My 2016 Resolutions

Last year I tracked my resolutions for the first time and made a really good attempt to accomplish them. I met my weekly goals between 60% and 70% of the time, and met both of my large goals as well.

This year, I'm stepping it up a notch.

BIG RESOLUTIONS

Resolution #1: Finish the first draft of DSF.

I'm almost done outlining and plan on starting in January.

Resolution #2: Query TGITP

In order to do this, I need to meet some mini goals.

• May 31st: Send edited draft to beta readers
• Aug 31st: Make changes based on comments, send to new round of beta readers
• Nov 30th: Make changes based on comments
• Dec 31st: Send query

This is by far going to be the hardest goal to meet. 

Resolution #3: Read 70 Books

This seemed to be a good number for me last year. Challenging, but not too crazy. If it's easier this year then next year I'll bump it up.

DAILY RESOLUTIONS

Resolution #4: Write Once A Day

This includes editing and outlining/research as well, and there's no specified time limit. So as long as I sit down to work, even if just for 5 minutes, then that counts.

What does not count is reading articles or blogs about writing, or rewriting books and studying their structure. It must be something directly related to TGITP or DSF.

Resolution #5: Clean Up for 2 Minutes Every Evening

This is a resolution I've been thinking about for awhile. I know the difference that even a small amount of time can make, but I'm always so tired at night that I don't get it done. I'm going to anchor this resolution and the next one together to make sure they get done each evening. More about that below.

Resolution #6: Do 3 Pull Ups a Day

I felt like last year I didn't really accomplish what I wanted to with this resolution (to be stronger) and part of that was because 5 pull ups a week wasn't enough to really affect my muscles. I tried to bump it up to 25 a week, but that was an overwhelming number. So I'm going to start this year off with 3 a day.

As I was saying above, I plan on anchoring this habit to make sure it gets completed. The time this year that I was most successful at this habit was when I anchored it to getting ready in the morning, arriving home from work, and getting ready for bed. This year I'm going to anchor it to brushing my teeth.

How this will look: After I finish brushing my teeth at night (and washing my face, etc), I will immediately pull out my phone and set a timer for two minutes. During that two minutes I'll do anything that cleans up the apartment, from picking up and hanging clothes to sweeping the floor.

When the timer goes off, I'll immediately do 3 pull ups. And that's it! Hopefully anchoring these habits to an already established one will ensure they get done.

Resolution #7: Do One Good Deed A Day

I toyed with the wording on this resolution for awhile, because I want it to be very broad. I want it to cover everything from letting someone in front of me in traffic, to doing the dishes for my boyfriend even if it's his night, to asking someone about how things are going in their personal lives.

I think this will be a hard resolution to achieve, because it's not the same thing every day and it's not a habit I can anchor to something else. It's more of a mindset. I also think it will be one of my most interesting resolutions this year. I plan on tracking whether or not I complete this resolution on the same paper as the others, but I'm thinking that I'll also need to record what good deed I do every day. I might record this in a journal or maybe on the computer, I haven't decided yet.

And that's it! Here's a screenshot of the spreadsheet I plan on using to keep track of my daily goals.

I have each week of the year on the sheet, and for every week I have each day listed, as well as a space next to it for a check mark. At the end of each week I'll write in the bottom corner how many out of 7 days I met my goal.

Revisiting my 2015 Resolutions

At the end of 2014 I made some resolutions for 2015.

Let's look at how successful I was. 

Resolution #1: Finish the first draft of TGITP

I did it!!! Now I'm rewriting and editing. 

Resolution #2: Read 70 books

Finished, just barely in time! I think I'll keep this resolution for next year, 70 was a challenging number. 

Resolution #3: Write at least 1,000 words a week

This one kind of morphed once I finished the draft of TGITP and wasn't writing regularly. The 1,000 words sometimes represented the amount of time spent editing or outlining my new novel, DSF. Out of 53 weeks, I met this goal 32 weeks (school starting in September really killed my streak). 

That means I met this goal 60% of the time. Not bad, but not awesome either. It gives me something to beat with this year's writing goal, which will be in a post tomorrow. 

