I’m doing things differently this year. I’m going to focus mostly on quarterly goals rather than yearly goals. There are still some things I’m going to focus on for the year but there aren’t a lot. Also, thanks to my brother for helping me come up with the progress thread title even though I didn't go with the full suggestion.

Word of the Year:
Renew
(v) give fresh life or strength to; revive.

Last year was not a good year for me creatively. I did a lot of reading though so I guess I had that going for me but that was the only thing I had going for me. I hit my writing goal but I wasn’t consistent at all so I’m hoping to remedy that this year. I'm also working on dialing back on a lot of things. I'm taking my time and not giving myself a lot of big tasks. I even simplified my goals.

My writing goal this year is 200,000 words. This is manageable since I plan on focusing on editing but revisions tend to be a lot of rewriting and adding words so I’m hoping to get to that.

My reading goal is 100 books (Goodreads|Storygraph). Last year I got to 116 even with large gaps between readying binges. I think I can make this work. I started to become less of a mood reader so that’s been helping me get through some of the ever-growing TBR pile. I would like to mix in some non-fiction and classics too. Thankfully, I have a lot in my TBR that need to be read. I’m also going to be downsizing my physical books which is something I’ve already started to do. 

I think those are the only two goals that stretch throughout the entire year.

Q1 Goals

Writing

• Write: 00,000/50,000 words
• Gaslamp Fantasy Book1: Revise | Edit 1 (if possible)
• Gaslamp Fantasy Book2: Plan
• Project Chaos: Brainstorm/Worldbuild
• Improve writing: Descriptions, characters, editing skills, etc. I feel like my writing has gotten worse over the years.
• Luddite: Brainstorm
• Work on war/spy strategies and tactics document (my own writing resource)

Reading

• Read: 00/25 books
• Read Nonfiction: 0/2
• Classics: 0/2
• Annotate books: 0/3 books
• Keep up with reading journal

Personal

• Build up savings (private goal)
• Journal at least once a week
• Check blood sugar weekly
• Try a new recipe or two

Social

• Post to Instagram and change to focus mostly on books since I have nothing else to post about
• Take pictures in bulk and schedule posts
• Look over website

Work

• Talk to ECE advisor about getting CDA and take steps to getting it.
• Establish routines at work

Art

• Take an art class to get back into art (I have many I can take)
• Practice digital art (as I do my art studies)
• Draw a map

This might seem like a lot but some of the goals are very small. I'll trying to update weekly but life happens and that doesn't always work out.

I am always impressed by how organised you are. Good luck with it all. Cheering for you *waves pom-poms*

Some really great goals to strive to! And breaking them down seems to help a lot, at least reduce the stress of it all.
Much luck in the coming year for all your goals!

galactic-pirates : Thank you! 

AuthorAsh : Thank you! Breaking it down really does help. I tend to get overwhelmed with yearly goals so I thought this would be better for me.

I guess I should probably post my to-do list for this week. I've already started on my reading goals. I didn't mean to read two books yesterday but I was in the mood for some reading.


Jan 1st - Jan 7th

• Writing: Start Gaslamp Fantasy revisions | Brainstorm Luddite challenge story
• Reading: 8 hour readathon w/ sister | Read 4 books on TBR: 3/4 
• Art: Start one of the smaller art classes I bought
• Socials: Take pictures: 0/3
• Chores: Meal Prep | Laundry | Clean desk | Deep clean bathroom
• Work: Email someone about obtaining CDA

I love quarterly goals personally--you can redirect as needed throughout the year. Best of luck with everything!

Kandybar : Thank you! That's kind of what I'm aiming for with quarterly goals. Also because I tend to forget my yearly goals by March lol

Jan 1st - Jan 7th

• Writing: Start Gaslamp Fantasy revisions | Brainstorm Luddite challenge story
• Reading: 8 hour readathon w/ sister | Read 4 books on TBR: 6/4 
• Art: Start one of the smaller art classes I bought
• Socials: Take pictures: 0/3
• Chores: Meal Prep | Laundry | Clean desk | Deep clean bathroom [In Progress - need more cleaning supplies]
• Work: Email someone about obtaining CDA [Waiting for the email from my boss]

Not a bad start. I got most of my things finished. I realized my problem with the picture taking. I need to find a new location in the apartment to take them since I no longer have the coffee table. Other than that, I definitely hit my reading goals and my editing goals. I do need to figure out my Luddite challenge story still...I should probably work on that soon.



Jan 8th - Jan 14th

• Writing: Revisions: 0/3 chapters | Luddite: Brainstorm
• Reading: Read every day | Annotate: Story Genius by Lisa Cron | Rocket Science by Emily Mayer
• Art: Continue to work on art class
• Socials: Find a new picture location 
  
• Chores: Meal prep | Laundry | Finish cleaning bathroom | Make bed | Organize bedroom
  
• Personal:  Check blood sugar | Journal
• Work: Email Susan | Bring personal books home | Create a Goodreads account (or something like it) for classroom to keep track of books

My goals for the week are pretty simple. Just the way I like them. Anyway, I'm looking for a way to organize my books for work. They are all children's books but I think having them on something like Goodreads or Libib would be good for searching for them. I mostly want it so I can share the books we are using for lesson plans and know which ones I have when I make lesson plans.

