January Goals

Oh, how did this happen? How is it 2024? This is wrong. Worse, this is an election year! AAAAAAAAAA!
 
December Goals
1. Finish my WIP.
Yay, I did this! It needs so much work before it’s readable by other humans, but the first draft is done!
 
2. Keep editing and posting my web serial.
Thankfully, this was also easy.
 
3. The holidays! Maybe they won’t be bleak and full of despair!
Meh, they were kind of. The countdown to the new year was more of a death march.
 
Ugh, January. UGH, 2024.
 
January Goals
1. Work on some old projects to recharge enough to edit.
 
2. Update my etymology page again. Remember when this didn’t used to be torture?
 
3. UGH! Jury Duty! Hopefully I won’t get picked, because that would suck. And have I mentioned the bridge that I have to take to the courthouse is partially closed?
 
This month is going to be hell from number 3 alone. I’m not even sure I’ll have time to visit blogs today (or yesterday for that matter, because that was when the jury duty started). This year has started like a kick to the head. What do you want to accomplish this month?

December Goals

How the hell is it December??? That’s just not right. I need to complain about this to someone. We should only be in April at the latest, but here I am looking at what I did in November.
 
November Goals
1. Get to 60K on my WIP.
Hey, I did this. It was actually pretty easy.
 
2. Continue editing and posting my other WIP.
Another easy one. Set goals you were going to do anyway. It makes things easier!
 
3. Thanksgiving (dread)
Most of my extended family was busy this year and only able to stop by briefly. I didn’t have to stress myself out socializing and I got more desserts! Win-win!
 
It went better than I could have anticipated. You know, if you don’t look at the horrifying state of the world what with all the innocent people being slaughtered. Ha ha, things are terrible!
 
Anyway, December.
 
December Goals
1. Finish my WIP.
 
2. Keep editing and posting my web serial.
 
3. The holidays! Maybe they won’t be bleak and full of despair!
 
Oof. November. Not really expecting much from December either. What do you want to do this month?

October Goals

What the hell? How did it get to be October? That’s not supposed to happen. Somebody needs to fix this.
 
As usual, I don’t remember what I planned for last month…
 
September Goals
1. Continue editing the book and promoting the web serial. I am so bad at this.
The editing’s still going on. Marketing is a dumpster fire. I don’t even know what it is. It sounds fake.
 
2. Work on something pointless that lets me recharge creatively.
At least this was easy enough.
 
3. Figure out what I want to work on next.
And I did this! Yay! I have an idea and everything!
 
Like I said last month, aim low. As I plan to this month.
 
October Goals
1. Keep editing the WIP and posting the chapters.
 
2. Ugh, time to update the etymology page again.
 
3. Get to work on the new WIP idea I have. Definitely excited about this.
 
Will I succeed? I aim so low, it would be astonishing if I didn’t. What do you want to do this month? Excited about Halloween?

August Goals

On one hand, how is it already August? On the other, birthday month!!!!! What did I do last month?
 
July Goals
1. Reduce my blogging schedule. I know, it’s a shock. I’ve been at three times a week for over a decade now! Unfortunately, I don’t have as much energy as I used to.
Well, this was an easy one. Doing less work is not a problem for me.
 
2. Update my etymology page. You know what fun this always is.
Ugh, it’s done. Stupid Google screwing up Blogger.
 
3. Get to 90K on my WIP. I probably won’t get this far, but I’m hoping for a miraculous burst of inspiration.
So close! And since I’m writing this in advance, I may have actually reached it! Yay!
 
Not bad, in all, but they were some easy goals.
 
August Goals
1. Actually keep track of my goals this month. I let it slack when I stopped using sticky notes, but now that the evil rounded corners are gone, I can use them again.
 
2. Finish Book 2. It’s got, like, three more chapters, so this should be easy.
 
3. BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I’m going to get cake! The cake I really love from the good bakery! AHHHHHHHH!
 
I’m very excited.
 
What are you going to do this month?

June Goals

Crud, how is it June already? There’s no way I got anything done. May was over too fast.
 
May Goals
1. Plan out the second part of the web serial.
Already started working on it. I’m over 30K already.
 
2. Keep working on marketing—why does this have to be so hard?
Didn’t really do this. I have no idea how it works.
 
3. Try to recharge in some way so the stress doesn’t cause me to spontaneously combust.
I’m feeling slightly less stressed, I guess.
 