Resolution #4: Play an instrument once a week

About a month ago I decided I wasn't getting as much out of this resolution as I wanted, so I decided to start taking piano and guitar lessons again. It's so much more motivating to practice when you have someone experienced guiding you! Therefore this won't be a resolution for me next year, mostly because as long as I'm taking the lessons I'll automatically be held to practicing (especially since it costs so much $$$). 

But how did I do this year? Out of 53 weeks I met this goal 37 of them. That means I met this goal 70% of the time. Still not awesome, but much better!

Resolution #5: Do 5 pull-ups a week  

Yikes. This one did not do so well. Out of 53 weeks I met this goal 34 of them. Huh. Better than I thought. That means I met this goal 64% of the time. I wasn't planning on making this one of my goals for next year, but now I'm thinking maybe I should...

So there it is! I think that having a printed out, paper and pencil chart really helped me keep track of my resolutions. I'm planning on doing the same thing next year, but a little more detailed since I have some daily goals. More about that tomorrow, January 1st, 2016!

2015 Resolutions - Update 3

It's been 6 months (27 weeks) since the New Year! Halfway there :). Time to check in on my resolutions and see where I am.

Resolution #1: Finish the first draft of TGITP

I have 5 scenes left until I finish the first draft! I will DEFINITELY, FOR SURE, be finished by this Saturday. I'M SERIOUS THIS TIME. 

Resolution #2: Read 70 books

I have currently read 35 books, so I'm halfway there! Goodreads tells me I'm one book behind but I'm halfway through quite a few so I should catch up easily. 

Resolution #3: Write at least 1,000 words a week

In the past 2 months I've missed twice, once for no reason and once because I was at a teaching conference. I'm not sure how this resolution will look once I finish the first draft. I guess it will be 1,000 words a week still, but unrelated to TGITP, kind of like my Camp Nano project. 

Resolution #4: Play an instrument once a week

I only missed once this time, for the teaching conference. I've started working on exercises to increase my hand independence (so that I can play a different melody on each hand at the same time, which is necessary for the song I'm learning) and I'm excited to say that I've already seen some improvement!

Resolution #5: Do 5 pull-ups a week  

Yikes. So I've only missed once, which is good. However, for awhile there I was doing 5 pull-ups a day. I had a routine down, but school ended and that routine died. I need to make a new routine for the rest of summer and stick with it, because I've already seen a loss of muscle definition!

Here are my spreadsheets for May and June. 

That's it! I'll check back in at the end of August, where I may re-evaluate my resolutions. 

2015 Resolutions - Update 2

It's been 4 months (18 weeks) since the New Year! Time to check in on my resolutions and see where I am.

Resolution #1: Finish the first draft of TGITP

I'm currently drafting the third quarter (7 out of 20 scenes done) and plan to finish by May 23rd. Then I'll just have one quarter left! I should be done with this resolution by the next check in, if everything goes as planned.

Resolution #2: Read 70 books

I've read 25 books so far, which is 2 books ahead of schedule! Still not doing so great at focusing on only a few books at once though.

Resolution #3: Write at least 1,000 words a week

Out of 18 weeks I've missed only 3 weeks! I also had another 5,000 word week.

Resolution #4: Play an instrument once a week

I've missed this goal 4 times in 18 weeks. I really want to practice more than once a week, but I keep reminding myself that right now I'm building up the once a week habit to start, so it's okay if I don't do more than that.

Resolution #5: Do 5 pull-ups a week  

I've also missed this 4 times in 18 weeks. I was all set two weeks ago to bump it up to 5 pull-ups a day, and then the great week 17 plague hit and killed those dreams. I'm going to go for it this week though now that I'm feeling better.

And here's my spreadsheet where I'm keeping track of my goals.

That's it! I'll check in on these again at the end of June.

2015 Resolutions - Update 1

It's been two months (9 weeks) since the New Year! Time to check in on my resolutions and see where I am.

