2021 began with a political nightmare (when it should have been such a pleasant waking from one) and ended kind of the same way, albeit with less violence and insurrection.
It feels like the world has gone crazy. In the bad way. People have forgotten how to be people, and I feel bad for all the people I know who are named Karen. That name has become synonymous with “entitled and very vocal about it.”
Some have rejected science and deny the ongoing pandemic (I’m looking at you, Texas and Florida!), while others have embraced the best protection so hard that they now feel invulnerable to it. (Also a bad move, California.) Personally, I am biding my time until this virus becomes endemic, or at least seasonal like the flu. At this point, with so many mutations and variants, it is not going away. Thanks, POLITICS.
Meanwhile, in my own corner of the world, I have remained solidly in my lazy and inactive form. I say mean and/or dumb things all over the internet and spend all my off-time watching TV (via streaming), movies (ditto), and YouTube.
Writing? What’s that??
2021 GOALS ROUND-UP
To make this fun for me, this is not all going to be pass/fail like in the mid-year report — if it was, this would be depressing. If I gained a percentage of progress, that’s the percent success I get. I am weighting it the same (to account for the lower priority failures), but if I exceed a goal (SPOILER: I did in one case), I do not get extra credit for it.
Confused? That’s OK. I’m the one who has to math it out, not you.
1) 134,000 words. (58.2%) – I managed 77,991 words thanks to the pulled-out-of-my-rear NaNoWriMo win in November and then a 4,000-word recap entry for that. Most of the remainder was also blog posts, but I did manage to write more than 5,000 words of additional fiction that went nowhere.
Yay me?
2) Publish ONE book. (0%) – Yeah, there’s no sugar-coating this one.
3) Write at least one book OUTSIDE November. (9.4%) – I wavered on the scoring for this one. I did not write ONE BOOK, but unlike publishing, I did at least make progress on one. I used the NaNoWriMo 50,000 words as my goal for the calculation, and since I hit 4,696 before the problems with it stopped me in my tracks, I’m considering it a part success.
4) (LOW PRIORITY) Write at least TWO short stories. (0%) – I toyed with partial success on this, but the fact that the “short story” I had begun was the one that scared me off writing for a short bit, I have relegated that piece to my “Unpublishable Nonsense” column.
That’s a column that exists so I do not feel I have to write things people will ever see. And no one will EVER see that train wreck.
5) Read 11 books. (100%) – I managed to reach this goal after resting on my laurels for a bit. It’s also the semi-controversial win in the batch. I mainly listen to audiobooks nowadays, and while I absolutely defend their use as a “reading” method, seven of the books were ones I had read before. I am counting them; it had been more than two years (I think I figured out in the mid-year that the last one I read was four years ago?), so it was “new” enough for me to include.
Plus, it’s the goal where I do not get extra credit: I completed 12 books in 2021.
6) (LOW PRIORITY) Dip my toe into advertising. (0%) – I thought for a second I had it in the bag with the audiobook promotion I got into in June, but as I explained in the mid-year, the word is “advertising” — which implies (if not outright states) buying internet space somewhere to show strangers that a book exists, please go buy it.
GRAND FINAL TOTAL: 33.5% – It would have been 35.3% if I allowed myself the extra credit. Either way, it’s still pitiful.
OTHER 2021 THINGS
One of the things I mentioned in the last goals post was that I wanted to investigate moving web hosts. Which I did. And instantly (though briefly) regretted. Because I could not figure out how to properly transfer the blog database, I had to decimate the whole thing. On the bright side, I was able to retrieve a text version of all the entries, and I have been working my way through, restoring past entries. I am into 2020, in fact.
What I did NOT do that I mentioned I might: I did not further investigate mailing lists or look into creating any semblance of a formal business. However, the creative Round Robin between me and my sister, while it fizzled, did not do so because of me. (Yup. I just called my sister out on the internet. She’ll never see this, so it doesn’t matter.)
GOALS FOR 2022
Since I did such a bad job in achieving my 2021 goals, I’m going to call a do-over. All six 2021 goals are carrying through to 2022, with the same priority level attached. (Meaning, I *do* want to write short stories and advertise, but I want to prioritize the other things more.) SO:
1) 134,000 words for the year. (250 words/day except 50k total in November.)
2) Publish one book.
3) Write one book outside November. I will count Hero Mom if I can work out the kinks and write it.
4) (LOW) Write one short story. Okay, this one is a change from last year. Down from two.
5) Read 11 books. (One per month except in November.)
6) (LOW) Spend $50 in advertising at some point in the year. (This is more concrete than “dip my toe into” and is still EXACTLY that.)
WRAPPING UP
A personal intent from a couple years ago is rearing its ugly head again, as the roommate has cemented her commitment to buying a house in 2022. You may recall it got derailed due to this pandemic thing I may or may not have mentioned here. As such, I need to cement my commitment to moving out as well. I’ve had two extra years to go through all my crap and get rid of what I don’t need. Guess how much I’ve done? If you guessed zero, 1) that’s mean, but 2) you’re RIGHT!
The new apartment search begins in earnest around March or April-ish. The “go through crap” part needs to happen significantly before then. So, like now or so. (*Inner lazy person whines*)
Other than that, we’re done here for another month. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, up to and including Thanksgiving (U.S.), Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and of course New Year’s Eve/Day. I hope you were safe. I hope you were merry. And most importantly, I hope you feel loved. Not only for the holidays, but every day of your life.
Be the love, get vaccinated, and I will talk to you next time.