So that’s all. Not particularly successful. I’m not even sure what I should try for this month…
 
June Goals
1. Get to 60K on the sequel WIP.
 
2. Rearrange my whole writing schedule in a way that hopefully works since I have a bunch more stuff on my plate.
 
3. Keep trying on the marketing stuff, even if I have no idea how.
 
It’s a reasonable plan, I think. What do you want to do this month? It’s finally getting nice here, what’s the weather like where you are?

April Goals

Oh frig. March is done already? But it sucked!!!
 
March Goals
1. Actually edit the web serial this time.
Hey, I actually started this! It’s a miracle.
 
2. Hopefully find some way to recharge. And maybe sleep!
Failed this one. I’m so tired. I’ve heard people say they wake up in the mornings no longer feeling tired but I think that might be a lie.
 
3. Keep searching for a way to get rid of those m*****f*****g rounded window corners in everything I try to use on my computer. Don’t get Windows 11. Stick with 10.
This one’s not my fault, but the fault of Microsoft, who created an operating system designed to inflict torture on people. One of the updates for it literally broke my computer. I had to roll it back, and now it keeps bugging me to download the computer-breaking update. I miss 10 so much. I took it for granted. It was the least awful of all operating systems.
 
So that was March. It was the worst. I doubt April’s going to be any better.
 
April Goals
1. Finish the web serial edits. Not sure I’ll be able to get there, but I should be able to get close.
 
2. Update my etymology page. You know what a treat this always is. Stupid Google.
 
3. Find some way to get my work out there more. Not that I have any idea how to do this…
 
Ugh, March. Ugh, April.
 
What do you want to do this month?

March Goals

Well, February was somehow worse than I expected. I don’t know how it always manages to do that.
 
February Goals
1. Edit the web serial, as it could use a more comprehensive looking at.
Did not get to this, unfortunately. Did not have a lot of free time and had even less energy.
 
2. Work on some other projects to recharge my creativity. Not sure what, though.
HA HA HA HA HA HA no. I’m so tired.
 
3. Finish my other WIP.
So close. So very close. A couple of hundred words, I think.
 
As I said, it was a tough month. March probably isn’t going to be any better. Ugh…
 
March Goals
1. Actually edit the web serial this time.
 
2. Hopefully find some way to recharge. And maybe sleep!
 
3. Keep searching for a way to get rid of those m*****f*****g rounded window corners in everything I try to use on my computer. Don’t get Windows 11. Stick with 10.
 
Yes, that’s a goal. An important one for my own mental health and sanity.
 
What do you want to do this month?

January Goals

I can’t believe it’s January already. Someone has to speak to the manager about this, because it can’t be right.
 
December Goals
1. Keep plugging away at my new WIP.
A mix of holidays, computer problems, and being exhausted means I only added about 10K words, which is low for me. I’m glad I added SOMETHING though.
 
2. Do all the end of the year stuff I have to do.
Got this done, but it was an easy goal.
 
3. Now it’s Christmas, ugh.
I’m still totally wiped out from it. How is a holiday more exhausting than anything else?
 
Not bad, I guess. I wish my word count was higher, but whatever. Now for this month…
 
January Goals
1. Finish the first part of my web serial. Looks to be on schedule so far.
 
2. Add another 20K to my other project.
 
3. Update my etymology page. Ugh, it’s that time again.
 
All doable, I suppose. Frankly, it’s kind of a low bar at this point. Aim low, kids.
 
What do you want to do this month?

December Goals

There’s less than a month left in 2022? When did that happen????
 
November Goals
1. Figure out something to work on next.
I did start screwing around with something new, this one something post apocalyptic. Something about this time of year always makes me want to work on depressing stuff.
 
2. Work on making more blogging connections.
As if. I’m so terrible at this. I really wish there was a step by step list of instructions.
 
3. Thanksgiving. At least this one is easy. Well, it’s its own brand of hell, but it’s going to happen regardless of what I do.
It’s over with! Yay!
 
And that was last month. Now for this month…
 
December Goals
1. Keep plugging away at my new WIP.
 
2. Do all the end of the year stuff I have to do.
 
3. Now it’s Christmas, ugh.
 
A fairly easy month, really. Of course, I thought November was going to be easy, and then I got sick. UGH.

October Goals

Somehow it’s October already, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t get anything done I was supposed to. It’s not even winter yet and I already feel like I’m hibernating.
 
