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.

What? I Set Goals Last Year?

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you had a pleasant kickoff to 2016, whether that meant staying in or going out. I stayed in, like last year. We were watching Walking Dead when the fireworks began on Pikes Peak. The kids were zonked out, but we woke them up so they could watch. My son just rolled over and went back to sleep, but my daughter watched them.

I inadvertently took a break for Christmas and New Year's. Despite the fact it was unplanned, it was nice to give myself time off, which not only included not blogging, but also included setting aside volunteer work for two weeks (for the most part.) There's been a lot going on, and I was reaching the point of being overwhelmed. A two week break was magical.

But I'm glad to be back!

I couldn't remember if I set goals for 2015, so I went back to January 2015 and checked it out. Lo and behold, I did! Not only that, but I did a fairly solid job of fulfilling the goals, even though I didn't remember having set them.

My goals for 2015 were:

• Finish revising my YA novel and get it ready for submission. I touched on it by post-outlining, but have done nothing more with this novel this year.
• Finish my Urban Fantasy novel. Did it!
• Revise my UF novel. Halfway through revising it.
• Continue writing, editing, and submitting short stories. I kicked this one's ass!
• Place several short stories for pay. Did it!
• Start working on articles again. Mmmm...not really.
• Journal. Nope.
• Continue to experiment and enjoy collaborations and projects to expand my horizons. I've done plenty of experimenting with my writing this year, and look forward to trying more.
• Continue with the horror reading/review challenge. Still on it.

I feel pretty good about this! Not half bad. So I'm going to set this year's goals, which I will promptly forget, but hopefully magically manage to fulfill anyway. (Really, the goals I set last year were in line with what I wanted to do through the year, so I may have forgotten that I wrote them down, but I didn't forget I wanted to do these things.)

Last year, I mentioned that I set goals knowing things change, sometimes drastically, over the course of the year. Any goals I set are to steer me in the right direction, not to give myself another reason to stress out or beat myself up when I don't accomplish them. With that understanding, here are my goals for 2016:

• Finish first revision of novel #2 (UF above).
• Do a second pass through on novel #1 (YA above).
• Start novel #3.
• Continue writing short stories, revising them, and submitting them. One per month would be fantastic, and give me time to focus on my novels, but we'll see.
• Finish all short story revisions pending.
• Submit those short stories once revised.
• Have one of the novels (#1 or #2) ready by April, so I can query an agent at PPWC.
• Continue experimenting with my writing and finding the joy in it.
• Get back to my photography (what? I just slipped in a non-writing goal...)
• Continue with the horror reading/review challenge

That's more than enough, BUT they're things I want to do this year, whether I write them down or not. My photography has fallen by the wayside. I haven't taken a photo just for fun (scenery vs. my kiddos) in months. So I'm throwing that in there, too. I figure exploring other creative ventures I enjoy is a good way to inspire my writing, as well.

What about you? Did you set 2015 goals? How did you do with them? Are you setting 2016 goals? Do you set them so they're hard to attain, or do you set them minimally to steer your year? Or do you skip them entirely? Most of all, what are you proudest of this year?

May you find your Muse.

Image by OCAL, clker.com

ShaNo Update, Week 2

I'm feeling pretty good about my progress with ShaNo this week! Better than the first week.

To recap, here are my goals for ShaNoShoStoWriEdSubMo:

Shiekh Tuyin & Iyo, clker.com

Writing

Write 1 new flash fiction piece

Write 1 new vignette (still trying to fully figure out the form)

Write 3 new short stories 

Write at least 5000 new words on WIP #2

Editing

Edit 2 flash fiction pieces awaiting editing

Edit 3 short stories awaiting editing (1 short story edited, 2 left)

Edit at least 5 chapters of WIP #1

Submitting

Re-submit pieces currently awaiting submission

Submit newly edited pieces from above (Submitted the one short story I edited)

I also made a breakthrough on a short story I was working on. It was inspired by one odd sight that disappeared when I did a double take, and I found that I had no idea where I was going with it, though I liked the way I'd set it up. Finally, finally, FINALLY, today I figured out where I wanted to go! I'll be attending a write-in we're having tomorrow, so I intend to work on this story to see if I can't finish it up for my next critique group submission.

I've still got a lot to do before the end of the month, but getting any of this done is something I'll be happy with. Plus, I'll have an update on submissions/rejections that will feel much better than last month come IWSG time.

What writing goals have you met this week? What goals do you have for yourself next week? Where are you in your NaNo word count? Have you had a breakthrough lately?

May you find your Muse.

2014 Goal Setting and Inadvertent Hiatus

Oh boy, it's that time again. Time to set some goals for myself. I hate to call them resolutions, but I do like to look at the year to come and consider what I'd like to accomplish before the end of the next year.

Before I do that, I wanted to say a belated Merry Christmas! I took a somewhat inadvertent hiatus last week. My laptop died. My NEW laptop died. Apparently, it has hardware issues. I had access to other computers, but knew I wouldn't be able to do the Wednesday links post or photo post (I have my photos on my laptop, as well as the spreadsheet where I list any links I come across that I want to pass along). Luckily, my superhero hubby was able to take everything off that hard drive, put it on a new one in a different laptop that is currently either a temporary loaner or just my new laptop until we get this all worked out. I decided it was a great reason to give myself a break for a week, and ducked out of work-related items, as well. It was a pretty good break, all things considered, but I stressed about the things I should be doing, so not as good a break as it could have been.

Anyway, I'm back! I hope your week was wonderful.

Back to goal setting.

What did I achieve this year? 

• I sold my first paid short story (only to have the magazine tank). 
• I joined a critique group.
• I jumped into a fun collaborative writing project, and though it may never see a completed novel out of it, I don't feel like I wasted my time. It was a valuable experience.
• I un-trunked my first novel, because I decided it was worthwhile, and I have a plan of attack.
• I nearly finished my second novel. Soooo close now.
• I finished quite a few short stories.
• I participated in some great online projects, including the Tree of Life and Composers for the Philippines.

And I'm sure there are other things, but this is a good list for now, I think.


What would I like to achieve in 2014?

• Better self-discipline.
• Finish novel #2.
• Edit novel #1.
• Submit at least three short stories.
• Work out a better schedule (this is a perpetual goal...and one I never seem to achieve.)
• Spend more time writing.
• Do something writing-related that makes me nervous. Example: Submit to a pro-paying market I think I stand no chance of getting into.
• Write something different than what I typically write. For instance, a genre I don't dabble in typically. Romance? Erotica? Steampunk? 

Okay, enough goals for now. I wanted to make a do-able goal list. I'm tired of stressing myself out.

What are your goals for the year (or any time period)? Do you like setting goals for yourself, or would you rather avoid that whole rigmarole? When was the last time you did something in writing that scared you? What are your achievements for the year (I don't care how minor)? Do you keep your goals minor or do you like to use them to really stretch yourself? 

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.