Resolution #1: Finish the first draft of TGITP

I'd like to be further along with this goal than I am, but I've definitely made progress. I have a mini goal right now to finish the second half by March 14th. That means I need to write about 13 scenes in 2 weeks. I might change my goal to be Saint Patrick's Day, first because then it will give me the few extra days I need, second because I love Saint Patrick's Day (I can wear ALL green and not get any weird looks!).

Resolution #2: Read 70 books

So far I've read 14 books, and according to Goodreads that's 3 books ahead of schedule, so yay! I'm currently reading about 6 different books though, so I really need to focus on about 3 at a time...

Resolution #3: Write at least 1,000 words a week

Out of 9 weeks, I only missed this goal twice! (Though a couple of weeks were pretty close...) I even had one week where I wrote 5,346 words! I've realized though that I'll need to be writing closer to 5,000 a week if I want to finish this draft before June. I'm not changing my resolution, however, just pushing myself to surpass it.

Resolution #4: Play an instrument once a week

I also have only missed this goal twice in 9 weeks. I've been learning The Mountain by Ludovico Einaudi and working through a workbook to get back into reading music as well.

Resolution #5: Do 5 pull-ups a week  

Again, missed this twice in 9 weeks. The pull ups are getting a little easier! Of course I usually end up doing all of them on Saturday...

Here is the spreadsheet I've been using to keep track of whether or not I met my goals each week.

That's it! I'll check in on these again at the end of April. 

My 2015 Resolutions

This year I've thought hard about making some resolutions that I think I can actually accomplish.

Resolution #1: Finish the first draft of TGITP

I will finish this year. I will.

Resolution #2: Read 70 books

Last year my resolution was 52, and I read 65, so this year I'm bumping it up to 70.

Resolution #3: Write at least 1,000 words a week

Yes, I understand that only 1,000 words a week will not create an entire book. However, 0 words a week is even less likely to create a book, so I'm holding myself to at least 1,000.

Resolution #4: Play an instrument once a week

Again, not a huge change, but doable. It's the little things in life.

Resolution #5: Do 5 pull-ups a week  

These will be assisted pull-ups at first, since I can't even do one at the moment. By the end of the year I want to be able to do 3 pull-ups without help.

I think that these resolutions are much more reasonable and easy to meet, (Except number 1. It's scaring me. But I will succeed.), so here's to the new year!

Revisiting My 2014 Resolutions

At the end of 2013 I made 5 resolutions for 2014.

Was I successful at meeting them? I'd say both yes and no. Here's why:

Resolution #1: Finish TGITP

I did not meet this resolution. However, at the beginning of last year I had only about half of the book written, and not very well. Throughout this year I've rewritten the first half (getting rid of a lot and writing a lot) and I've done a lot of research into story structure and character development that's helped me write.

Resolution #2: Query at least one agent

I really shouldn't have made this resolution, since it hinges on me completing the first one early, and perfecting a query letter.

Resolution #3: Attend a conference or workshop and give someone a business card

While I didn't meet this resolution, I did join/start a writing critique group in February. We started with 5 members and we're now down to 2, but we've met and critiqued a scene or chapter from each other's WIP almost every week since then. It's really helped to keep me writing and keep me accountable this year.

Resolution #4: Read 52 books. (Unless 5 are the GOT series, aka what happened to me in 2013)

Now here's a resolution I not only met, but exceeded! I read 65 books this year. Woo!

Resolution #5: (This is somewhat of a given) Graduate college.

Of course I did meet this resolution. Not only that, but I also got a full time job teaching 4th grade.

On a scale of 1-10, I'd rate my successfulness at about a 7. I really could have finished my WIP if I'd put my mind to it.

My 2014 Resolutions

Unsurprisingly, 4 of my 5 resolutions this year relate to writing.

Resolution #1: Finish TGITP

Resolution #2: Query at least one agent

Resolution #3: Attend a conference or workshop and give someone a business card

Resolution #4: Read 52 books. (Unless 5 are the GOT series, aka what happened to me in 2013)

Resolution #5: (This is somewhat of a given) Graduate college.