2019 New Year’s Resolutions

Last year I made a similar post. Before I set down my goals for 2019, let’s see how I did:

  • [2018] In April, my wife is expecting our second son. I hope to make sense of life with two kids running around.
  • [2018] I’d like to get back to the gym, or at least, feel guilty about not getting back to the gym.
  • [2018] I’d like to finish the current draft of my NiP by mid summer, and send it for beta feedback to my inner circle of critters.
  • [2018] I’d like to complete any rewrites, as well as a polish pass before year’s end, allowing me to begin either 1) submitting to traditional houses, or 2) sourcing covers and editors for self-publication.

The first one I accomplished, and it was no easy feat. I’m a straight-up family dad now, I guess, with my time and energy generally monopolized by two wild boys. I also succeeded in the second task: I definitely felt guilty about not getting back to the gym. Excellent, 2 for 2.

I set myself up for failure a bit, since goal #4 was contingent on the completion of goal #3… and I whiffed goal 3 by an embarrassing margin. At the end of 2017, my word count on Lunhina was ~68.5K out of a projected 170K. Today, I am sitting on ~115K out of a projected 350K.

You might be thinking, “350K!? What the hell is wrong with you?”

Yes.

In any event, I added 46K words to the novel (not including some rewrites), which averages 3,800/month, or 136/day. At that rate, to reach the word count I have outlined, it will take me a further 5.1 years. So obviously this ship has gone well off course.

Informed by this data, here are my goals for 2019:

  • Start working out at least 3 times a week.
  • Get my shit together with Lunhina and finishing SOMETHING, either a self-contained “part 1” for the larger story, or the full story re-outlined to normal novel length.
  • Write at least 2000 words per week (a.k.a., double my current pathetic counts).

That is all. I’m keeping it simple, and focusing on two things I really want to accomplish: something for my physical health, and something for my mental health. Both of these things tend to take a back seat to — what I judge to be — more important things, such as my family, my work and finances, and some of my personal relationships. I don’t have any specific goals in those areas since I tend to give them most of my waking attention already. Here, I’m shooting for the things I should be able to keep in balance with everything else, but in practice don’t.

What are your goals for the year?

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