September Goals
1. Keep writing my new project to what I think will end up being the end of the first part.
I didn’t get to the end, as it was slower going than I hoped. I only have about a chapter and a half left, though, so fingers crossed.
 
2. Figure out how to engage more readers. Ugh, I am so very, very bad at this.
Very minor progress. Almost invisible. But I am working on it.
 
3. Actually get to the beta notes and edits. I fear I won’t, but I won’t let myself forget about it.
PBBBBBBBBBHHHHHHHHHHTTTTTT no.
 
Ugh, maybe I’d have more energy to do this stuff if I wasn’t so tired all the time. Anyway, now for this month…
 
October Goals
1. Finish!!!!!
 
2. Seriously actually get to the beta notes this time, even if I don’t know what I’m going to do with this project.
 
3. Crud, it’s time to update my etymology page, isn’t it? This is always such an ordeal.
 
I remember the days when updating my etymology page was an easy item to check off. I really wish we could go back to the previous version of Blogger, but alas, it is out of reach.
 
What do you want to do this month?

August Goals

Oh man. It’s August already? On one hand, it IS my birthday month, so cake and presents. On the other hand, August already???
 
July Goals
1. Continue working on notes from beta reading (still could use more!). Not sure about some parts of it, but I do want to work on it.
I did do a great deal with this, but of course I’m too distracted by my shiny new project to finish. Insert eyeroll emoji here.
 
2. Get my latest project underway. If it actually goes well, I’ll have to tell you about it.
I’ve been working on it! Is it going well? Too soon to say. Do I want to talk about it? I vastly underestimated how self-conscious I would be.
 
3. [Heavy sigh] Update my etymology page. I hate what a chore this has become thanks to New Blogger.
Ugh, yes. I hate the New Blogger interface. Hate-it-hate-it-hate-it. I just want to be able to properly space my word lists again!
 
July was mostly successful, I guess. Also really frigging hot and humid. Though that doesn’t really have any bearing on my goals. Now for this month…
 
August Goals
1. Continue work on the new project, which is serial fiction rather than a full MS, so that’s a whole new thing to learn about.
 
2. Actually finish the beta notes (and please don’t be too distracted by the above to do it!).
 
3. BIRTHDAY BIRTHDAY BIRTHDAY!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
August is so far a humid mess of wildfires. What do you want to do this month?

July Goals

Ugh, this again.
 
June Goals
1. Get to work on more beta reads, as well as the notes from them.
Hey, what do you know, I did this. There are still some rewrites I have to get to, though.
 
2. Figure out what I want to do with my latest WIP, as it’s definitely not what I want it to be.
Did not do this, whoops. I was too busy working on my latest shiny new distraction.
 
3. Try to do something with the query, synopsis, and all that. Man, I wish I could have someone do it all for me.
Surprisingly, I did do some work on this. It’s a miracle!
 
Pretty successful, I guess. In all, June was a pretty busy month outside of writing, and oh my god, the road construction outside my house that goes on all night will never stop.
 
Anyway, July.
 
July Goals
1. Continue working on notes from beta reading (still could use more!). Not sure about some parts of it, but I do know a few things that need to be done.
 
2. Get my latest project underway. If it actually goes well, I’ll have to tell you about it.
 
3. [Heavy sigh] Update my etymology page. I hate what a chore this has become thanks to New Blogger.
 
I think I’ll be able to complete this month’s goals, though the etymology page may make me punch a hole in my computer. What do you want to do this month?

May Goals

Ugh, April was just wildly unsuccessful. Just another one of those months I’ve been having for the last fifteen years or so.
 
Ugh.
 
April Goals
1. Keep searching for beta readers for my book. It’s almost like people have lives outside of me or something.
Still working on this. Like I said, wildly unsuccessful.
 
2. Work on writing the new WIP I’ve decided I have to write right now this very moment.
I did this. I’m sure it’s not any good, but I got around 40K.
 
3. Update my etymology page, even though after a year I still can’t get the damn formatting right. Seriously, I HATE new Blogger.
Did you see they’ve screwed with commenting? Now I’ve got that to deal with, and heaven forbid they just fix post formatting! I WANT TO ADJUST PARAGRAPH SPACING DAMMIT! Without that stupid "Normal-Paragraph-Heading-Subheading" crap. And Also without it crashing on me!!! I used to be able to just paste my etymology list in from Excel and it was perfect, but nope, they had to wreck that. I have to copy it in from a Word file and because it’s a Word file, it screws up the formatting, but what else am I supposed to do when I have well over a thousand words that I’m not typing in and spacing one by one???
 
