second shift job in my field, I like my coworkers, the pay is awesome, and it’s only 3 12-hour shifts a week with no weekends (although we’re short-staffed so I usually work 4 shifts). Theoretically I have an extra 1-2 days a week to myself, although that usually doesn’t happen because I’m sleeping or spending the weekend days with my kid.

So with all that in mind, let’s look at my 2021 goals and how I did with them.

2021 goals

  1. Continue to publish and promote my Heartsbane Saga series. This really fell off. I don’t think I actually got any more of them published this year. And while I did work on edits and rewrites for the first half of the year, that fell off too when I consistently started working 50+ hours a week in midsummer. And, quite honestly, the response to the series has been super underwhelming, so I’m not as gung-ho to get published quickly like I was this time a year ago.
  2. Publish something at least twice a week. I did decently with this for the first half of the year, until again, I got caught up with work over the summer.
  3. Marketing. I’ve consistently been running Amazon ads, and they’ve been good for some movement. I didn’t get around to a blog tour because I was waiting until I had a couple more books out. I have several in mind though, so maybe I’ll get to it later this year.
  4. Painting of Renaissance peasant woman holding a dog and shrugging as if to say WTF

    Possibly my favorite painting at the Met.

    Travel travel travel. This is one goal that I did overwhelmingly meet! In February I went to Dodge City, Kansas, because I liked watching Gunsmoke with my dad and because I wanted to spend more time in Wichita, where I found an awesome German restaurant, Prost. In March my kid and I spent a weekend in Chicago; usually we just go for a day, but this time we stayed overnight downtown and had some awesome arepas (which are his favorite thing this year). In April we went to Detroit, mostly to eat at Al Saha, my favorite Middle Eastern restaurant there, as well as Cadieux Cafe, a yummy Belgian restaurant, but we also went to a Korean barbecue place that was awesome. Memorial Day weekend we went to the Black Hills of South Dakota and hiked around the Badlands and Custer state park. In June, I vanlifed in Bemidji, Minnesota (home of delicious pasties), but it was too hot so I wandered over to Devils Lake, North Dakota. In July we went back to Wichita to hit up Prost, then over to Oklahoma City to get some goat sausage at the farmer’s market (yes, it really is worth the trip). In early August I vanlifed at Spirit Lake, Iowa, and also hit up the National Hobo Museum where I found my tribe. Then my mom, kid, and I spent a week in Hawaii, kayaking and hiking and of course eating our way across Oahu. I’d planned to vanlife up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in October but canceled due to bad whether. My kid and I went back to New York City for his birthday in November – in addition to good food, we caught Stomp again (five years to the day from when we saw it previously). Then in December we went down to New Orleans for a long weekend of shrimp po’ boys, jambalaya, and gumbo, before hitting up a couple barbecue places in Memphis, Tennessee, on our way back. And then right after Christmas, my dad, son, and I spent a week down in the Everglades and Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas, kayaking and hiking and eating great Latino food like pupusas and baleadas and ropa vieja. It was wonderful, all of it.

  5. Continue to Marie Kondo the shit outta my life. This year I tried to tackle my yarn stash. The problem is that with each box I tried to organize, I’d get sidetracked into making something with the yarn, and then I’d need to buy more yarn to finish the project. And while I’m buying more yarn, oh hey look there’s some clearance yarn. Just think what I can make with that! So, while the rest of the house isn’t too bad, my office/craft room is horrible.
  6. Read 100 books. Made it to 53.

So, maybe not the best year for goals. But what about 2022?

