Checking in with 2021 Goals

This past January I set some SMART goals in my post SMART Goals for Writing, School, and Health, and I actually did really well sticking to them, which is the point in SMART goals (the acronym means Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Constrained). While I'm not setting goals tonight, I did want to revisit my goals for 2021 and see how I did. Plus check in on how writing went this year.

School Goal: 

Complete 28 more credits by March 31, for a total of 48 in the first term.

Actual Achievement: 

I completed 40 by March 31. I then went on to finish, for a total of 84 credits, by the end of second term, which was September 30. I actually finished in mid-September and got my Bachelor's in Business Administration Management. 

Writing Goals: 

Short Stories - 2 3000-word stories by June 1

Novel - Get WIP to 50,000 words by June 1

Nonfiction - Outline craft book by June 1.

Actual Achievement: 

Short Stories - Met and exceeded. I just know I posted May 5 I'd written two short stories that week. Not sure how many more I'd written in the months before that. Probably only one or two because of school taking precedence.

Novel - Didn't touch it.

Nonfiction - Done. And at this point it's written, beta read, and nearing done on the edits. Plus, I've almost got a completed cover! So exciting!

Submission Stats Summary for the Year:

75 rejections

4 acceptances

Health Goals: 

Exercise - Complete at least 10 minutes of exercise each day through March 1

Weight - Lose 2 pounds by April 1

Diet - Get back on a keto diet by March 1

Mental Wellness - Meditate at least 5 minutes each day through June 1.

Actual Achievement:

Exercise - I highly doubt I made this. Withdrawal is hard. I'm still dealing with it (from a fibromyalgia medication--there's more information in my original linked post). I know I did my best to go for walks and do some yoga and tai chi, and I did it at least several days per week, but not daily. I also got out on several hikes. The below photo was of my last hike at Blodgett Peak. 

Weight - Didn't happen then. Turns out it's nearly impossible to lose weight on that fibromyalgia medication until the dose is low enough. I'm now down to about 3mg in the painfully slow taper I'm having to do, and have lost 9 lbs in the last few months.

Diet - Nope. Instead, pressed by school, we started doing Hello Fresh so the rest of the family could contribute and take some of my load off. Trying to add a restrictive diet to that wasn't going to happen and probably isn't going to happen until I'm completely off the fibromyalgia medication.

Mental Wellness - Mostly done, but I know I missed some days. A lot of times it was bedtime meditations with an app to help me sleep. 

I'm feeling great about my accomplishments in 2021. Are they perfect? Nope. But what I accomplished, I did despite major health issues. I FINALLY got my BS degree at 43 years old. I'm about to publish my first craft book on a topic I'm passionate about. I'm making progress in tapering from a horrific drug, despite the obstacles thrown up. I hiked more this year than I have since the health issues started. I fought to get my daughter diagnosed with autism, and she has thrived this new school year. I successfully finished two seasons of my podcast. And so much more.

Next year will be better. But this year I'm happy with what I did.

Did you set any sort of goals for 2021? Have you revisited them yet? How did you do? Did you accomplish anything you're proud of this year? 

May you find your Muse.

2019 Goal Setting and 2018 Review

Yay, it's the new year! I'm hoping, like many others, that 2019 goes a bit better than 2018 in every way possible.

When I do this post every year, it's really just to look forward and consider what I intend to work on for the year. The goals are fluid, and can be changed or replaced at any time. I don't believe in resolutions for the new year, so much as using this time period to narrow my plans.

First, my submissions for the year:

I submitted 51 stories.
I received 43 rejections.
I pulled 9 stories from submission for various stories (including magazines appearing to have gone under and no longer responding to queries.)
I placed 9 stories.
I released my first solo collection of short stories!
I ended the year with 9 stories still out on submission.

Apparently, the number for the year was 9. Here's hoping I beat that number this year.

My goals for the year were:

• Write a short story or flash piece each week (this is majorly pushing it for me, but I'm going to try.) hahahahahahahahaha!
• Read at least one book each week. Some weeks I got more than one in.
• Finish Novel #3. Not quite.
• Start Novel #4.
• Continue submitting short stories (aim for 100 rejections and 12 acceptances.) Marking it off because I did submit consistently, though I didn't reach the goals of 100 and 12.
• Write short stories in at least three genres.
• Write more nonfiction.
• Query craft book. Not yet. I've been debating self-publishing it instead.
• Self-publish short story collection.
• Evaluated Novel #1 to see if I want to pursue or trunk (though it's obviously trunked for now.)
• Take more pictures.
• Send workshop proposals to one conference new to me.

My goals for 2019 are:

• Finish novel #3
• Finish novel #4
• Make a decision on the craft book
• Write at least 1 short story each month
• Continue to explore other genres/styles
• Go to one new conference/convention
• Put out another collection
• Take more pictures
• Hike more
• Query novel #2

Now for links! Bear in mind I'm not endorsing these, merely passing them along. Always do your own due diligence before submitting.

Accepting Submissions:

Atlantean Publishing is seeking fantasy stories related to Clark Ashton Smith's writing. Pays one penny sterling per word. Deadline January 31. 

Nashville Review is seeking fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Up to 8000 words. Pays up to $100. Deadline January 31.

Freeze Frame Fiction is seeking flash fiction. Up to 1000 words. Pays $10 per piece. Deadline January 31.

