My One Year Goal Plan - 2013 Edition

Every year I make New Year's resolutions and post them on my blog. Every year so far I've gone about keeping up with them in a different way. In 2011, I posted "report cards" a couple of times. In 2012, I posted updates on the first day of each month for most of the year (last update at the bottom of this post).

In 2013, starting tomorrow, I have an entirely different plan.

I have eight goals to accomplish by December 31, 2013.

1. Finish THINKING OF YOU revisions.
2. Draft all CITY IN THE SKY stories.
3. Finish THE TRUE PRINCESS revisions and edits.
4. Finish drafting and rewrite OBJECTION.
5. Replan and start rewriting THE LULLABY.
6. Draft untitled lucky genes story.
7. Finish 26 short works.
8. Reduce percentage of unread books to 10%.

To make sure I actually work toward all of these goals throughout the year, I have developed a plan with the help of Microsoft Excel: The One Year Goal Plan - 2013 Edition.

When I look at those big goals and think about trying to finish them, my heart sinks a little bit. They're not goals that can be completed quickly or easily. Hence, they're hard to keep my sights on. These feelings are what my whole plan revolves around.

Each "Year Goal" will be broken done into twelve "Month Goals." Looking at that smaller goal is better, but a month still leaves plenty of time to get distracted. So each month is split in half and each half is given its own goal. Both "Half-Month Goals" are then split into various amounts of "Mini-Goals" that are easy and far less stressful to reach.

I feel this method will keep me focused on and excited about accomplishing my goals. I've completed January's breakdowns, but will be waiting to do the other months until they roll around. This way I will be most up-to-date on each goal's progress and know for certain what might decrease or increase my writing time each month.

And, in case you were wondering how Excel helped me:

January Goals for THINKING OF YOU (drag to URL bar to embiggen)

I will be updating all of you on my progress in the style of my usual posts and with occasional snapshots of my spreadsheet.

2013 is going to be a great year!

---

2012 NYR Last Update - 1 Year

1. I will have complete THINKING OF YOU's ready for query first round of revisions. I finished small revisions on the first six chapters and conquered my fear of revising.
2. I will have two new first drafts. I finished one first draft of THE TRUE PRINCESS and got to 32,393 words on OBJECTION.
3. I will win National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo).
4. I will submit at least two short stories to two anthologies, journals, ezines, and/or contests.
5. I will read at least one hundred books. I read 57 books and made it over half-way with two others.
6. I will post at least one vlog a month. I posted one vlog in January, March, April, July, September, October, and December. I posted five in November.
7. I will exercise in some way once a week. Since the beginning of September, according to the My Fitness Pal app on my phone, I did a round of jumping jacks on six different days.