It’s a Wrap: My 2014 Goals

I know I could wait until the end of December to wrap up this year’s goal list. I could even do it in January when I make my new list. However, I am so confident that not a darn thing is going to change in the coming two weeks and five days that I am just going to get this over with now.

Here’s what I accomplished in 2014:

I DID complete “Brew Disaster” and shopped it around BUT it has yet to be picked up;
I completed “Small Victories” which is included in What Follows and it’s published!;
For every 4 “new” books I read I managed to pick up an “old” book off my TBR shelf, although 2014 has been the worst reading year I’ve experienced volume-wise since I was 16;
Many elements of Anxiety have been concretized this year;
I have been better with the accountability thing; there’s room for improvement but I’m on it;
I don’t take on more than I can handle and I acknowledge my limits. Yet, I feel like I’ve almost taken this one too far…;
I’m being much more positive!;
I’ve been reading my writing and grammar books before buying any more reference books, really, I’ve been very controlled with my book buying this year overall;
My taking an interest and reaching out, like the accountability thing, this is still a work in progress;
I organize my writing fodder –did everyone see my awesome new file cabinet?;
I have decluttered many things and my most recent Staples order of organizers arrived this week;
While my brain is full of design plans for my personal author website that’s about where my progress is at; and,
I did get more involved in my writing group by volunteering for the newsletter team but haven’t made a meeting this season. Oops.

 

Here’s what I did not accomplish:

I didn’t do the necessary research for my NaNo novella or a single rewrite. I laugh (sorta) at this looking at how my year has gone;
The writing a minimum of 1000 words a week really did not happen;
I’m annoyed that I did not complete my werewolf dossiers and a schematic for book one;
I did not pick up the act of smoking, nor did I work to act like a smoker, i.e.: take time to go outside and breathe a few times a day;
My exercising has been up and down all year, I’m good for stretches and then I lapse. I’m brainstorming ways to prevent this;
I made dinner for myself three times this week, just don’t ask about any of the other weeks despite my best intentions;
I didn’t shop my literary stories around;
I did not participate in NaNo this year so therefore I didn’t write a book for NaNoWriM0 2014 instead of short stories;
Take an interest and reach out –I want to do much better with this so I’m putting it here too;
I aimed to read at least 3 Shakespeare plays this year. I managed to read Hamlet. See my note above about my reading stats this year; and,
My current book most definitely did not get done by the end of this year, even though I really thought I’d have a first draft done by January 2015. I’m disappointed in myself here especially.

 

After assembling that list, my accomplishments and lack there of’s are actually quite balanced. Huh. I did much better this year than I thought I did. Look at all my negativity fly out the window!

Let me sit here dumbfounded for a minute here.

Still, I have to quote myself: “I’m a self-challenger but not always an actualizer, usually because I set HUGE goals that can’t be attained in my reality.” I said this when I first outlined my goals in January and that statement could not define me this year any more perfectly. It’s been a crazy 12 months with a lot of shifting around in my schedule so that I could never fall into any kind of routine. I am a writer who needs routine. And less distractions.

I have been monumentally distracted lately. I have a million projects I want to get accomplished around the house that I’ve been putting off because studying was more important. They’re starting to talk to me, I swear. I can hear their little voices badgering me to get them done.

This year was still a remarkable learning experience for me. I’ve changed a lot since my school days and it was fascinating finding out how. I wish my accomplished list reflected at least 75% of my original list but it’s too late to change it. I think it’s a good sign that I’m already writing a list of goals for 2015 and I’m actually excited to see what I can accomplish then.

Now, how did everyone else do?

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