I haven’t done one of these posts in a few months, so I figured, What the heck? It’s the last day of April, so why not share some of my writing accomplishments, goals, and dreams? With 2018 quickly passing by (it’s already 1/3 of the way done???) I’ll look at the goals I set for the year and see where I’m at.
Let’s start with the failures
We all set goals and fail at them. Obviously, this can bring about a great deal of negative energy. Just that word–fail–can make you wonder why you’re even trying to begin with. But there is a bright side of it. Every time you fail at something you have opportunity to learn from it. And here I failed to reach a few (well, maybe all) of my 2018 writing goals at this point.
Real quick, I’d like to list the goals I set for 2018 with a progress update (if for no other reason than to show that I’m human just like the rest of you.)
1. Submit one new short story every month.
BIG FAIL. I haven’t completed a single short story this year, and have pretty much abandoned short stories for the rest of the year.
REASON: This isn’t really a difficult goal to reach, but I haven’t had a book published since 2015, and novels are a higher priority at the moment.
2. Complete a first draft of a new novel.
MODERATE FAIL. I have no first draft of a new novel, but the year is only a third of the way done. I was working on an epic fantasy trilogy and have a first book outline somewhat complete, plus a dozen character profiles. Nonetheless, I’m putting this one hold.
REASON: The writing just wasn’t working. It had a little too much Jason Bougger and not enough (insert your favorite epic fantasy author here). Too much ‘Jason Bougger’ wouldn’t normally be a bad thing, considering I am Jason Bougger, but my style of writing just wasn’t fitting for what I had planned. I need to read a little more of that genre before I proceed.
In the meantime, I started a new fantasy novel (lead in to trilogy, perhaps) that is more fitting toward my style. I’ve got most of the major plot points worked out and am currently finishing up some character profiles.
Get current on my Theme of Absence submissions. (Have an empty inbox.)
MODERATE FAIL. My turnaround time is still lingering just over 30 days. I’ll consider this is moderate success if I can it get back under 30 days. And a big success when that inbox is empty.
REASON: No reason, I’m trying to read one submission every day and they’re just coming in faster than I can read. I’ll catch up some weekend 🙂
Maintain a schedule on this blog. (Three new posts, plus Five Links Friday & Podcast each week.)
MODERATE SUCCESS. I’ve been doing a pretty good job posting 2-3 times a week, plus the Friday posts. I’ll consider this a BIG SUCCESS if I hit 3 posts every week, without exception.
The one thing this is awesome, my highest traffic month to date came in February, and then that number was surpassed in March. April was slightly down from March, but still more than February. So I’m very happy to see that the site continues to grow and reach new readers.
Get current on the Theme of Absence Patreon feed. (Review stories as they are posted.)
BIG FAIL. I’m still a little behind on this.
REASON: Mostly forgetfulness, and a little bit of laziness. The big problem is that when I’m behind, I can’t review the stories as they are posted, so I put them off. My plan to catch up is to just start posting once a day on the Patreon feed. I’m not that far behind, so it shouldn’t take more than a week or two to catch up if I’d do that.
Start the Mystery Project I’ve talked about in the past. It’s in the early pre-planning stages right now, but we’ve had a lot of technical difficulties.
BIG FAIL: Life is just too crazy right now to start this. It just might have to wait until the kids are older.
Oh well. Like I said, life happens and when you try to do too many things at once, sometimes you don’t get much of anything done. The year is still young, and there is plenty of time to get more done as I continue building my writing career.
To end on a more positive note, check back tomorrow and I’ll share my accomplishments for the year so far, as well as the NEW dreams and goals I have set for the remainder of 2018.
What about you? How are you doing on your goals so for? Feel free to share in the comments section!
