fbpx

Tag: goals

Summer 2015 goal review

1 Comment
Apologies to whoever created this - I'd credit you but I don't know who you are

Apologies to whoever created this – I’d credit you but I don’t know who you are

Every year, I set goals for myself, and every quarter, I review my progress. It’s already halfway through 2015, and here’s where I am (compared to where I want to be).

1. Write and submit at least one new short story every month, with the goal being at least 10 publications this year.

I’m up to about 15 half-written stories I carry around with me everywhere. I finish one class this weekend, and another doesn’t take much time, so for the next month I’ll have no excuse not to write (although I’m sure I’ll find several).

2. Write the rough drafts for a seven-part novella series, and maybe even publish one or two of them.

The first one is inching closer to done, and the outlines for the rest are coming together.

3. Have at least one novel published, with another one polished enough to publish in 2016.

No.

4. Publish at least two long short stories (10k+) or short story collections.

I’m about done with one long one that’ll be bundled with a couple short stories. It’s on my list to complete before I start classes in late August.

5. Improve my marketing strategy in order to increase my fanbase (as measured by newsletter subscription, Facebook page likes, and social media interactions like comments, likes, and favorites), sales, and reviews.

I’ve been experimenting with different approaches, but so far none are working. I’ve used several Fiverr people to promote sales and giveaways, with varying degrees of relative success (downloads). Thunderclap was worthless. I’ve gotten more traffic to my website with my Media Monday and Friday Five features, but it hasn’t translated to sales. Most of the promotions seem to require money, which I don’t have. But I will soldier on.

6. Read 100 books.

I’m at 29, which is only 22 books behind schedule. Having the Kindle app on my phone is really nice, because I always have at least 200 books to choose from (yes, I’m that behind).

7. Get healthier: cut out my daily breakfast Pepsi (not sure how the lack of caffeine will work when I generally only get 4-5 hours of sleep) and eventually almost all soda; go out to eat once a week or less; eat more fruits and veggies and less processed, sodium-drenched foods; use the gym membership I’m paying for; ride my bike to work when it warms up; etc.

This goal is actually still working for me. I’m still drinking too much Pepsi, but my eating habits are way better; I eat almost exclusively fruits, veggies, and homecooked, non-processed foods. Actually it kinda sucks – I’ll stop for a fast food burger between work and class and then won’t even want to eat more than a few bites because it doesn’t taste very good anymore. I haven’t really lost any more weight, but on the plus side I haven’t gained any either. Baby steps.

Actually, I lied about non-processed foods. I’ve been taking a lot of trips and I manage to find Popeye’s on almost every one of them – the Philadelphia airport, detour through Milwaukee just to get Popeye’s, twice in Chicago Heights this past weekend…. But the closest one to my house is about 150 miles away, so it’s not like I do this every day. And to be fair, I kayaked a ton last weekend so I earned fried chicken.

Overall, I’m not doing great but I’m staying afloat. My life’s going to change a lot in the next month as I quit my job and go back to school full-time, but I’m hoping I’ll also have more time to write.

Actually, that’s a lie too. I’ll take on some other project and be even busier than I am now.

If you’ve set goals for yourself, how’re they going so far this year?

Spring 2015 goal review

Comments

Every year, I set goals for myself, and every quarter, I review my progress. So, here’s my (lack of) progress so far in 2015.

1. Write and submit at least one new short story every month, with the goal being at least 10 publications this year.

I have several half-written stories, and a lot more one-page-written stories. In fact, I have about ten of them, each on a separate pad of paper. I carry at least three-four with me all the time in the hopes that I’ll have time to finish one. Not happening.

2. Write the rough drafts for a seven-part novella series, and maybe even publish one or two of them.

The first one is about half written, with the rest outlined.

3. Have at least one novel published, with another one polished enough to publish in 2016.

No.

4. Publish at least two long short stories (10k+) or short story collections.

I have about six stories in various stages of completion that I want to group into a collection, and a couple long stories half written. It’s just a matter of finishing them all.

5. Improve my marketing strategy in order to increase my fanbase (as measured by newsletter subscription, Facebook page likes, and social media interactions like comments, likes, and favorites), sales, and reviews.

I haven’t had time to focus on this; it’s top of my list for this summer.

6. Read 100 books.

I’m at 13, which is impressive considering how much free time I don’t have.

7. Get healthier: cut out my daily breakfast Pepsi (not sure how the lack of caffeine will work when I generally only get 4-5 hours of sleep) and eventually almost all soda; go out to eat once a week or less; eat more fruits and veggies and less processed, sodium-drenched foods; use the gym membership I’m paying for; ride my bike to work when it warms up; etc.

