Checking in on 2018 Goals

Each year I write myself a letter outlining the goals I have for the year ahead.  Then, around the middle of the year, and again at the end, I check in to see where I'm at in terms of achieving them.

So before I head into my 2019 goals, let's take a quick look at last year's, to see how I got on...

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.

Sort of...  I published a novella as part of an anthology, and The Sidewalk's Regrets was initially supposed to come out before the end of 2018.  We just pushed it back to February to give me more time for publicity and getting advance reviews.  So we'll say this one is achieved.

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.

Still working on SHOOK, if you can believe it.  After rewriting as a single POV, it still felt wrong so now I'm trying it in third person to see if it works.  And I didn't touch any of those NaNo books. I did write about two thirds of a new one though.  But I will need to finish it and do a bit of tightening up because I wrote it using prompts and at a certain point, the prompts stopped being helpful and sent the book on tangents that didn't really drive the plot forward.

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 started and finished that novella that was published, so that counts right?

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.

That has happened too.  At least for the most part.  There were only a few times I had meetings over my lunchtime and had to skip the gym.

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.

Well, a few times.  But now my oldest is 14 and can babysit, I hope it will happen more often.

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.

Not so much...  Some days are better than others.  I just find there is so little time, I'd rather use it for something I enjoy more.  But the intention is good.

How did you go with your goals for 2018?  Have you started thinking about your goals for the new year yet?