Otter Libris is seeking stories for MCSI: Magical Crime Scene Investigation. 3000 to 10,000 words. Pays $25. Deadline January 31.

Flash Bang Mysteries is seeking mystery flash fiction. 500 to 750 words. Pays $20. Deadline January 31.

Death's Head Press is seeking stories about revenge. 3000 to 8000 words. Pays $10. Deadline January 31.

Atthis Arts is seeking stories of all genres for Five Minutes at Hotel Stormcove. 1000 to 4000 words. Pays $.06/word. Deadline January 31.

Did you set any sort of goals or look ahead to your plans for the year? How did you do on last year's goals? Any of these links of interest? Anything to share?

May you find your Muse.

How'd You Do?

It's December! Which, of course, means time will suddenly shorten, squish together, eat itself like the infinity snake. Cut everything you think you'll get done in half. Right? Okay, maybe that's just me. The craziness is already starting to smear itself across my calendar.

But December also means that NaNoWriMo has come to a close. Thusly, so has ShaNoShoStoWriEdSubMo.

How did you guys do? How many completed their goals for the month (whether NaNo or otherwise)? How many didn't complete their goals, but still feel good? How many are pounding their heads into walls right now?

Well, stop it!

If you got even one word written, one plot planned, one character created, pat yourself on the back. Beating yourself up will just make you have more trouble moving forward. No self-abuse or flagellating. The holidays can be stressful enough without beating oneself up.

As far as ShaNoShoStoWriEdSubMo, I didn't have any hardcore rules like NaNo, so I'm feeling pretty good about it. I touched base with my novel that needs editing, my WIP that I'm working on finishing, and I got some writing and editing done on short stories. Was I as productive as I envisioned myself? No. But I'm cool with it. This was a crazy month, and I knew it going in, so I told myself what I could do would be just fine, that anything accomplished was progress beyond what I had already.

I hope everyone's feeling good, or at least okay, with their progress over November.

And I hope Thanksgiving (or the weekend) were good to you, as well!

Are you setting goals for December? Or do you take the month "off" from writing pursuits? If you're setting goals, what are they? If you aren't, do you typically set yourself goals or go where life takes you? How was Thanksgiving?

May you find your Muse.

Happy New Year...ahem...Tomorrow, Anyway

Okay, so I know it's a little early to say Happy New Year, but I'll be busy tomorrow, so you get it today.  Plus, I was part of engineering the end of the world on the 21st, so I figured I'd make up for it by ushering in 2013.  You do know, of course, that there is an apocalypse predicted to happen before tomorrow, right?  Wait, this blog isn't just about apocalypses...

Anywho, speaking of the new year, I don't really do resolutions, but I can't help but look at past goals and see where I am with them, and what I'd like to accomplish in the next year.  So I guess I sort of do resolutions, but not in the same sense as some?

As part of this, and before I mention next year's goals, I thought I'd revisit my Project 52 goals.  You can't see that tab right now, because I can't get the darned tabs/pages to wrap around and make a second row, so I can only have a couple visible at a time.  But, I will pass along what else I've achieved recently and the total numbers of finished goals.

13. Complete skinwalker short story
22. Journal
25. Write 1000 words daily for a week (excluding weekends) (did this one, INCLUDING weekends, yeah, baby!)
37. Don't forget to enjoy writing - if something becomes no fun, take a break and try something new (while this was meant more as a reminder, I've done it!  I haven't hated writing or felt pressured to do it so much as before)

I have some that were partially finished, but I decided they couldn't be listed.  Darn it.

So, my total for the year of finished over total was: 19/52

Yikes!  But I tell you what, I look at some of those goals now and go...meh.  And I accomplished things I hadn't listed, such as several more short stories, a couple submissions, presented workshops at two different events, booked at least one more for next year, and doing my very first blog hop that wasn't someone else's idea!  So, guess what?  I'm good with what I've accomplished this year.

For next year, I'll be updating my Project 52 list, and I hope to try to keep some track of books I read.  I'd also like to try to submit something each month, whether that be a short story, flash fiction, an article, a poem or a photograph  (or, by all means, a novel).  For my Project 52 list, I will be putting non-writing related goals on it this time, as last year I padded it with things I didn't necessarily really want to do, which is no way to create goals.  If I don't care about them, or they don't make sense for this year, what's the point?  So I'll look at modifying that, OR I'll reduce the number of goals I have to begin with, and simply add things as I go along.  A year is a long time, though sometimes it doesn't feel like it, and I know that my goals and ideals changed throughout the year in 2012, mutating as things progressed, and I came up with plenty of new goals that never found their way onto the list, but would have been crossed off had I done so.

Despite that, this year was a rather amazing year, and one I'll never forget, for many reasons.  I learned a lot, stretched myself outside my comfort levels on multiple occasions, became a part of some new things (another element of putting myself out of my comfort levels), took on some big jobs, and changed the way I saw certain things.  I survived the Waldo Canyon Fire.  I successfully took my kids on adventures this summer.  I started volunteering at the school.  

It has, overall, been a good year.

And for that, I'm thankful.

Have a wonderful 2013, everyone!

What are your goals or resolutions?  Did you achieve any of what you hoped to over the last year?  

May you find your Muse.