Taking A Look Back At 2020 And Ahead To 2021 - #AmReading + #AmWriting + #Blogging + Personal Goals

Life offers you so many doors, it is up to you which to open and which one to close.
~Unknown

    
It's been quite a year, hasn't it?

     

There have been serious storms, raging wildfires, not to mention a viral pandemic that's plunged the world in to chaos.  That's without counting the landlord saga, and my Nan and Aunty Joyce's deaths.  Honestly, the only good thing I can think of that happened this year was us getting our Hermann's Tortoise, Artemis, who joined our family back in January.  Well, and I guess the fact I've personally remained relatively healthy is a good thing too.  I wish I had Anne's optimism...

      

 

I don't think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.
~Anne Frank    

    

I don't know about you, but I'll be glad to see the back of 2020.  With that in mind, let's take a look at my goals.  Then we can get on with looking forward to 2021, and hoping it's better than 2020.  So...

      

You can read full details of my reading, blogging, and personal goals for last year in the version of this post from last year, and you can see the full details of my writing goals for 2020 in this post. But here's a summery of my goals for 2020, to save you having to go check out those posts (unless you want to go check them out).

    

Reading:
My 2020 reading goal was to read 104 books. I also did this bookish resolutions tag where I mentioned some titles I wanted to read in 2020, which were as follows:

Darlene Foster's "Amanda Travels" books"Laughter Lines: Life from the Tail End" and "Doggerel: Life with the Small Dog" by Sue Vincent"The Time Machine" by H.G. WellsJean Adamson's "Topsy And Tim" series"The Four Treasures of Eirean" by Ali Isaac"Leith's Vegetarian Bible"More books by Sally Cronin"The Animals Of Farthing Wood" by Colin DannDiana Gabaldon's "Outlander" seriesThe rest of Eoin Colfer's "Artemis Fowl" seriesThe rest of Amber Fox's "Mae Martin Mysteries" series

     

“The love of books is a love which requires neither justification, apology, nor defense.”

~J.A. Langford

     

Blogging:

My blogging goal for 2020 was to blog five days a week (Monday through Friday).  With each day having a theme: motivational and inspirational quotes on Mondays, random stuff on Tuesdays, writing related things on Wednesdays, reviews on Thursdays, and pet posts on Fridays.

    

Writing:

I had three writing goals for 2020:
Finish writing two of the books I've started writing, and publish both of them in all formats I now offer.Write at least 30 new poems.Write a story that challenges me as an author somehow, and pulls me out of my writing comfort zone. Such as one in a genre I haven't explored much - or at all - before.    
Personal:My personal goal for 2020 was to practice better self care.  A goal I've been working on for a few years with little to no success, and hoped to be more successful at in 2020.
     
 So, how did I do?
     Reading: I read the 104 books for my reading challenge, but it was a close one.  I almost didn't make it.  As for the books on my list: I read...
"Laughter Lines: Life from the Tail End" and "Doggerel: Life with the Small Dog" by Sue VincentJean Adamson's "Topsy And Tim" series"Leith's Vegetarian Bible"More books by Sally Cronin (though not as many as I'd planned to)
"The Animals Of Farthing Wood" by Colin Dann (the first one anyhow, but that's all I had a copy of)
Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" seriesThe rest of Eoin Colfer's "Artemis Fowl" series So... Most of what I planned to, but not all of it.  Since it was only a  "Books I'd like to read in 2020," list though, I'm counting it as a success, since - as I said - I did read most of the ones on the list.

To see everything I read in 2020, and even get details of what my longest and shortest reads for the year were, check out my year in books on Goodreads (no, you don't have to be a member to take a look).