2022 goals

  1. Publish consistently. As of right now, I’d like this to be at least a couple times a month. I’ve already gotten back into the habit of posting on Medium every couple weeks, and I’ve noticed that I can get a lot more consistent readership when I’m on a more consistent schedule, as opposed to every few months. I also want to try to expand where I publish, rather than just Medium most of the time.
  2. Keep traveling. My theme this year is filling in the gaps – getting to all the places I haven’t been to yet. I’m hoping to go somewhere at least every months, if not more frequently. I have a ton of PTO and there’s no reason I shouldn’t use it, especially when vanlifing is my self-care.
  3. Be more mindful regarding sustainability and my health. I’ve noticed over the last year or so I’ve been eating out a lot more. It’s super easy to wake up and just grab dinner on my way to work, but it’s not healthy or cheap. And I’ve noticed that when I do cook, a lot of it doesn’t get eaten. To that end, I want to decrease my food waste, either by cooking less or freezing or dehydrating the leftovers. This goes for veggies too. And I want to grow a lot more of my food, as well as make healthier choices as to what I do buy. And more environmentally sustainable choices, such as less plastic and less meat. I’m also going to throw that Marie Kondo’ing goal into here, as I try to cut down on how much stuff and clutter I have.
  4. Keep plugging away on my Heartsbane series, both writing and marketing. It’s been a while since I published anything with this. I’ve been picking at edits for #1.5 “The Brave Little Thrall,” and #2.5 “Ezichi the Beautiful” is about half done. #3 Little Amethyst Abaya is done, but I need to incorporate changes based on what happens with #2.5. I have some Amazon ads running, and I want to promote it more as I release more books.
  5. Start a series on Kindle Vella. Amazon has this new platform for serialized stuff, and I have a few friends who are finding success with it so I’d like to try it out. I have a series of short stories I’ve been playing with, The Suburban Hedgewitch, about a woman who grants little innocuous wishes and curses to her suburban neighbors, that would work for Vella. I also wrote a little microfiction piece last year, “The Diarassia Not Taken,” and I think it would be a fun world to continue in. Then there’s a third work I’ve been scribbling on this year, about the MC’s past lives, that I think would lend itself well to serialization.
  6. Read 100 books. My perennial goal.

If you’ve set goals for yourself, what are they? How do you plan to accomplish them?

 

Media Monday: What if cryptids were real?

The books: Lorestalker series (1-5) by J.P. Barnett

The music: “Godzilla” by Blue Oyster Cult

A few years back, as I was wandering the country, I found myself at a cryptozoology museum in New England (I won’t mention the name because when I criticized it on Twitter, the owner got a little pissy about it). Suffice it to say, the exhibits were built on some questionable “science.” And I wondered, how can anyone believe this stuff?

Well, the Lorestalker series takes this and runs with it. It follows Miriam Brooks, daughter or renowned cryptozoologist Skylar Brooks, as she and her friends investigate weird phenomena around the country, from a Bigfoot-like creature, to a giant kracken and skinwalkers.

Book 1, The Beast of Rose Valley, takes place in small-town Texas. Some creature is killing livestock and animals at a wildlife sanctuary, and the powers that be are trying to cover it up. What hooked me into this book, and the series as a whole, as that I figured out who was responsible about 1/3 of the way in – and then the author said, “Yep, here’s what you figured out but also here’s this twist.” It’s a great twist, something that’s built on in the rest of the series so I won’t spoil it, but something that makes you want to try to figure out each book as you’re reading it. Throw in likeable, believable characters, and this is a series you won’t want to put down.

Book 2, The Kraken of Cape Madre, switches the main character from a Texas guy to Miriam. This threw me at first, since she was basically just a side character in the first book with no POV, but it works for the series, and she becomes the main protagonist for most of the series. Miriam, her cousin, and her best friend are on vacation on the Texas Gulf coast, and a giant octopus appears. Again, the author takes everything you think you’ve figured out about the story, tells you you’re right, and then takes it further with a similar twist to what he did in the first book. The plot is good, but it’s the characters that have me giving this book 5 stars. Miriam is very real, from her on-the-spectrum-ish behavior instilled in her by her obsessive, narcissistic father, to her guilt-ridden PTSD earned in the last book. Even without the enjoyable sci-fi/fantasy/thriller/horror elements, I’d keep reading just to tag along on her adventures and watch her growth.

