2021 Recap and 2022 Look Ahead
2021
My Life
I have mixed feelings on this year. On one hand, I have a lot of good memories. Traveling with my sister. Going to the OBX three times. Family vacations and movies. But on the other hand, I still had to deal with masks and vaccines and fighting for freedom. My mom was in the hospital for a whole week before my birthday, and my grandfather has been in the hospital all December. It's been so hard at times.
But I must say, God is good. He's gotten me through every rough time. When I felt like my job was crushing my soul, he gave me strength. When I felt like I couldn't make it through, he helped me take it one step at a time. He's provided bountifully for my family. He's reminded me to take my eyes off my own problems and fix them on Him instead.
Goals
Personal
Word of the Year: Submit
I still struggled with this a lot. But practicing submission to God, even in the tiniest ways, has been changing me. I plan on continuing to try to cultivate this in my life day by day, no matter what year it is.
•Cultivate a healthier lifestyle. ✔
Did I do this? I'm not sure. I did make a few small changes to my diet, and tried to be better about sleep and water intake. I still would have liked to exercise and stretch more, but I think I did pretty well about my health.
•Create art more consistently. ✔
I may still not have done as much as I would have liked, but I do think I did more art this year. Was it all good? No, but I did start to expand to some new mediums, like gouache paint.
•Practice handstand and splits. ✔ ✖
I continued my practice, although how much farther I got is debatable. On my good days, I can get all the way down to the floor in my right splits, but my left side still needs work. Handstands, well, it's still on the bucket list, but I didn't get very far. But it's always good to have flexibility and strength goals to work towards.
Writing
•Query for an agent. ✖
Still a goal, still didn't do it. My writing projects took a lot more time this year than I thought and I just didn't have the time between that and work. But I do feel my work has gotten better this year, so hopefully that will help when I do begin my search.
•Edit Wonderland trilogy. ✔
I did do this, but boy, has my editing been filled with ups and downs. I sent my first book to betas, which resulted in a lot more editing. Some of the feedback I received also crushed my self-confidence for a while, which is pretty low to begin with.
I also did some work on book two, only to discover it was a mess and needed a lot of help still. But after a lot of brainstorming, I think I've got some ideas that will make it much better.
•Write 2 short stories. ✔
I wrote three! They weren't all great, but one was for a short story contest, one was a fluff piece about Flynn and Alice, and the other was for fun. I had fun expanding my writing skills a little.
Reading
•Read 100 books. ✖
I ended up dropping this to 90 by the end of the year, because I could see I wouldn't reach it. I read a lot of big books this year, and had a few reading slumps, but it would have been nice to hit 100 again.
•Read 5 non-fiction books. ✔
I believe I read 6-8, so good progress there. Some were learning books, others were autobiographies. I enjoyed most of them.
•Read all the unread books I own. ✖
*coughs* This may have been an ambitious goal. I think I only read three or four. And gained more books on my shelves throughout the year.
•Read 20 books from my Goodreads "to read" shelf. ✔
I did do this one! I made a list and read pretty much all of the ones on it, plus some others as the year went by. My "to read" shelf is now down to like 170 something books, so I think that's great progress.
Blogging
•Get 25 newsletter subscribers. ✖
This did not happen. But it wasn't a big focus for me, so that's probably why. It's something I should work on though.
•Share quality content. ✔
I would say I did this, but I guess you guys are the best judges of that. I allowed myself to write on more deep subjects this year, and I loved being able to share those thoughts with you.
2022
Personal
Word of the Year: Evolve
I chose this word for 2022 because there are changes I want to make in my life, and I feel like this is the year to do them. So we'll see how this goes.
•Grow in my walk with the Lord.
2021 taught me some lessons that I want to continue to implement in 2022. I want to grow closer with God, to love Him more and carry out His will. This is a goal I can't accomplish alone, but it will be in my prayers.
•Be intentional with my time.
Due to some of the changes happening this year, I'll need to become better with my time usage. I wouldn't say I'm bad with it, but I do know I waste too much time on my phone, or just struggle to keep track of it (an ADHD problem). So this year I want to work on taking control of it better.
•Upgrade my life.
There's things I want to change about me and my life. So that's what this goal means. I want to like myself more than I currently do, which means changing things.
•Improve as an artist.
I'm tired of always thinking I'm not good enough, or I'm bad at this or that. This year, I'd like to work on those things I'm bad at and actually improve. Maybe not a lot, but even small progress would be great.
Writing
•Work on editing New Magic, Lost Magic, and An Octopus Ate My Homework.
The first two are a continuation of last year's goal, and the third is just something I want to work on. I miss Zach and Octopus Prime and can't wait to return to their world.
•Actively work on finding an agent.
Make a list of all the stuff I need. Accomplish those things. Hopefully send out some queries. I want to get to work on this.
•Write one new novel.
I haven't written anything new, novel-wise, since November 2020. I don't know what I'll write yet, but I long to write something new again.
Reading
•Read 80 books.
I hope by setting a lower reading goal this year, I can accomplish it and read more than the amount I picked. (Then I can be like, crushed it.)
•Read all unread books.
Might be a bit lofty, but I really want to do this in 2022. I plan to make a list of all the unread books I have, then work my way through them. I'm hoping it will be easier because I don't visit the library as often anymore.
•Read 2-3 Christian books.
By this, I mean more the theological type. I feel like understanding my faith better will help me in my walk with the Lord.
•Re-read 20 books.
I have a lot of re-reads I want to do, so this is also the year for that. I want to make a list of these as well to work through.
•Buy 3-5 indie books.
I want to support my author friends. But I always forget to buy their books. So this year I want to do more of that.
Blogging
•Get 25 newsletter subscribers.
I do want to make this more of priority this year, especially since my newsletter is part of my author work. I'd really like to start growing it, and finding my stride there.
•Write one deep post a month.
Like I said, I've enjoyed writing more thoughtful posts, so I plan to write one of them a month. If I don't have an idea that month, then I don't have to, but that's the goal.
What's one goal you have for 2022? Do you have any thoughts or comments about what you'd like to see on the blog this year? Tell me in the comments!
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