Kind of devolved into a rant on that last one. I think I have some stuff to work out. Which I wouldn’t if I could just use Old Blogger!
 
Okay, enough of that before I unleash another rant…
 
May Goals
1. More beta reads. Still need more people.
 
2. Finish new WIP. This one will hopefully be easy.
 
3. Work on an new draft of my query letter. And watch it become obsolete almost immediately. 
 
So that’s what I want to do for May. Though I’m tempering my expectations.

April Goals

Ugh, this again. Let’s see what I didn’t do last month.
 
March Goals
1. Get some feedback on my new WIP. It’s a contemporary mystery about the murder of a girl. It’s character driven and very different from what I usually write, so if anyone anywhere would like to look at it and give me some guidance, I’d really appreciate it.
Hey, I did this! Of course, this was less dependent on me than on who I could sucker into ask to help me with this.
 
2. Try to edit the WIP I keep avoiding. I might ignore it, but I can’t let myself forget it.
This would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
 
3. Keep working on my latest new project. This one should be easy, I hope.
I did finish the short story I was working on. And immediately decided to work on a new book because of course I did.
 
Meh. I guess I did most of what I wanted. It just doesn’t feel that way. And now…
 
April Goals
1. Keep searching for beta readers for my book. It’s almost like people have lives outside of me or something.
 
2. Work on writing the new WIP I’ve decided I have to write right now this very moment.
 
3. Update my etymology page, even though after a year I still can’t get the damn formatting right. Seriously, I HATE new Blogger.
 
What are you up to this month? Anyone able to beta read? Do you know how to get rid of the damn double space between lists of words? And DO NOT say hold down shift when you hit enter, that doesn’t work when you have thousands of words.

March Goals

Yeah don’t have high expectations for this month. Or any month really.
 
February Goals
1. Actually do the editing notes for my new WIP. I really want to do this so I can start sharing it, because I honestly have no idea what to do with it and need some advice.
Well, I did this. I’m really pleased with how it came out, though I still have no idea what to do with it. It’s so different from anything else I’ve ever written.
 
2. Actually do the beta reading notes. If it’s not too much trouble.
Look! Over there! A distraction!!!
 
3. Work on something fun, maybe a new WIP. Because that will solve all my problems.
I’ve been kind of fooling around with a few things. No idea what I’ll ever do with it, but it’s something.
 
Ugh, winter. UGH, FEBRUARY. I’m ready for spring now.
 
March Goals
1. Get some feedback on my new WIP. It’s a contemporary mystery about the murder of a girl. It’s character driven and very different from what I usually write, so if anyone anywhere would like to look at it and give me some guidance, I’d really appreciate it.
 
2. Try to edit the WIP I keep avoiding. I might ignore it, but I can’t let myself forget it.
 
3. Keep working on my latest new project. This one should be easy, I hope.
 
Just a few more weeks until the equinox and the change of seasons, and I can’t wait. What do you want to do this month? Do you like mystery novels?

February Goals

Well, I sure as hell didn’t get anything done this month. At least, nothing I was supposed to.
 
January Goals
1. Actually work on the beta reading notes I have, and of course get more people to look at it.
HA HA HA HA HA HA no. Every time I tried I was just like, UGHHHHH, this is terrible, why bother?
 
2. Work on the notes I made for the new WIP.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. I know I should, but for some reason I just couldn’t make myself sit down and do it.
 
3. Update my etymology page. It’s that time again!
Well, I suppose I at least did this, although to my eternal frustration I cannot get the formatting right. It used to come out PERFECT in old blogger, and I could just copy it from an Excel spreadsheet and use the paragraph button to adjust the spacing. Now, NEITHER of those things are possible, because new blogger is out to get me and specifically me.
 
Yeah, January was a failure in the “do stuff I’m supposed to do” department. I’m not sure February will be any better, but…
 
February Goals
1. Actually do the editing notes for my new WIP. I really want to do this so I can start sharing it, because I honestly have no idea what to do with it and need some advice.
 
2. Actually do the beta reading notes. If it’s not too much trouble.
 
3. Work on something fun, maybe a new WIP. Because that will solve all my problems.
 
Wow. I’m really being passive aggressive to myself. I hope I take the hint.
 