Book 3, The Witch of Gray’s Point, shifts gears a bit. Miriam is taking a study break at her father’s ranch in the Texas desert – only he’s there too, with his new team of assistants. Miriam and her dad have a complicated relationship, to put it mildly, but she’s convinced to stay at least the night. And that’s when the skinwalkers show up – Native American demon people. Based on their descriptions and their abilities, I thought there was no way this book could have the same twist as the others – but then bam, there it was, showing just how creative and ingenious the author is. Some great character development in this too, for characters I wasn’t expecting it from, and I was even more invested in the series to see how everyone continues to grow.

By book 4, The Haunt at Hogg Run, I was devouring this series. As in, as soon as I finished book 3 I immediately bought and read book 4. Unfortunately, book 4 was a shift away from the themes of the rest of the series. I’m not saying it wasn’t good – it definitely was – but it was almost straight-up slasher horror, compared to sci-fi/thriller/horror of the rest of the series. This book focuses mostly on Macy Donner, Miriam’s best friend. We know her pretty well at this point, but it was jarring for her to carry the book on her own, without her friends along. And the cryptid in this book, unlike the rest of them, is revealed pretty early, so there’s none of the related suspense that the rest of the series has had. Again, this is a good book, but it broke my stride in the series a bit.

Book 5, The Devil of Misty Lake, was a return to the rest of the series. Miriam and Macy have their first real cryptid investigation, this time in the forest of the Pacific Northwest (I would’ve loved to see a reference to the Pacific Northwest tree octopus). The author also returns to the same twist/reveal he’s used in the prior books, and it works as well here as it did in the rest of them. I also liked the introduction of the new characters – a monster-focused bounty hunter and a local guide – who I hope to see teaming up with Miriam and Macy in future books. Miriam again shows some great character growth in this book, especially at the end, that I expect to affect her in future books as well. Macy has growth too, the realistic kind that comes from her experience in book 4, that demonstrate the author’s deep understanding of human nature.

Overall, I highly recommend this series. It’s a mix of sci-fi, horror, and thriller, but the characters are so skillfully written that the plot almost takes a backseat and becomes a way for them to interact and grow. Even if you’re not generally into this kind of series, I recommend at least checking out the first book.

The song accompanying this week’s books is awesome in its own right, but there’s one lyric that specially applies: “History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man.” And that’s the theme of these stories – whenever people start messing with nature, bad things happen. Again, and again, and again….

Fall 2021 goal review

Clyde happens

Clyde from Heartsbane does not care about my goals.

It’s that time of year – my quarterly check-in to see how I’m doing with the goals I set for myself in January.

We were short-staffed at work this summer, so I volunteered to pick up an extra shift each week. My schedule was 7pm-7am Monday-Thursday nights (50+ hours), and with sleeping and spending time with my kid, I didn’t really get a whole lot accomplished this summer. Just this month I’ve gone down to that extra shift just every other week, so maybe I’ll find some time for these goals. Haha.

That said, let’s take a look at my goals.