I briefly considered starting up a blog again but I've never been good at blogging so I think it would be best for me to just skip that whole thing all together.

Oh, yes, absolutely, no idea why they're so hard to keep track of! Especially since here on WriYe you can just go back to the first post of your thread.

Looking good thus far!

Whoah Week One and you are crossing off so much stuff. Well done!! *cheers* Good luck next week!

galactic-pirates : I wish it could be the same this week. Some weeks are definitely better than others.

Kandybar : True! It's not hard but I also can't be bothered lol. I write my goals in my planner too and I still don't look at them. I need to do better at that.

Jan 8th - Jan 14th

• Writing: Revisions: 3/3 chapters | Luddite: Brainstorm
• Reading: Read every day | Annotate: Story Genius by Lisa Cron | Rocket Science by Emily Mayer
• Art: Continue to work on art class
• Socials: Find a new picture location | And I took pictures
  
• Chores: Meal prep | Laundry | Finish cleaning bathroom | Make bed | Organize bedroom
  
• Personal:  Check blood sugar | Journal
• Work: Email Susan | Bring personal books home | Create a Goodreads account (or something like it) for classroom to keep track of books

Okay, not a great week but I was moody and unpleasant so I wasn't expecting to do well. I could have probably crossed off brainstorming for the Luddite challenge but I didn't because I only got a possible idea. My sister and I joked about writing a horror story set in a childcare because they can get really creepy at night but that's as far as that idea went. Not sure if I'm going to write it though. It'd probably be short.

Anyway, on to next week

Jan 15th - Jan 21st

• Writing: Revisions: Character maps | Revamp book map for location purposes | Luddite: Brainstorm | Settle on a story to write
  
• Reading: Read every day | Finish: A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn | Start:  Stay by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy | There Will Come A Darkness by Katy Rose Pool (if I have time)
• Art: Keep working on the class | Book Map: City Map
• Socials: Post 1 picture | Figure out what the hell I'm doing
• Chores: Meal Prep | Laundry | All shelves
  
• Personal: Check blood sugar | Journal | Continue tarot journal
  
• Work: Email Susan | Bring personal books home | Finish 1 portfolio

Sorry you didn’t have a great week *hugs* it looks like you still did stuff though! That’s maybe why this thread update is good? Even when you feel like it wasn’t a great week, you can still see you accomplished something. I hope next week is kinder to you!

So I dropped off the face of the earth for a bit...even on discord. Oops. I haven't even been busy. I've just been lazy lol.

Anyway, my week is going to be a little crazy but I thought I'd post my goals for the week.


Feb 19th - Feb 25th

• Writing: Find a new way to outline that works for me | Outline Gaslamp Fantasy | 
• Reading: Finish reading There Will Come A Darkness by Katy Rose Pool | Start Icebound by Meredith Tripp | Continue annotating book of choice | Start reading The Anatomy of Genres by John Truby 
• Art: Work on art class | Art subject: bugs
• Socials: Maybe post something? I haven't posted anything yet.
• Chores: Meal prep | Laundry | Clean off top of bookshelf | Move printers | Call dentist | Call doctor
• Personal: Check blood sugar | Don't get sick | Look into computers
• Work: PD class: 0/1

Most of my goals are reading goals. I've fallen behind on my reading goals for the year so I need to jump on that. Also, The Anatomy of Genres by John Truby is a chunky book and I don't think I can finish it by the end of the month but I will make progress. I wish he had his books available as audiobooks.

I want to get a new computer this year but I don't know what kind I'm looking for. I need to do a lot of research.

Awww I'm sure you weren't lazy. Maybe you just needed a break or to cope with whatever life was chucking at you. Good luck with your goals and new computer sounds exciting!

galactic-pirates : True. I'm actually just getting out of a seasonal depression so now I want to throw everything away and it's consuming most of my time lol


March 11th - March 17th

• Writing: Writing focused weekend | Gaslamp Fantasy: Reread | Reoutline | Start writing
  
• Reading: Read some KU books before subscription runs out | Read writing craft book
• Chores: Meal prep | Laundry | Clean bathroom | Get rid of 5 things | Reorganize 1 area of bedroom
  
• Personal: Buy walking pad | Check blood sugar | Journal regularly
• Work: Portfolios
• Other: Dad is coming up this weekend to deliver our new couch!

So I really need to kick myself for not doing anything writing related in the last few months. Nothing! I'm planning on doing that this coming weekend because I want to make progress. Whenever I get to the editing stages I just bail and I have to find some way to push through it. Now that I've decided to make my Gaslamp Fantasy a single novel instead of a duology, I'm going to have to rework the whole thing so I'm going to focus on that throughout the week and hopefully get working on it this weekend. It's going to be a lot to figure out and I'm a little overwhelmed by everything I have to do but I'll make it work. Part of my issue is that I need to find a way to outline that works for my process now. My old methods aren't working anymore. I'll have to figure that out soon. 

Part of my reason for wanting to finish my Gaslamp Fantasy (which really needs a name) is because I want to write another book in that world but I have to finish this one first. I guess I could start it since they are loosely connected but I've already started the first one so now I need to finish it. I also need to figure out the details of this new one anyway so it's going to take some time to figure that all out. 

I need to figure out a way to stay on track with editing/revision.