Naively, I thought 2021 was going to be the year in which I made up for 2020… but that didn’t happen. I was fairly on track during the first half of the year, until I got a case of the plague (over my birthday, no less!) and since then, not a lot as happened (and we won’t talk about the train-wreck December has been!) Thinking about it now, I probably still have post-Covid fatigue, six months later, and I should probably be a little easier on myself. It’s been a tough year, in many ways much worse than 2020 ever was, and I think we all deserve to cut ourselves some slack.
But, as ever, I am optimistic about 2022. Once the sun rises on that first January morning, the air will be fresh with possibilities again, and we can once again aim for the stars.
But first, let’s have a look at the writerly goals I had set for myself for 2021, and how many of them, if any, I managed to achieve.
Primary Goals for 2021
Complete and edit the rest of the Mythical Menagerie Series 2
Nope. I’m about 50% through, and with a self-imposed publication deadline of June 2022, I’d better pull my socks up.
Write and publish at least 1 standalone short story / novella
Nope. I planned three short stories, wrote the first draft of one of them, and realised that all this was doing was just distracting me from my main goal, which is getting MM2 out.
Create at least 1 product for my (super-secret) PIP project
Nope. PIP1 is stuck at around 70% at the moment, just needing some creative flourishes and final touches before it’s ready to get published.
Continue writing a monthly flash fiction piece
Yes! I didn’t write a piece every month, but some months I wrote more than one, so it all evened out.
Read 12 non-fiction books
Yes! I read 15 non-fiction books, and 4 on writing and marketing.
Secondary Goals for 2021
Grow my email (380), Facebook (100) and Instagram (198) following
Kinda. I culled my email list to remove some people who never opened anything I sent them, and decided not to put too much effort into growing it again until I have more to offer to potential readers. So my email list is down to 288 subscribers at the moment, but my Facebook followers stand at 111 people, and Instagram at 227 followers.
Continue blogging on my author website
Nope. I wrote a piece here and there, but my aim with this goal was to write something on a weekly basis, and I definitely didn’t do that.
Continue blogging on my travel website
Nope. It’s hard to be enthusiastic about travel when you’re stuck at home.
Additionally:
- I completed a Udemy course on Content Marketing.
- I completed a Udemy course on Affinity Publisher for Beginners.
- I read 66 books.
So, all in all not a great year for achieving goals.
Unsurprisingly, this year’s goals therefore look much the same. My primary writerly goals are:
- Complete Mythical Menagerie Series 2 and publish by June 2022 (or as close to as possible)
- Write a monthly flash fiction piece
And that’s it! If I can get those two things done, I’ll be happy.
But if time and energy allows, here are my secondary goals:
- Complete 1 standalone short story / novella
- Publish a second Reverie Spark flash fiction collection
- Publish one product for my PIP project
- Continue blogging on my author website (when I have something interesting to say)
- Revive blogging on my travel website (and bring the fun back)
- Continue consuming non-fiction for inspiration (not limited to books)
I’m confident 2022 will be a better, more productive, happier year. Of course, I say this every year and every year there are still many nopes on my to-do list. But I believe we have to set ourselves goals or the year (years, your life!) flies by with absolutely nothing to show for it. And nobody wants that.
Do you set yourself goals for the new year? Did you achieve your goals for 2021? What are your goals for 2022?
