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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Milestones and Setback for 2013, Goals for 2014

Here's a really fun experiment. 

This was my post last year, Milestones and Setbacks for 2012, Goals for 2013 

All I can think of it wow. Wow wow. The places I am now, the places I thought I would be...looking back on the year and figuring out what you could have done better, different, and what you want to never changed. It's a strange feeling, like the room is spinning even though you're standing still. 

I thought I would make a comment on my goals for this year and see what happened. I'm not going to say failed, because that's just too negative and I put enough stress on myself as it is. 

My goals for this year, and how I stacked up:

*Finish writing Zombie Road Trip before the end of January 

I did it! By the skin of my teeth, but I finished sometime around the second week of January *is too lazy to look up the exact date*
 
*Edit the pants off Zombie Road Trip
 

This sort of happened. I edited the crap out Zombie Road Trip. And then some more. And it's still off and wrong, and I can't figure out what direction to take the book it. It's just so personal and hard to read that I wind up needing long breaks away to get the distance I need to be able to actually edit it. Which sounds like bullshit, but it's the truth I am having a hard time admitting to.
 
*Query Zombie Road Trip

This so did not happen, and I need another good edit before it's ready for the betas. So yeah. 
 
*Get website attached to blog soon
 

I didn't do that, but I did revamp my blog and add the pages I wanted. It's not nearly what I wanted it to be, but in the midst of moving and packing, something had to slide.
 
*Do more active things with blog--contests, give aways, guest posts etc
 

See above.
 
*Learn how to manage time better for everything--writing, life, friends and family
 

This actually happened. I manged to get into a routinue of when to do the dishes, to sweep and mop, to write and spend time with my husband. It's not perfect, and it falls apart when something happens, but it's there.
 
*Exercise regularly
 

Not quite as regular as I want, but for awhile before we moved I was doing a really good job of going out for a walk after dinner with the kid, and stretching in the morning. It's harder to do here, since we're inside an apartment complex, not a neighborhood, but there's places for it and I need to make the effort.
 
*Attend James Scott Bell's Next Level fiction writing seminar
 

Didn't happened; no money for it.
 
*Attend RWA that's being held in Atlanta next year (2013)
 

Also didn't happen.
 
*Attend Dragon*Con and spend lots of time with Rena
 

Happened and it was so much fun!
 
*Make more time for reading
 

Done! I am reading like a mofo! Go me!
 
*Attend cousin's wedding in hometown of upstate New York
 

I went with Connor and my family. It was...surreal returning to my childhood home I'd hadn't seen in over a decade. I had a lot of fun. 
 
*Plan meals better, and experiment more

Dinner is also happening, and I feel more in control. Not that I wasn't cooking before, but I only knew how to make a handful of meals that turned out well. Out of desperation and boredom, I'm trying recipes and making things yummy. I cooked Thanksgiving by myself this year after all!
 
*Maybe start a bento blog? Or post on here about bento adventures?
 

Not happening in the near future. Just, no.
 
*Finish ripping giant collection of cds into iTunes and finish music library once and for all

I also made some progress on this, hoping to not have to pack the hundreds of jewel cases I have, and made half way progress before we moved. So I compromised, and bought a giant CD holder where my CDs now live.

Okay so. That was last year.

Milestones, Events, Accomplishments:

*Moved to Puerto Rico
*Finished rewriting Zombie Road Trip 
*Kept self and family alive (this counts! Don't laugh!)
*Read a lot of books this year
*Went to several author events 
*Went to Dragon Con and it was AMAZING!
*Wrote 50K and 20K on two different manuscripts only to have my hard drive wipe and cut that in half.

Set Backs:

*Moved to Puerto Rico. Don't get me wrong, it's gorgeous here. But it was so not part of our five year plan. Sold my car, traded in my husband's Jeep and wound up having to get a more expensive one, sold most of our big furniture. Moved to a new country and had to start over with a lot of things we already had taken care of.
*Realized Zombie Road Trip still needs lots of edits. *weeps quietly*
*Hard drive wiped itself and took the knees out of both of my rough drafts. Much pitying and weeping and gnashing of the teeth happened.

Goals:

*FINISH UNPACKING THE HOUSE OH GOD THE BOXES
*Self publish a novella. Details to come
*Really seriously get this closer to what I want out of website. It's coming. I've got things in the works.
*Edit! Edit! Edit! Lots of editing in my future!
*Query. I'm thinking about revising Ghosts Between Us before tackling ZRT again, so we're leaving this open ended. 
*Finish the two rough drafts I have started.

I feel like this list should be a lot longer, but I'm drawing blanks here. This is a good at-a-glance in any case. It's not like I don't have several major projects on the to-do list here.

So what are your plans? Any goals? Do you make lists like these, or do you prefer to live in bliss?
 

2 comments:

  1. I like your goals. I feel like they are such a hard thing to balance out. Either I set them too high or too low. I never have them just right.

    But then again, sometimes we need really attainable goals so we can notch them off. Some times, we need really hard goals so we have something to strive for. Both work. Either way, I'm in on the novella. Let's rock this! I'll send you my ideas for a schedule for getting those silly things out the door.

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    1. I totally agree. I try to move between realistic goals and things I actually want to do but it feels hard.

      And yes, let's rock this novella thing! I'm excited. And please send me your scheduling ideas. I'm feeling overwhelmed about all the part except the writing bit. :D

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