Goals for 2014

First off, I'd just like to say that I really don't like these holidays that happen in the middle of the week. It really messes with my timing. Hence the fact that it's January 3rd and I'm just now doing my goals for the new year post.

And second, it's freaking cold outside! And you know it's cold when even I'm feeling it. ;-)

Okay. Down to brass tacks. I need to set some goals for 2014. And here they are, in no particular order:

1. Organize my days
2. Publish three books
3. Do more self-promotion
4. Submit short stories and poems on a regular basis
5. Find a writing schedule I can live with and stick to it
6. De-clutter
7. Catalogue my books
8. Exercise more
9. Start using up the wool stash in my craft closet
10. Read more and more of a variety

1. Organize my days
Last year it was organize my stuff and make a schedule, this year it's organize my days. I've realized that no matter how flexible I make a schedule, it's never flexible enough. And to be honest, I have no idea what the problem is. But the few times I've tried making a to-do list while I'm having my breakfast I seem to be able to stick to it really well. Maybe it's because I can make it as long or short as I like and have fun crossing things off of it. Whatever it is, I'm going to give list-making a try to organize my days.

2. Publish three books
And these books are: An Elemental Water (which I'm close to being finished with, so God willing and the creek don't rise it'll be out soon); Lucky Dog, Book II of the Moonstone Chronicles; and Wandering Wizards, Book III of the Moonstone Chronicles. And if I manage that volume of poetry I've been toying with or that anthology of light and dark stories . . . so much the better.

3. Do more self-promotion
I really suck at this, but so do a lot of self-published authors I know. But one thing I need to do is post more than once a week to my author's site, and maybe I could try submitting my books to a couple of book review sites. I also need to create an author's page on Amazon and do a blog thing on Goodreads. Gee, I sound so enthusiastic about it all, don't I? LOL

4. Submit short stories and poems on a regular basis
If you're a regular reader of this blog, you may recall the organization of my story files and how appalled I was with the sheer number. So the goal here is to submit one short/flash story each month, and one poem. This month I'll be submitting a story to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, who are finally accepting electronic submissions until January 15. I just have to decide which of my babies to send out into the world. ;-)

5. Find a writing schedule I can live with and stick to it
My optimum time for writing has changed a great deal over the last couple of years. First it was the mornings, then late at night, and now it appears to be the afternoons. I'm fortunate in that I'm able to be as flexible as I want as far as when I write is, so I guess what I'm really going for here is consistency. Perhaps a writing schedule isn't what I'm needing, so much as a minimum number of words per day.

6. De-clutter
Despite the amount of "stuff" I got rid of during the organization process last year, I still have a crap load of junk. I have lived in the same house for all of my married life. Do you know how much junk accumulates in that amount of time? Trust me. It's a lot. We have one child, who has a house full of her own junk. I used to say that her inheriting all this would be revenge for when she was bad as a kid, but she was never that bad.

7. Catalogue my books
Have you any idea how many books I have? Me neither. Hence the need to catalogue them. I have tried at various times to do this, and never really get beyond the first three or four hundred. I might even try re-organizing my bookcases while I'm at it. All fourteen of them. ;-)

8. Exercise more
I had both eat healthier and get physical on last year's list. I'm totally on board with the whole eating healthier thing, so now it's time to focus on getting more exercise. And it's not like the crappy weather is an impediment - I have a stationary bike, a treadmill, hand weights, and a rowing machine. What I don't have is any more excuses.

9. Start using up the wool stash in my craft closet
This one sounds rather familiar . . . My good friend Jamie DeBree had this as one of her unofficial goals last year, and she did very well with it. She even taught herself to knit to help use up that yarn. I started a ripple crochet afghan to use up some of the odds and ends of yarn I have, and then ripped it out and started an afghan for my daughter for Christmas instead. And then I ran out of the colours I was using and had to buy more. So I kind of missed the mark with this one. But I noticed I have a large variety of odds and ends in shades of green, so I think I'm going to try another scrap afghan using green. Also, I'm going to check my larger stash of yarn that has enough for larger projects, and start selecting colours and yarns for next year's Christmas sweaters.

10. Read more and more of a variety
Believe it or not, I didn't do a whole lot of reading last year. I don't count books I read for editing purposes, and since I fell off the wagon using the stationary bike I wasn't getting any reading in there either. And most evenings by the time I had time to read my eyes were too tired so I'd play games instead. So. This year I would like to read more. I'm going to set a goal of one book a month, and to keep me on track I'm going to add a progress bar on the left. And just to keep it interesting, I'm going to try to read one classic book a month and one non-fiction book every two months.

And there you have it. My goals for 2014. This year I'm going to print out the list and pin it to my cork board. Just so I know what I should be doing. ;-)