I’ve actually done this! Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been tracking what I eat with the MyFitnessPal app, and not only am I eating a lot healthier (and a lot less), but I’ve lost about 5 lbs. And it’s warm enough now that next week I’ll start riding my bike to work on the days I don’t have class or meetings after work that I have to drive to.

So far this year, I’ve learned that working 45 hours/week while taking 15 hours of graduate-level classes is pushing the limit of my abilities and leaves little time for anything besides homework (including sleeping). But it’s paid off, because I was accepted into a PhD program starting this fall! I’ll actually have more free time then, because I’m quitting my job when classes start in the fall and only taking 13 hours of classes (six of which are a three day/week internship). I’m also only taking one class this summer (compared to 3 classes and a 20 hour/week internship while working fulltime last summer). So while I haven’t made much progress yet this year, I anticipate having a lot more time to accomplish everything in just another month. If I can make it until then without my statistics class killing me.

If you’ve set goals for yourself, how’re they going so far this year?

 

2014 book roundup

Comments

gr2014One of my goals for 2014 was to read 100 books. I made it just past halfway, with a total of 56 (I didn’t include textbooks or journal articles I read for grad school, or kids books I read with my son, even the chapter books like the Ninja Meercats or Dragonslayers Academy series).

Here’s a breakdown of what I read:

  •     6 (11%) were either kids or young adult; the rest were adult.
  •     3 (5%) were nonfiction and the rest were fiction.
  •     17 (30%) were single short stories (yes, I realize it’s cheating to include those), and 10 (18%) were short story anthologies.
  •     I know the authors of 34 (61%) of the books; 8 of the authors (15 of the books or 27%) of them are also with my publisher, Evolved.
  •     Only 7 (13%) were books that randomly caught my eye on a library shelf or website; all the rest were either recommended or written by someone I know or follow online.

Best books I read in 2014:

If you challenged yourself to read a set number of books in 2014, how did you end up doing?  What were your favorites?  Anything you particularly disliked?

Resolutions: 2014 review and 2015 goals

1 Comment

Every year I set goals for myself and periodically evaluate them. Here are 2014’s:

1. Finish my third novel, tentatively titled On the Other Side, which will be a steampunk political thriller because, well, why not.

Did not happen because the combination of working full time while attending grad school full time kicked my butt this year.

2. Write and submit at least one new short story every month.

Did not happen because the combination of working full time while attending grad school full time kicked my butt this year. I have several ready to send out, but I haven’t submitted anything since late last winter.

3.Get a short story collection ready for publication (not including The Futility of Loving a Soldier, which was released by Evolved Publishing in December).

Did not happen because the combination of working full time while attending grad school full time kicked my butt this year.

4. Self-publish at least two long short stories through my publisher.

My publisher, Evolved, released “Not My Thing” in April. It’s been free since this summer and did pretty well for downloads.

I haven’t gotten anything else written because the combination – you get the idea.

5. Read 100 books.

I read 56 (post to come soon), which averages to about 1 a week. Not bad, considering this doesn’t include all the reading I did for classes and my thesis proposal.

6. Learn a new language – either Spanish, Tamil, Arabic, or Icelandic – to the point I can carry on a basic conversation in it.

Hahahahahahahahahaha.

shortline

I didn’t do so well last year when it came to writing goals – I started a new job that had about 5-10 hours/week mandatory overtime for several months, I took 4-5 classes each semester, I had a 20 hr/wk summer internship, and I was working on a thesis proposal the whole time. And I bought a 100-year-old house this fall that’s needed a bunch of work – painting everything, refinishing hardwood floors, etc.

2015 should be calmer though (or not – I may be in a PhD program instead of working, so we’ll see how that trade-off goes). However, every time I cross something off my list I seem to add two more things in its place, so with that in mind, here are my goals for 2015:

1. Write and submit at least one new short story every month, with the goal being at least 10 publications this year.

2. Write the rough drafts for a seven-part novella series, and maybe even publish one or two of them.

3. Have at least one novel published, with another one polished enough to publish in 2016.

4. Publish at least two long short stories (10k+) or short story collections.

5. Improve my marketing strategy in order to increase my fanbase (as measured by newsletter subscription, Facebook page likes, and social media interactions like comments, likes, and favorites), sales, and reviews.

6. Read 100 books.

7. Get healthier: cut out my daily breakfast Pepsi (not sure how the lack of caffeine will work when I generally only get 4-5 hours of sleep) and eventually almost all soda; go out to eat once a week or less; eat more fruits and veggies and less processed, sodium-drenched foods; use the gym membership I’m paying for; ride my bike to work when it warms up; etc.

shortline

What are your goals for 2015?

Fall 2014 goal review

Comments

Every year, I set goals for myself, and every three months, I review my progress. After the hectic summer I had (working 50 hours/week, 20 hour/week internship, two classes, and researching for my thesis), I don’t know why I’m even bothering because I didn’t accomplish anything this summer, but here goes anyways.

