It’s that time of year: looking back on my goals for the previous year and then setting goals for the new year.
2019 goals
2019 was pretty rough. I changed jobs midyear, and while I really love my new job, it’s very emotionally demanding. I also filled in for about 2-3 months, which means I was often too drained to work towards any of my goals for a big chunk of this fall. I’m also used to having a lot more time off – I was in grad school for three years and then worked in a school – and so I’m still adjusting to not having 50+ days off a year.
So, here’s how I did in 2019.
- Publish to Medium at least weekly and Patreon monthly. I published 16 stories on Medium in 2019. I was doing okay – not great, but still okay – until I took that part-time job, and then I didn’t publish anything from August until just last week. As for Patreon, I don’t have any patrons so I didn’t have any incentive to hit this goal. I posted three short stories, and the last one was way back in July. This goal probably won’t take off until I have patrons.
- Finish my novella series. I’m almost done with book 4, of seven, and I have several related shorts finished or half started. My writing group has done a great job of keeping me motivated to finish this, as well as given me great feedback on plot and characters.
- Increase my networking. This was going well until it wasn’t. How’s that for a summary? When I had free time I was able to do a lot more reading of blogs, Medium works, etc. When I didn’t have free time this was the first goal to go. I’ve stepped it back up this last month, and I’ve actually seen results with more views of my own stuff. It’s a valuable goal that I need to make time for.
- Read 100 books. I read 61 books in 2019. Reading was another thing that got pushed aside. I was making great progress the first half of the year, but my emotional energy-sapping job left me coming home to veg out and crochet in front of YouTube, not a book.
- Keep going with my trauma-informed care/school social work writing. Again, my job (which I really do love) sucks up all my social work energy during the day and I try very hard not to think about it when I’m not working, because I could easily spend 60+ hours a week on it and it still wouldn’t be enough. I’d like to get back into this stuff eventually but right now I need a recalibration break from my career path.
- Have more adventures. I didn’t really have any adventures this year, and unfortunately I don’t anticipate having any for the foreseeable future. Adulting sucks.
Overall in 2019
2019 was pretty much a wash, other than making a lot of progress on my novella series. Oh well. Life goes on!
2020 goals
- Finish and submit/publish my Heartsbane series and 7+ related short stories. I’m over halfway done, which is very motivating. I had to go back and make some changes to the first couple books, rather than retcon the later books, but I think the first one is good to go to my publisher in the next few weeks, as well as at least one short story I want to release to build buzz. I then should be able to have a new one release every 3-4 months after the first one.
- Publish to Medium at least twice a month. I’ve focused a lot of my writing time on my novella series, but it’s not hard to fit in a flash story as well. One of my stories was curated by Medium staff and is doing really well, and I’d like to try to get a couple more picked up as well. At the very least, I want to generate more momentum on Medium, and I can’t do it without new stuff on a regular basis.
- Continue to increase my networking. I’ve seen tangible financial results when I’ve done this consistently. The problem is that it requires momentum, and when I lose that momentum I have to start all over. I want to comment on, clap for, and/or share at least 15 people’s blog posts or works, at least 4-5 times a week.
- Buy a cabin on Lake Superior. Okay, so this isn’t happening this year. But one of my long-term goals is to have a little cabin on the UP of Michigan, and it’s actually financially possible, but the first step is to get out of debt. To reach this goal I’m gonna need to up my side hustles: writing, selling crochet stuff, plasma donation, second job, whatever. I NEED this cabin for my misanthropic mental health.
- Marie Kondo the shit outta my life. This applies both physically and mentally. I have way too much stuff I don’t use, need, or even want, and so I’d like to get rid of a lot of it. I’m planning to do some no-buy months so that I’m also not bringing in stuff I don’t need (which ties into goal #4 as well). I’m also going to try to change some of my habits so that I’m spending more time on things that actually matter to me, like developing a healthier lifestyle, writing, and meeting my goals. I’ve come to realize that if I don’t prioritize this stuff, no one else will either.
- Read 100 books. Maybe I’ll actually do it this year!
The key to meeting these goals, like I said in #5, is actually putting in the effort. No one will do them for me.