Here it is, the first day of the new year. So many questions to ask ourselves. What to do? Where to go? Who do you want to be? What do you want to create? Where have you been? I know where I’ve been and I would like to think that I know where I’m going, but I’m also aware that life usually has other plans. Looking back on 2018 I can say I’ve accomplished most of the goals I set for myself. Could I do more? Sure I could. We could always do more.

Let’s look back, a little more in depth, into 2018, the goals I set for myself and my thoughts on those goals:

  1. Write more: I certainly did. I would say that the months of October and November were particularly filled with plenty of writing.
  2. Read more: Yes, I read a lot of book in 2018. My guess is I read somewhere north of 16 books. I arrived at that number because I have a “Books that have been Read” stack. Unfortunately not every book that I read last year made it into the stack, they’re in other stacks.
  3. Submit short stories for publishing: I can proudly say that I submitted one story. It wasn’t published but that was a big first step.
  4. Continue to develop my story for my novel: Yes, I’ve slowly added to what I already had going into 2018.
  5. Continue to develop my story The Garden: I started this story sometime last year and that’s where I left it, where I started. I still have my notes on it so maybe this could be a goal for 2019.
  6. Blog on a “surprise” adventure that I hope will inspire and drive my writing forward: This one didn’t pan out. I was waiting for a gift to arrive but it didn’t work out that way. That’s okay, maybe one day.

Five out of six goals accomplished isn’t perfect, but it’s something to be proud of. Life has its own plans so you might as well set goals that can be accomplished and set yourself up for success. But don’t be too easy, make sure to challenge yourself. Looking ahead with 2019 I plan to do just that, challenge myself. And I’m scared. And that is a natural response but I also think it’s a vital component to growth, both personally and as a writer.

Without further ado, my goals for 2019 are as follows:

  1. To Create. Whatever, Whenever. Wherever. (No that is not a reference to a Shakira song)
  2. To Write more.
  3. To Read more.

The above three goals will be my short-term goals. They’re easily attainable and they are goals that I can always fall back to for support or a boost of confidence or inspiration. These are goals that I can constantly work on regardless of what life is throwing my way at any given moment.

The goals that I have set for myself that are scary goals, they are a challenge or will be challenging are the following:

  1. Work more on my Work In Progress (WIP) story. 
  2. Enter a competition. I hesitant because I need to look into this venue further but the idea of this type of competition intrigues me. Plus, it’s a minimal monetary risk to take. The Short Story Challenge
  3. Submit at least 2 Short Stories to Magazines or books that are Collections of.
  4. A surprise blog post. This will be dependent on a few things but I’m sure it will happen. Stay tuned.

If I’m working on the first set of goals, this set of goals shouldn’t be an issue. Not really. Here’s to stepping outside of my comfort zone and living a little.

The next set of goals are on the creative side, yes, writing is creative but the following goals involve creativity outside of writing…well, for the most part.

  1. Build a bookcase.
  2. Photography.
  3. Draw or Sketch.
  4. Excercise, Mountain Bike and Hike. This might not sound creative but I believe stepping away from whatever you’re working on and doing something different, getting outside, getting the blood flowing, helps the creative juices.

I think that about covers it. What are your goals for the coming year? Whatever they are, remember it’s okay to fail. Keep trying. Nothing is ever perfect. Do the best you can. Practice makes perfect. Be happy. Be helpful. Be love. Be.

Thank you for reading.

Your journey starts with a step, where are you headed?