I love new years. I love the reflection and the looking-forwardness of it all. (Yup, definitely made that phrase up there.)
So that's what I'm going to do on the blog today.
On New Year's Day 2019, I made some goals. You can read about all that here. So how did those goals go?
Personal Goals: Body positivity and living in the moment. Well, not so good on either account. I'm a work in progress, and while I know I'm better than I was a few years ago, I can't say I'm any better than I was at this point last year. 2019 was a busy, and kind of rough year in this area, so I'm not disappointed.
Reading Goals: Didn't do this one either. I wanted to read 40 books, including 12 new-to-me classics and 6 sci-fi or dystopian books, in an effort to read more variety.
Yeah, not so much.
Though in years past I read 50 a year, this past one I only managed 24, three of which were sci fi or dystopian, and five of which were classics.
My first book of the year was Warlight, which I definitely recommend (and it was the book exchange book I received last year!) and for which you can find my review here. My favourite book of the year though (not counting my own of course!) was probably A Man Called Ove. You can read my review for that here.
I'm not upset about not making my goals, though; lots happened I didn't know about. We traveled more, on trips where I didn't read much. It was my first full year with the heavier teaching load, too. Mostly, though, we moved, which also was not in the plans on January 1. In other words, life happened. So, all in all, I'm not really disappointed or anything about it; life also happens.
Writing Goals: Some big ones for this in 2019; some successes, and some not. I wanted to enter 3 writing contests. I did this; two were specifically NYC Midnight ones. (And I even tried my hand at flash fiction! You can read that story here.) I am looking forward to continuing with these contests this year.
I also wanted to plan my third book. Well, done. Done and started and about 1/3 of the way through the first draft, as a matter of fact. All the news about that, and the title, and all that fun stuff will all be coming out this year!
I wanted to stay up to date with this blog. Yeah, that really, really didn't happen. In fact, I fell further away from it. At least, until December. After dealing with some life stuff, my new book launch, traveling through the summer, then moving, then the new school year, I also faced some writer doubts for a while, which I opened up about here end of November.
Though I do feel guilty when I neglect the blog, I have adjusted my posting schedule. I now will be doing reviews Thursdays occasionally; only when there is one to post. I will not be doing monthly newsletters, but will also make these more sporadic, so they will only come into your inbox when I have news, and stories to share.
And, finally, my other big writing goal was to complete, then release, my second book, To Air the Laundry.
Well, this one definitely happened! I released To Air the Laundry in May; you can read my official launch announcement here. This was very exciting, and a real learning experience.
Incidentally, if you've read To Air the Laundry, or The Girl with the Empty Suitcase, please review it on Goodreads and Amazon (even if you didn't buy it from Amazon). I don't have many reviews on either, but especially not To Air the Laundry, so I would really appreciate it.
I'm super proud of both my books; To Air the Laundry developed into something special, something timely, and something more than I originally planned, and I'd love to share that with more people.
My goals for this year are to finish the first draft of my third book. Maybe even start editing. And then I want to finish my reading goals from last year. This time around, my goal is to read 35 books. Not the 50 I used to, but with the teaching load, and my involvement in a play with a community theatre group in the first part of the year, and some more travel planned, hopefully it is somewhat realistic.
I want to read 12 new-to-me classics, and, again, 6 sci fi or dystopian books.
And, finally, I want to read some of the many, many books on my TBR (to be read) book case. (That's right, I said case). I probably have hundreds of books lent to me by my mother-in-law. If I can read a solid handful of them, and return them, I'd feel pretty good about it.
Do you set new year's goals? How about reading ones?