So here’s a change; I’m actually drafting this report ahead of schedule rather than three weeks late. I’m hoping to actually post this today (Dec 31) so as to get a good start on the new year. Looking back over 2018, I’m not as far along as I’d like. There have been a few setbacks, some self-inflicted (I’m shaking a fist at State of Decay, Fallout 4, and now Stardew Valley, which I’ve been playing with my daughters), and some out of my control (a bought of bronchitis wiped out several writing days over this winter break—yay). Regardless, let’s see where I’m at and what we’ll tweak for 2019.
Read 20 books in 2018: I thought I was only at 19 books, but according to Goodreads, I did complete 20 books in 2018. Hooray! 100% A+, gold star, smiley face. My reading was all over the place this year, covering several categories, mostly fiction, but a few non-fiction (screenshot from goodreads.com):
Now, one could argue that I fudged it a little, including so many young-adult novels (6, or roughly 30%) which I read to my daughters. Yes, they’re short, but they’re still story, character, craft, and voice, so absorbing those with my kids still informs my writing.
Goal for 2019: Read another 20 books.
Write 7 posts in 2018: Even with the bar so low, this will be only my 5th post for the year, or 71%, a solid “C”. Maybe I’m going in the wrong direction, and thinking too hard about what to post, and a lazy goal is just making me lazier. I should take a cue from Seth Godin and write more often, but smaller and precise. Let’s call back to my 2015 goal.
Goal for 2019: Write 50 posts.
Get back on schedule for Togahan #4: Well, like I said, I intended to make up some time here during the holiday and catch up, but holiday shenanigans and bronchitis kicked my ass. According to the mega-schedule, current wordcount is at 134,000 for the rough draft, and the overall project is at 36.6% completion. I am 180 days (6 months) behind schedule. (At this point, I was supposed to have finished the rough draft, and completed 30-50% of the first draft revision). I’m personally disappointed with this. I was hoping to have the rough draft completed by the end of the year, but it’s still about 10k-20k words to go. I’m not sure how to figure this one out. Yes, the answer is “write more”, the same way the answer to losing weight is “eat better/exercise more”, but both require a culture shift. And THAT is a whole separate discussion (ooh! I can post about that). To make a long story short, I need to figure out where I’m wasting time and energy, and then how to devote my energetic time to more writing and work on the book.
Goals for 2019: (1) Finish the rough draft before Q2 (April 1). (2) Catch up on the schedule.
All of these are possible. But I’ll have to make some
choices.
Regardless, I lived through another year. I’ve still got my family, my friends, my job, my home. I’m grateful to not only have all of that, but also the opportunity to make something out of nothing, hopefully something you’ll enjoy. Let’s hope 2019 is a little kinder to all of us.
Happy New Year!
-Pete
