2019 Goals

Well yay, we're officially into 2019! I hope y'all had a great first day of the year. I know I did!

As is the tradition around our little community, I'm going to share some of my goals for this year. I'm so excited to see how many of these I can knock out this year!!

I'm especially excited about my writing ones, as I feel like a lot of them are pushing me closer to the point where I can start querying. Like EEEEKKK!! How is that even possible?!

Anyway, I'll do my best to make this super quick as y'all have better things to do than read this.

~Writing~

1. Finish draft 1.5 of Simon Says. Originally, this was supposed to be finish the first draft of SS during Camp NaNo, but seeing as I kind of already wrote The End, it didn't make sense anymore. But I know there's a lot of scenes and other random details that need to be added, so I'm hoping to put those in sometime this year. I'll probably plan them during Camp NaNo, then add them in during NaNoWriMo, if my mental health is up to it.

2. Finish draft 7 or 8 of The Dawn of a Hero. AHHHHHHH!!! I can't believe I've come this far with this story. To think that I only have to do two or three more drafts to finish this goal is mind-blowing. I'm hoping to spend a good bit of this year focusing on this so that I can maybe start querying it. I'll probably have a beta call sometime in the near future, so keep an eye out for that.

3. Finish draft 3 of The Fall of Chemmit. This should be interesting. I really love the direction the story is taking, but every time I try to write this, I'm always facing some sort of writer's burnout. I'm hoping to have this done earlier in the year so it won't be a problem.

4. Finish draft 2 of The Rise of the Prisoner and The Herbalist’s War. I've looked forward to this day since I finished these two stories. They're both ones that I wanted to clean up as soon as I finished them because I adore them both so much, but I had other pressing matters to attend to at the time. I hope to focus on these during the NaNo camps this year.

5. Write 50k of my NaNo novel. I'd actually like to work on two projects in November: the rest of Simon Says and an idea that I'm working on fleshing out. Since this particular novel is an MG fantasy, I don't think it'll be much longer than 50k. I might even consider trying to write 75k this year between the two projects. We'll see if that actually happens.

6. Finish the first draft of Ships, Secrets, and Survivors. This is dependent on a lot of factors (like not having family and beloved animals pass away this year), but it might actually happen... Like, I guess we'll see, but it would be so cool to have it completed so we can go back and start revising it and getting it all tidy (and maybe publishing it?). We've got two more major plot threads to write, plus a few minor ones and then we'll be done. We can do this, right?

~Reading~

1. Read at least 22 books. Keeping in the same spirit as last year, I'm hoping to read a book for each year I've been alive. Hence 22.

2. Maybe read some non-fiction. I haven't read much non-fiction aside from school textbooks in years. It's really strange because now I have this idea that I hate reading non-fiction, but honestly, I remember loving reading biographies and nature books and the like. Quite frankly, I'm annoyed that school creates a certain disgust with all things learning. Isn't it supposed to have the opposite effect? *slow claps* Way to go, everyone! Go give yourselves a pat on the back for ruining education for all of us. *cough* Anyway, I might read a biography or something. We'll see.

~Life~

1. Memorize four larger Scripture passages. Yeah, it's not a ton, but I'm going to try and do better this year than I did last year. I did pretty good at the beginning. I had Psalm 139 memorized, plus parts of Psalm 30, but then I fell off the wagon and never kept it up. I think if I did fewer passages, but focused on reviewing them better, I might make better progress.

2. Finish 12 quilts. This is really not as impressive as it sounds. Mom and I have about 35 quilts in various stages of completion just lying around our craft room. For several years, our focus has been to finish them up before starting any more big projects. We've done pretty well. I mean, we're at 35 now instead of 40, so that's got to count for something. Anyway, most of the quilts that will go towards this goal just need either to be quilted and bound or just bound. Most of the tops are already done. So that's about one quilt a month. Not too bad. I've got two already that are nearly done and will likely be knocked out in the first month.

3. Finish business degree. Finally, after years of thinking I was coming up on the finish line and falling short, I think I am actually almost done with this thing. Funnily, when I first started college, I was on the fast track to finish. I started with about 40 credits that I got during high school. I started off with a program that was supposed to be finished in two years. I planned to graduate when I was 19. But then life hit me unexpectedly and I had to both change degrees and drop from the program, moving towards a self-guided program. I still thought I would finish early, but that's not what the Lord had in mind for me. But now, I'm hoping this is when I finally finish. It'll be a huge relief, that's for sure. 

~Fitness~

'Cause ya girl's all about taking care of herself (though I'm terrible at it)

1. Beat my former deadlift PR. Deadlifts are my favorite lift, but I haven't done many recently. I'm hoping to beat my PR from two years ago. Should be interesting. 

2. Train to do a 17-mile hike on New Year's Day  2020. Every New Year's Day, my family and I go on a hike. It's nice to start off the year on the right foot (pun intended). Anyway, we usually do some piddly hike, but after my mom sent me the link to a local trail combination that's 17 miles and goes through two states, I was determined to train for it. I think it would be so cool to start the new decade off with it, so my goal this year is to make it happen safely. 

3. Be able to do a pull-up. Despite my weightlifting name being "Backs", I have yet to perform a proper pull-up. Will this be the year I make it happen? Who knows, but I'm going to give it my best shot. 

Anyway, these are some of my goals for the coming year. I had more in the Life and Fitness categories, but seeing as this is a writing/book blog, I didn't want to spend too much time focusing on those ones. I just highlighted my biggest ones to hold me accountable. 

This may be too much for me to handle, especially considering I'm planning on graduating in June and need to spend most of my energy on school, but I'm going to try my hardest. Achievement only happens if you're aiming high, right?

2018 was a great year of growth and love for me. It's my favorite year of my life so far. I truly hope I can take what I learned from the past year and make 2019 an even better year. 

But like, how is it that I get to do this? I get to spend my days doing the thing I love. Writing. Taking care of others. Getting to travel more often. Going super basic here and saying that I'm #blessed

Granted, I have no idea what I'll be doing once school is out of the picture (I seriously can't wait. I'm so ready for this to be over). I could have a job afterwards. I don't know. But I'm hoping that I'll be able to write the stories I love while being able to balance the rest of life. I guess we'll see what the Lord has in store!

Now onto y'all. What sorts of goals are you hoping to accomplish this year? What is the most intimidating goal you have on your list? How are you planning to reach your goals?