     Blogging: Well, I did post all the days I planned to, and even several I didn't.  However, a lot of the time the theme for the day got thrown out of the window, and it was a heavy dose of quote posts that made it possible a lot of the time.  I'm still counting it as a success though, because I did post at least five days a week all year, which was an achievement in itself with how 2020 has been.
     Writing: I did half of the first of my writing goals, managed to more than complete the second, but failed to do the third at all.  I completed and published "Snowlilie's Brother" - which was made available in eBook and paperback in June, and audio in August - and wrote more than 30 poems.  So a 50% success rate for my writing goals.  Given the kind of year I had, and how hard I found it to write through it, I'm not complaining though.  I am, however, hoping for better luck in 2021... I even made a point of doing the profile updates I needed to do before this year ended, and setting up the series pages with KDP's new series manager thing before 2020 was over (despite having originally planned to worry about both those things after the new year) so there would be less to get in the way once January rolls around.
     Personal:The year started off great.  After that... Well, things happened, and mostly I was just trying to deal with and process it all.  I tried to practice self care amid the chaos that was 2020.  I really did.  But with all the things going on this year I feel like I failed at self care again.  Although, I probably get points for actually trying.  I think any of us with self care as a goal for 2020 should get points for any attempts we made at self care this year.  So I'm calling this a partial success.  Or  perhaps, since I managed to remain reasonably sane, and keep my anxiety under control enough that I at least didn't end up in hospital, maybe I should let this count as a complete success? What do you think?
    

No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again. ~Buddha

    
As for my goals for 2021...    
Reading:I'm sticking with a goal of reading 104 books in 2021.  That's two books a week.  I'm not bothering with any other reading goals for the coming year, or a want to read this year list.  I just want to read 104 books or more, regardless of which ones they happen to be.
     
Blogging:I'm reducing my blogging schedule to be posting once a week.  I'll finish out this year with the 2020 plan by catching you up on some reviews tomorrow, but after that it will be a weekly post on Fridays.  It might be a PetKid Pals post.  It might be a random update from either me or one of the petkids.  It might be a tag or something I've decided to do.  Depending what I have that I want to share.  If I have a book related announcement, something time sensative I want posted on a spacific date and that day doesn't fall on a Friday, or something interesting enough happens that means I end up with several posts I want to do at any given time, I'll do some extra posts, but mostly it will just be the weekly post, either from me or from one of the petkids.  Sorry to those who like my posts the way I've been doing them the past couple of years, but the quotes and links posts are a lot of work to put together - especially with how I have to do things with the new blogger - and I'm finding I'm spending so much time and energy on putting together blog posts that I have none of either left for actual writing, or some of the other things I want to do off the computer.  So I'm cutting back on my number of posting days.  I hope you understand.
    

All human creativity issues from the urgency of longing.~John O'Donohue

    

 
Writing:My writing goals for 2021 are to publish the poetry collection I've been working on, and finish writing - and then publish - at least one story.  I'd like to do more actual writing than that, even if I don't publish more than those two things, but I've decided to aim small, and just see how 2021 goes.
    
Personal:When I first started putting my goal list together, the only goal I could come up with for this one was, "We need to get moved."  Since we've now done that though, I'm changing it to unpacking and settling in to our new home.  My other personal goal is once again a reminder to myself to practice better self care, which at least I'm off to a good start with by keeping my goals for 2021 relatively small and simple.
   

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
~Walt Disney

          To sum up, my goals for 2021 are:Read at least 104 books.Blog once a week (on Fridays).Publish the poetry collection I've been working on.Finish writing, and then publish, a story.
Finish unpacking, and settle in to our new home. Practice better self care.
 

There's a limit to how many steps you'll be able to take today. Make sure they're all in the right direction.~Jeff Sheehan

      So, what about you? How was your 2020? Did the pandemic change a lot of things for you? If you had any goals or resolutions for the year, how did you do with them? Did the pandemic make a difference to your ability to keep them? Do you have any goals or resolutions for the coming year? Whatever the case, I'd love to know, so don't hesitate to share in the comments, or any other way you'd like to that I can be reached.

     

A goal should scare you a little & excite you A LOT.

 ~Joe Vitale

 

     

And, though we're finishing out 2020 and starting 2021 in lockdown, remember...

     

No matter what pain you’ve been through, tears will dry, broken hearts will heal, and somewhere a person who truly cares is waiting for you.
~Unknown