Mid-year (or thereabout) goals check in

Each year, in January, I write myself a letter, outlining the goals I have for myself during the year.  

And now it's that time of year where I check in on the goals I set myself at the beginning of January, to see how I'm tracking.  Let's take a look, shall we?  My comments on the goals are in coloured type...

Dear Me,

Can’t quite believe it’s 2018 already; it feels like five minutes ago I was writing my 2017 goals. Not that I did so well with those…

I feel like I was probably too ambitious with my goals last year and set myself unrealistic targets in terms of the amount of writing I can actually achieve.  So this year I’m going to be a little less ambitious.  My job is intense and busy and I often just don’t have anything left in the tank at the end of the day.  I didn’t even meet my reading goal for 2017, which is unheard of for me.  I usually go way over my target.  Okay, 180 books may have been too many, but I also think I read a lot more really long books this year too, and that compounded the issue.

So, 2018.  What do I want to achieve?

I have a few more books that are ready to go out, so I hope to publish at least one book in 2018, if not two.   I like working with my publisher, despite their rather limited distribution. Doing the publicity and promotion is challenging, but I’m learning more each time, so I hope to have figured out the best things to do for the least money as I keep publishing.  I also hope to begin developing a fan base, something you can’t really do when you only have one book available.

Well, I haven't done this yet, but I have a book ready to go out.  I'm just waiting for the anthology I have a story in to get out into the world first.

I plan to revise SHOOK to take the various agents’ feedback into account.  And I’d like to finish one or both the books I started during 2017’s NaNo.  I may even revisit my 2016 NaNo book to see if I actually like anything about it anymore.

I have revised SHOOK quite considerably, taking it from two POVs to one.  But I'm not sure I like it that way, and I may go back to how it was, but try to change up the voices a little more.  I'm undecided at this point...  And as for my 2017 NaNo books, the one I started at the beginning has become my new project, being written as a series of diary entries based around daily prompts from a contest on Writing.com.

I would like to complete at least one new title in 2018.  It feels like over the last couple of years I’ve started a lot of books, but somehow haven’t managed to finish anything.  2018 is the year I actually finish something.  Maybe even two or three somethings…  But let’s not be too ambitious.

I wrote a novella for an anthology (Kissed - out on 22 July) and hope to finish my prompt-driven novel before the end of the year too.  Given I'm quite a way into it already, I feel like it's more than possible, even if it is only a finished first draft.

In other, non-writing areas, I plan to exercise more.  This year I’ve made it to the gym once a week most weeks, which is hopeless.  I am determined that in 2018 I will make it to the gym at least twice a week in my lunchbreak as well as my usual Saturday morning class.  

I have been doing pretty well here, going to half-hour spin classes in my lunch breaks at least once a week (most weeks) and going to boot camp on a Wednesday night as well.  Plus my usual Saturday morning Spin.  And I've been doing a long walk most Sundays too.  Not making much of a difference to my waistline, but...

With both the kids growing up rapidly, I would also like to try and do something with my partner at least once a week.  Something other than doing the weekly grocery shop which has become our date night since we moved to the new house.

Nope!  No time, as usual.  So something to work on in the second half of the year.

And finally, I want to be more social on social media again.  When I first used Twitter I made friends with lots of people and enjoyed really engaging with them.  Since starting my new job three years ago, my time for non-work-related social media has been much more limited and I miss the connections I used to have with people.  I plan to use my commuting time much more productively this year and socialize on social media more.

We've had a few changes at work, and another person has taken on the social media side of my job, so I no longer need to do all the social for my organisation.  Which frees me up to spend more time on my own social sites.  It's pretty recent, and I need to get back into the habit, but I'm starting to post more.  Partly because I have a neighbour's cat who keeps coming in and joining mine, and his ongoing antics have become something of a story.  So keep following me on Twitter for more Alfie updates...

As always, I’ll check in on these goals around the middle of the year, and again at the end to see how I’m tracking.

Okay, actually.  Better than I'd anticipated. Let's make the second half of the year just as good!

What are your goals for 2018?