Goals 2013 - an evaluation

I usually finish out each year with a review of what I achieved in the year just gone. So far I've got 2011 and 2012 reflections, and now it's time for 2013's.

First off, you can see my original goal list here. Also on that page you can see my latest updates which reflect the things I did and did not achieve. But I'll mention a few here:

I did

• make over this blog (and I think it's due for another makeover now)
• read at least 30 books (so far I've read 48)
• write at least once a week in this blog (or at least I will have achieved this after I post this month's Cephalopod post :))
• write one Globetrotter post per month [except April]
• write one (or more) book review(s) per month [except April]
• write 1k of new story per week
• participate in BuNoWriMo 2013
• participate in NaNoWriMo 2013

I did not

• read the 4 books I've been trying to read for many years - but now that I know I can read them on Kindle, I might actually be able to get them read at last!
• write one "Out & About Me" post per month (I missed September)
• post one music video per month with brief commentary (epic fail! Didn't do a single one)
• participate in NaNoEdMo 2013 (pretty sure I didn't do this; have no recollection of it anyway)
• read/edit SQUEAKY
• finalise & revise (2nd revision) SUNDOWN IIb
• finish 2nd revision of DAPHNE
• create at least one new piece of fine art per week
• scan at least 100 photos/documents per month (my scanner is also broken, so ...)

I won't even bother to talk about the "would like to achieve but not holding my breath" goals I set myself, because I definitely achieved none of them. But the above list tells me I did achieve a fair bit in 2013, even if I also failed on a few things I would have liked to achieve. All in all, I'm considering 2013 a year of high productivity in the writing area, but a bit of an epic failure in the revision area.

2014 will be different, I vow!

Sometime soon I'll outline some 2014 goals (but I can tell you now there won't be nearly as many as what you see above).

GOALS (a 2012 summary) and a Blog of the Year

With the end of the year so close, it's time for me to reflect on what I achieved/did not achieve in 2012. After 2011's goal blitz, I was feeling pumped this year, but I didn't quite live up to 2011's high standards. Don't get me wrong, though - I'm perfectly fine with it! I just didn't get a perfect score this year. ;) Anyway, let's break it down, referring to my 2012 Goals page and also my 52 weeks of tasks page:

Failures:

• NaNoEdMo - I was travelling for a bit of this month, but still, I failed!
• Writing one book review each month - I missed November
• Attending one yoga/body balance class per week
• Doing a beach walks on Saturdays/Sundays - failed this particularly as the year came to an end.

Successes:

• Read 43+ books in 2012 - my goal was at least 43
• Read The Catrina Chronicles stories up to date (though as of now I am behind again)
• Wrote and recorded 52 songs for 2012's Chrysalis Experiment
• Finished both 2011's NaNo novels, DANNA and VICTORIOUS
• Hit 50k in BuNoWriMo 2012 with IVY NIGHT - though the draft is not finished
• Won NaNoWriMo 2012, rewriting DAPHNE
• Posted one Globetrotter post per month
• Did a preliminary read-through/edit of FIRE (had no recollection of this till coming to write this post. ha)
• Sorted the equivalent of 100 photos a week
• Wrote the equivalent of 1k of new material each week, not counting BuNo and NaNo projects (worked on DANNA and SUNDOWN II for this)
• Reviewed all 52 Chrysalis stories, except 2 that were DANNA excerpts

"Somewhere in between"s:

• I did read 9 eBooks from my writer friends, but not always the books I had on the original list. I kept swapping really long books for short novella-length stories (with no e-reader, it's not easy reading eBooks!)
• Complete edit of DAPHNE - I do count this as an achievement, but it was actually more of a total rewrite, and I didn't do what I originally wanted and put more of Daphne's mother's history into the plot
• As of this post, I will have written the equivalent of at least one post a week this year. But I'm pretty sure I went more than 7 days between posts at least once this year.

Extra achievements:

• Finished my rewrite of SUNDOWN, which was not on my goals list anywhere, but which I made use of in the 1k of new material per week goal on my "52 tasks" chart.

Aaaand that's a wrap, folks! But what about next year? Yeah, I've got plans, and I'll talk about 2013 goals in a few days... :)

In other news, the lovely Deniz Bevan received the Blog of the Year Award, and chose to pass it onto me and Laurel Garver. I feel very honoured to have received this award, so thank you Deniz! The official rules of this award are:

1. Select the blog(s) you think deserve the Blog of the Year 2012 Award
2. Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there's no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and present them with their award
3. Please include a link back to this page Blog of the Year 2012 Award and include these rules in your post (please don't alter the rules or the badges!)
4. Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the rules with them
5. You can now also join our Facebook group – click like on this page Blog of the Year 2012 Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience
6. As a winner of the award please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar... and start collecting stars...

The people I'm going to pass this onto are:

• Hart Johnson at Confessions of a Watery Tart, whose posts are often entertaining but also tackle the tough issues many people are too scared to mention.
• Jordan McCollum, who doesn't tend to get a huge amount of comments on her blog but who still gives a whole lot to the writer blogger community with her very helpful posts.
• Michael Atkinson at Hypothetically Writing, whose little snippets of fiction shared throughout the year have brought delight to many. Michael's creative wit is, in my opinion, unparalleled, and he also makes a great bloggy friend!

New Year's Eve and writing goals!

Photo ©  Konstantin Chagin

I shall be drinking both those glasses of champagne this evening (or at least, glasses of champagne that look similar)! It's New Year's Eve and that's reason enough to celebrate! (not that I need much excuse for champagne...and yes, I did go through a phase when I hated the stuff, but I've done a 180 since then!) But I have another reason to celebrate.

I achieved all my writing/revising/etc. goals for 2011!!

I have put up a page for 2012's goals, so we'll see how I go with those. I will have a period of about four weeks in March/April when I'll be overseas, so I will be taking that into account. But for now I am basking in my achievements for this year. Instead of rehashing them, I will just point you to the 2011 goals page.

Have an awesome New Year's Eve, and I'll see you in 2012!!!