  1. Continue to publish and promote my Heartsbane Saga series. I haven’t made any progress on getting more stuff published, but I have increased the number of ads I’m running, and that’s helped with sales a bit.
  2. Publish something at least twice a week. I’ve only published 3 microfictions on Medium since my last update. A couple places I’d been publishing to regularly have Friday evening deadlines for prompts posted Monday morning, and with my schedule I don’t have time to write during the week.
  3. Marketing. As I mentioned for goal #1, I’ve been increasing my Amazon ads, and that’s helped with sales.
  4. Travel travel travel. This is one area I will NOT compromise on, because travel is my self-care. I spent a weekend at Spirit Lake and Lake Okaboji in northwest Iowa in early August, knocking the National Hobo Museum off my bucket list. Then a few days later my mom, son, and I went to Hawaii for a week, where we hiked and kayaked just about every day which was awesome. In September I went to St. Louis for the Pointfest concerts and to catch up with an old friend (I haven’t been to Pointfest for 20 years and we talked about our 401ks – I feel soooo old). I have several more trips planned – camping in northern Michigan next weekend, NYC in November for my kid’s 15th birthday (again, feeling old!), and the Florida Keys at Christmas. Maybe another weekend getaway in November or December too, depending on schedules.
  5. Continue to Marie Kondo the shit outta my life. I just went through my bedroom closet and got rid of a ton of clothes I haven’t worn in a few years and probably never will, plus one of my bookshelves with stuff for a local little free library. My basement is next on my list, as is my shed.
  6. Read 100 books. I’m at 45 books, which puts me at 33 behind schedule. I’m doing several review swaps, plus several of my friends have either just released books or will be soon, so I’ll be making an effort to read those. I’ve also had a hard time getting into some of the books I’ve started, and if I don’t finish sometimes I don’t count it at all. I don’t think I’ll make it to 100 though; maybe 75 by the end of the year?

If you’ve set goals for yourself, what are they? How are you doing with them? And what books would you recommend I read, so I can maybe hit that goal?

Summer 2021 goal review

Once again, it’s time for my quarterly check-in to see how I’m doing with the goals I set for myself in January.

I’m still adjusting to my new-ish job. Someone quit when they moved, so I’m picking up an extra shift every week for the next I-don’t-even-know how long. Which means 50 hours, over 4 days. Sometimes it’s slow and I have some free time to write or crochet or read or whatever, but for the most part life right now consists of work, sleep, and loading and unloading my dishwasher. As you can see, my annual goals don’t really fit into that very well.

Anyways.

  1. Continue to publish and promote my Heartsbane Saga series. I’m still picking away on edits on books 1.5, 2.5 (which has to come out before book 3), 3 (which has to be edited to match book 2.5), and now book 3.5.
  2. Publish something at least twice a week. I’m at 29 stories published on Medium so far in 2021, which is just over one a week. I serialized the first Heartsbane Saga story, “The Maiden in the Tower,” into 7 parts, but even excluding that I’m not doing bad for this. Aim for the stars, still on top of the world, and all that Pitbull jazz. I’m also looking into a series for Amazon’s new Vella thing, which would bump this number up too.
  3. Marketing. I have several things on my radar, as soon as I get another Heartsbane book or two out. September, maybe?
  4. Travel travel travel. Now here is somewhere I’m exceeding my goal. Since my last update, at the end of May I went to Rapids City, SD, and eastern Wyoming to hike around the Badlands and Black Hills (and tried Runza in Nebraska for the first time, after driving past them for years. Verdict: okay). Then the next weekend, I headed up to Bemidji, MN, to vanlife around the Frigid Northlands (and eat pasties), but it was almost 100F so I headed over to cooler North Dakota instead. Last weekend, I picked my kid up from his aunt’s in Kansas City, MO, so I’d have an excuse to go back to that German restaurant in Wichita I ate at in February, and then head to Oklahoma City to get some more goat sausage for ravioli. I’m hoping to squeeze in another weekend trip in early August, and then in the middle of that month I’m heading to Hawaii for a week, where I plan to make myself sick eating fresh pineapples and lychee smoothies daily.
  5. Continue to Marie Kondo the shit outta my life. My current project is my office, and specifically the yarn that covers every surface. My problem here is that every time I sort through a box of it, I get sidetracked by starting a new project with every skein. I have a couple craft shows planned for this year, so at least the projects aren’t wasted (assuming I finish them).
  6. Read 100 books. I haven’t made much progress with this since the last check-in; I’m currently at 28 books (26 behind schedule). I’m looking forward to spending some time reading on the beach next month, to try to catch up.

If you’ve set goals for yourself, what are they? How are you doing with them?

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