1. Finish my third novel, tentatively titled On the Other Side, which will be a steampunk political thriller because, well, why not.

This not only didn’t happen, but On The Other Side has been pushed out of line by outlines for two other novels that I might write first. One is about five characters very loosely based on people I met while interning at a homeless shelter, and the other is a sequel to The Lone Wolf.

2. Write and submit at least one new short story every month.

I’ve had two submissions in 2014: one for a publication that went defunct, and one rejection. I haven’t finished any new stories recently, but I’ve been heavily mulling over plot points; all I really need is to make myself sit down and write them. And then submit them.

I’ve recently joined a local writing group that starts each bimonthly meeting with a short story prompt. I’m hoping to finish each story I write and get them submitted.

3.Get a short story collection ready for publication (not including The Futility of Loving a Soldier, which will be out this fall from Evolved – hopefully).

I have three stories with similar themes and tones, plus a couple more half-finished stories that would fit with them. If I can get six done, I’ll publish them like I did with Us, Together.

4. Self-publish at least two long short stories.

I’m currently working on three that should come out to be about 10-20k words. Depending on when/if I get them done, I’ll probably go through my publisher, Evolved Publishing, rather than self-publish, like I did for “Not My Thing.” The results have been awesome for that – it hit #1 in July on Amazon’s free literary short stories list.

5. Read 100 books.

I’m at 43 – 24 books behind schedule.

6. Learn a new language – either Spanish, Tamil, Arabic, or Icelandic – to the point I can carry on a basic conversation in it.

I plan to really hit this goal this fall. I’m taking a class on campus once a week, so I’m hoping to get some language CDs to listen to on the hour-long drive. It’s nice to decompress to whatever’s on my iPod, but I feel kinda guilt for not being productive during that time, considering how much stuff I always have to do.

If you’ve set goals for yourself, how’re they going so far this year?

 

 

Summer 2014 goal review

Comments

Every year, I set goals for myself, and every quarter, I review my progress. This review will be very sad, because I currently work full-time, have a part-time internship, and take a couple classes in addition to writing and sleeping and eating when I get a chance.

1. Finish my third novel, tentatively titled On the Other Side, which will be a steampunk political thriller because, well, why not.

Same as in April: this hasn’t happened, and is nowhere close to happening any time soon. And actually, polishing my next novel, A Handful of Wishes, is taking longer than expected, so its release date has been pushed back to next April.

2. Write and submit at least one new short story every month.

I’m currently 2/6 for submissions. And one of those publications closed since I submitted. But on the plus side, I have a huge long list of story ideas that I’m slowly plodding through.

3.Get a short story collection ready for publication (not including The Futility of Loving a Soldier, which will be out this fall from Evolved – hopefully).

I have an idea for a themed anthology, kind of in the vein of Not My Thing, and I’m slowly working on some of them. Again, no time to write.

4. Self-publish at least two long short stories through my publisher.

My publisher, Evolved, released “Not My Thing” in April. It’s free everywhere, and currently #3 on Amazon’s list of literary short stories.

5. Read 100 books.

I haven’t read anything for about a month. According to Goodreads, I’m currently at 33 books – 16 behind.

6. Learn a new language – either Spanish, Tamil, Arabic, or Icelandic – to the point I can carry on a basic conversation in it.

Slowly but surely, I’m conquering Spanish. I’m able to read the Spanish billboards around town (although I think that’s more from knowing French than any Spanish I’ve learned). But I’ll get there!

If you’ve set goals for yourself, how’re they going so far this year?

Spring 2014 goal review

Comments

Every year, I set goals for myself, and every quarter, I review my progress. So, here goes.

1. Finish my third novel, tentatively titled On the Other Side, which will be a steampunk political thriller because, well, why not.

This hasn’t happened, and is nowhere close to happening any time soon.

2. Write and submit at least one new short story every month.

I wrote about twenty stories when I was in India in January, and I’m slowly working through edits. But so far, I’ve submitted two stories (one in January, one in February). I have one forthcoming from my publisher, but I’m not counting that one because it didn’t technically go through a submission process.

3.Get a short story collection ready for publication (not including The Futility of Loving a Soldier, which will be out this summer from Evolved – hopefully).

I don’t have nearly enough short stories right now for a collection.

4. Self-publish at least two long short stories.

I may revise this, because if my publisher is willing to release them, it’ll be better publicity. I guess it all depends on when I get something finished, and how long it is. I have a series of novellas in the planning stages that may fit here.

5. Read 100 books.

I’m at 19, which Goodreads tells me is 6 behind where I should be. I’m actually pretty impressed with this though; I’m working fulltime and taking a full courseload this semester, so I don’t have much time for anything.

