Kolam near my hotel in Puducherry, India
Every year I set goals and then periodically update the world on how I’m not meeting them. Here’s the latest year in review.
1. Write at least 30 minutes a day.
Did not happen – at least not on fiction stuff. This year was crazy busy with school stuff that I wrote on instead.
2. Finish something every month.
Nope. But I did at least start something every month. Now, if only I had time to write every day, maybe I’d finish them.
3. Publish at least 4 of those finished things.
I published “A Place to Die” in January. It’s available for $.99 at Amazon or free if you join my mailing list. And I had a short story, “Three Casseroles, Two More Cookies, and a Pile of Uncles on the Floor,” published in a local holiday anthology. I’m close on some other stuff, but school stuff popped up – comps, research projects, classes, etc.
4. Continue the focus on increased marketing.
Overall this year, I focused a lot on marketing: ads, promos, giveaways, etc. Unfortunately, I can’t say that it’s worked very well. True, I lakh-tupled my newsletter subscribers, but that’s not converting to reviews or sales. I’ll be reevaluating this for 2017 because I can’t afford to keep throwing away money on approaches that don’t work.
5. Read 100 books.
I read 73 – by which I mean I finished them completely; I didn’t count books I started but gave up on. This also doesn’t include books I read for classes.
6. Continue the focus on being healthy.
I joined a gym in November – and have made it twice, due to a very busy end of the semester (I think I pulled more all-nighters this semester than I have in the rest of my life combined). My diet also wasn’t the best towards the end – again, no time to cook so I ate a lot of meals out that weren’t the healthiest.
Overall in 2016
Overall, I failed at my goals. Every one of them. BUT I’m doing awesome academically and am on pace to get my PhD in 3 years instead of 4. I’m focusing a lot on building my career-focused CV, which doesn’t leave much time for much else. However, I seem to be more productive the busier I am, so I should have better time management in 2017 and thus actually meet some of my goals!
Speaking of which…
2017 goals
- Finish something every month – short story, novella, novel, anything.
- Publish at least 4 things – again, short story, novella, novel, anything. Either with my publisher or self-published or in a magazine, doesn’t matter where.
- Finish the draft of a nonfiction book that’s good for my career.
- Do more live events – readings, book fairs, etc. Again, it’s about getting my name out there.
- Travel more internationally – and Canada doesn’t count.
- Read 100 books.
What are your goals for 2017?