What do you want to do this month? Anyone else hating snow as much as I am? Or wish new blogger had an option to adjust paragraph spacing?

January Goals

A bit late, but I’m sure this won’t prevent me from not completing my goals for this month. But first let’s look at my goals for December…
 
December Goals
1. Add 40K to new project. Will that finish it? Maybe, maybe not. We’ll see.
Did this, maybe even more than 40K. It did indeed finish the book. Well, the first draft anyway.
 
2. Keep working on those beta reads. I need more, as for some reason people have lives that don’t revolve around me.
Got some very helpful feedback, though of course I could use more. I could also be better about implementing that feedback, too!
 
3. Christmas. I’m already mentally preparing myself. Shudder.
It actually wasn’t too bad, mostly because I didn’t have to spend a lot of time with people. Ah, pandemic, how I love you for this.
 
So a pretty successful month, though I wish I did more with the beta reads. It’s always hard for me to do this stuff. As for this month…
 
January Goals
1. Actually work on the beta reading notes I have, and of course get more people to look at it.
 
2. Work on the notes I made for the new WIP.
 
3. Update my etymology page. It’s that time again!
 
That’s the plan for January, but how much of it will I complete? Probably a lot less than I want to! So what are you up to this month?

December Goals

Oh right. I was supposed to do things this month, wasn’t I?
 
November Goals
1. More beta reads, obviously. I need a lot of help figuring out how to improve this one.
Did get some feedback, though I can still use more.
 
2. Find something to work on to recharge my creativity. I’ve been feeling very blah about working on my WIPs lately.
I actually did do this, and now I’m working on writing something completely different than usual, because of course I am.
 
3. Thanksgiving. Ugh. Remember when this holiday used to be fun? Because I don’t.
Relatively, it wasn’t bad.
 
I guess you could call November mildly successful. Let’s see what I won’t be working on for December.
 
December Goals
1. Add 40K to new project. Will that finish it? Maybe, maybe not. We’ll see.
 
2. Keep working on those beta reads. I need more, as for some reason people have lives that don’t revolve around me.
 
3. Christmas. I’m already mentally preparing myself. Shudder.
 
This is the plan for December. Let’s see how it gets derailed. What do you want to do this month?

November Goals

I know I say this every month, but how did this happen??? It’s already November! That can’t be right…
 
October Goals
1. Beta reads for WIP 1. Any volunteers?
It’s getting done. Finding beta readers is hard!
 
2. Finish working on my notes for WIP 2. This one’s actually possible.
I actually did this, yay.
 
3. Update my etymology page. There are so many of them, I think it’s time to create a few separate pages up in the header there. It might make formatting them easier, too.
As you can see, there are now three pages with all the words I’ve etymologized. And a god damn mother$%*&@#$ space in between every paragraph that I can’t get rid of no matter what I try.
 
So mostly successful, which is pretty good considering how hard it was to trudge through the month. Now for this month…
 
November Goals
1. More beta reads, obviously. I need a lot of help figuring out how to improve this one.
 
2. Find something to work on to recharge my creativity. I’ve been feeling very blah about working on my WIPs lately.
 
3. Thanksgiving. Ugh. Remember when this holiday used to be fun? Because I don’t.
 
That’s what I want to do this month. What are you up to?

October Goals

Oh wow, October already. This year is going by way too fast. Wasn’t it March yesterday? It feels like it was. I don’t even remember what I was supposed to be working on last month, so you can assume I probably didn’t do it.
 
September Goals
1. Get WIP 1 beta ready. I’m really trying to get this on in good shape. If anyone can take a look at it, let me know.
I didn’t do much work on it and honestly, there’s a lot more I could do on it (I’m terrible at descriptions). I suppose it’s beta ready because I don’t know what I need to work on next.
 
2. Get drafts done of the synopsis and query for WIP 1.
Wait, this was a goal? I actually did this, holy crap.
 
3. Get to the notes on WIP 2 if I have the time.
And somehow I did this, too. I still have about a third of the book left to go over, but it is getting done. It’s a miracle.
 
And now for this month.
 
October Goals
1. Beta reads for WIP 1. Any volunteers?
 
2. Finish working on my notes for WIP 2. This one’s actually possible.
 
3. Update my etymology page. There are so many of them, I think it’s time to create a few separate pages up in the header there. It might make formatting them easier, too.
 
That’s what I want to do this month. Will any of this actually happen? Who knows? What do you want to do this month?