6. Learn a new language – either Spanish, Tamil, Arabic, or Icelandic – to the point I can carry on a basic conversation in it.

I found a great podcast, Coffee Break Spanish, that I listen to at work. So far my Spanish skills aren’t great beyond the whole “Hi, how are you?” thing, but I’m slowly making progress.

If you’ve set goals for yourself, how’re they going so far this year?

2013 Book Round Up

Comments

2013readingchallengelogoOne of my goals for 2013 was to read 100 books. While I didn’t quite make it (72), that’s still pretty impressive. Here’s a breakdown of what I read:

  • 11 were either kids or young adult; the rest were adult.
  • 9 were nonfiction and the rest were fiction.
  • 20 were single short stories (yes, I realize it’s cheating to include those), and 12 were short story anthologies.
  • I know the authors of 27 of the books; 8 of them are also with my publisher, Evolved.
  • Only 16 were books that randomly caught my eye on a library shelf or website; the rest were either recommended or written by someone I know.
  • 17 were by Lindsay Buroker.

Best books I read in 2012:

  • Lindsay Buroker’s Emperor’s Edge series (7 books, plus some short stories): A steampunk/fantasy series about assassins and intrigue that’s really just a lot of fun. Plus the first one is free.
  • Butter by Erin Jade Lange (who’s originally from my hometown, but I don’t know her – although I found out that she’s an ex-girlfriend of my high school best friend’s husband): a YA book about an obese kid who gains popularity when he announces his plans to kill himself live on the internet
  • Strange Pilgrims: a book of short stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

If you challenged yourself to read a set number of books in 2013, how did you end up doing?  What were your favorites?  Anything you particularly disliked?

Resolutions: 2013 review and 2014 goals

Comments

2013

Last year, I set some goals for myself.

  1. Publish my novel, The Lone Wolf.
    Yes! It was just released by Evolved Publishing in December. As of right now, it has a 4.6 star rating on Amazon, from 5 reviews. And a reader told me it made her cry. So, score.
  2. Average a short story acceptance each month, with the majority of them in paying markets.
    No. I had one acceptance this year, probably because I crapped out on submissions after about March.
  3. Put out a short story collection.
    Yes! I released Us, Together: A Short Story Collection in June. It’s 6 stories about the problems teenagers face, from relationships and unplanned pregnancy, to absent parents and poverty, loosely based on stories and students I encountered while teaching at-risk kids.
  4. Get another novel ready to query.
    Kind of. Evolved is scheduled to publish A Handful of Wishes in December 2014, which means I should probably get it all shined up soon.
  5. Read 100 books this year.
    No. I read 72, which isn’t bad considering I was also working and going to grad school and writing and wasting a ton of time on the internet.
  6. Kayak the entire length of the Hennepin Canal.
    No. The closest I came was looking at kayaks at Scheels.

2014

  1. Finish my third novel, tentatively titled On the Other Side, which will be a steampunk political thriller because, well, why not.
  2. Write and submit at least one new short story every month.
  3. Get a short story collection ready for publication (not including The Futility of Loving a Soldier, which will be out this summer from Evolved). Maybe the stories about India I wrote on my trip?
  4. Self-publish at least two long short stories. I have half a dozen in the works; it’s just a matter of finishing them.
  5. Read 100 books.
  6. Learn a new language – either Spanish, Tamil, Arabic, or Icelandic – to the point I can carry on a basic conversation in it.

Ideally, I’ll have something new coming out every 3-4 months, in addition to more published short stories which will later be compiled into a collection. I think this is doable, but it’ll require massively-focused time management skills that I seem to be lacking.

What are your goals for 2013?

Bite-size ebooks

Comments

I don’t exactly have a lot of free time. Between working and grad schooling and writing and kid-chasing, there’s not much opportunity for me to read. Which is a problem, because one of my goals this year is to read 100 books (so far, I’m at 62 for the year).

I can squeeze in 15 minutes before class, or half an hour before bed, but it makes reading novels and longer books difficult (until the point I get sucked in and neglect everything else so I can finish the book), because it can take weeks to finish a couple hundred pages.

So lately, I’ve been turning to short stories on my Kindle phone app. I’ve published a couple short works – “Tim and Sara” and Us, Together: A Short Story Collection – that have done pretty well.

Fellow Evolved Publishing writers have written tons of short stories that are just what I’m looking for. Another fellow writer, Inge Moore, is super prolific and always seems to have something good for a quick read. And the Indies Unlimited website has Thrifty Thursday and Freebie Friday, great for discovering new shorts.

But of course, I’m always on the lookout for new short stories. Any suggestions?

The Musings of E.D. Martin © 2011-2020 Privacy Policy Frontier Theme