Happy New Year! Before I dive into the list of my resolutions for the year, I’d like to take a moment to do some reflecting. I’m not where I expected to be in 2019. As scary as that feels, I am so excited for the possibilities that the new year has for me and peer hopefully into where I will be in 2020.
2018 was full of lots of unexpected changes. Some intentional and many not. Due to where we are and what we have planned, 2019 is bound to be another year with lots of transitions.
2019 could be a really difficult year for us. We aren’t starting from a great place, both essentially jobless, limping into the year both as freelancers. That being said, this will likely be one of the most memorable years of my life. I am launching a Kickstarter in less than 2 months from now. That is happening and decides the fate of my novel, how and when it will get published, and if I can afford to do more with it like attend conventions with my own booth, etc. This is a big leap of faith for me, but I’m thrilled to jump into the unknown this time.
I’m tenacious. I haven’t always had the easiest path in life. I grew up in poverty in a town where I didn’t belong. I’ve had my fair share of health issues. But I’ve always managed to make the best out of what I have. So far, I have approached life attempting to always be grateful and appreciative for what I do have. This isn’t always easy and I don’t always succeed, but when I do, I realize that my life is amazing. I embrace how blessed I am to have so many loved ones and incredible people in my life who truly care about me and push me to be my best self. I know that with my family and friends by my side, I can get through anything. No matter what happens, I have a wonderful partner and the most perfect child.
With all that being said, I do have some ambitious goals for the year, including a couple that I didn’t get to last year.
2018 Goals: Here is a quick review of the goals I had for 2018 and where I currently am on meeting them:
1) Final revisions to my novel and finally getting it self-published.
I didn’t expect to quit my job to do this, but I totally did. It isn’t published yet, but it should be by 2020.
2) Cook more and learn to cook some cool things.
Thanks to Imperfect Produce, this definitely happened! A LOT!
3) Officially make The Lady Planeswalkers Society a non-profit organization.
This took a rather unexpected turn of events and I have now resigned as the organizer for the group to focus on other areas of myself and my career goals.
4) Audition for at least one singing competition.
Didn’t get around to this last year, I intend to follow through this year.
5) Learn to cut a steak (and bread) with a knife without feeling like I have no idea what I’m doing.
I think I achieved this? Progress was made at the very least.
6) Clear out and set up our garage.
This is embarrassing. I don’t know that we even spent one day on the garage in 2018... we intend to fix that, and soon.
1) Publish my novel, Azullucent!
Sorry to restate the obvious, but this is my number 1 goal of the year. Kickstarter failure or not, I plan to find a way. It will just be a lot easier and more successful if I can get some funding help.
2) Write 1-3 Blog Posts per Week
I really want this to say 2 blog posts per week, but being realistic I want to at least make sure that I don’t miss a week. I also have no idea if or when I might start working fulltime again. Writing a blog post every day in November taught me a lot (something I intend to write about soon) and helped prepare me to blog more regularly.
This is a complicated goal for me, and one I’m a little ashamed of given how few books I have read since college. As a writer, I believe it is crucial that I read to become better. However, I have dyslexia and reading can be quite challenging. I am a very slow reader and often have to reread paragraphs multiple times to understand them. I like reading, but it isn’t something that I often do for fun or to relax, simply because it’s hard to find a book that feels relaxing and fun to read. I have a huge backlog of books that are on my to do list and I hope to make a significant dent in them this year. My hope is to read at least 1 book per month. This might sound like a small number, but I am intimidated by the concept so I want to start small and allow myself room to grow.
4) Rerun: Audition for at least one singing competition.
5) Rerun: Clear out and set up our garage.
In a more general view of what I want for the new year, I hope to continue budgeting time for all of the things I view as important. This includes self-care, finances, and relationships. 2018 was filled with figuring out how to budget my time for my own mental health and I am very impressed with how far I’ve come.
Of course, I want to continue spending quality time with my son and my husband, but I also want to continue to find time for myself and time out with friends. My family is always my number one priority, so that isn’t really related to 2019 goals specifically. I hope to continue seeing my parents regularly, keep teaching Xander about his family, and maintain monthly date nights with Mike.
Getting in touch with myself in 2018, I found more than ever that my extrovert nature requires socializing to feel fulfilled. There was a big shift in this realization when I stopped working in an office beside other people 40+ hours per week. I was surprised to find that I actually love time to myself, a very new feeling, and carve out time for me almost every night. On top of that, I’ve been getting out with friends on my own more often after Xander’s bedtime and find that this has been huge for my self-esteem and identity. I’m very lucky to have a strong network of empowering women to hang out with. For this, I guess I want more of the same and I hope that if I end up working a fulltime job that I can continue to fill all these buckets to a happy level.
Lastly, I hope to keep the house clean more often than not (something that also improved when I started freelancing).
If you are interested in my gaming goals for the year, you can read about that tomorrow on tabletop-test.com!
I really hope that 2019 is a kind year to my family. The last couple of years have been rough and we could use some brightness.
I’d love to hear your goals for the year! I hope 2019 is good for you as well.
