2018 Year in Review
Last year I participated in a 7-day series of “year in review” questions put together by Lisa Jacobs, culminating in an “18 for 2018” list of goals.
Although I didn’t go through such a comprehensive look back on 2018 this year, I thought I’d compare my list of goals with reality and see how I did.
So, here was my original list. And here’s how I did…
Successes:
I read 33 nonfiction books (out of 63 books total) this year, which is about 2.75 per month, so I’d definitely consider Educational Goal #1 met – and then some.
Walk 10,000 steps and work up to 5 miles every day. I’d consider this goal a success. Although I didn’t manage to get my 10,000 steps in every single day, I did step up my game quite a bit in the quest to reach 1,500 miles for the year. Since I’m currently walking 8.05 miles a day to meet that goal, and I’m determined to hit it by tonight (December 31st), I’m going to call this a success overall.
Cut out alcohol to improve my health. I did cut out alcohol as part of a “Dry January” challenge, but ultimately I didn’t think it was particularly helpful (nor harmful) in terms of my health and fitness goals, and added it back into my diet in moderation. In 2019, I will stick with this more moderate approach to drinking, rather than going totally “dry.”
Move into a new home that better suits my family’s needs. Mission accomplished! Although our new place in Sacramento is a bit smaller than our place in San Diego was, it’s more affordable, comes with laundry in our space (no more crusty laundromats and shared laundry!), and we are enjoying the attitude and pace of our new city a lot more.
Book and enjoy a 10th anniversary getaway with my husband. YES! By some miracle of fate, I actually won a spa trip to Lake Tahoe, so my husband and I were able to take a little weekend vacation to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary in style. The flight and hotel were covered, and we had a couple hundred bucks to spend in the hotel, which we ended up using to pay for most of our meals (the spa looked nice, but every single one of their services cost more than the total amount we’d been allotted to spend in the hotel!), including a nice anniversary dinner together. We also rented a car to drive from Tahoe over to Sacramento to scope the city out, so it worked as a bit of a fact-finding mission when we were deciding where we wanted to move. And now that we live in Sacramento, we can have more Tahoe getaways in the future, too!
Practice the Miracle Morning routine every day. Well… I would say this was a partial win. I definitely didn’t stick with the MM routine, but it gave me some good ideas for creating my own morning routine, and I think that’s the most important thing. I will probably never jump out of bed and get straight to exercising in the first 3 hours I’m awake, but I do typically get up at the same time each day; make time for reading, writing and exercising; and try to make sure my mornings are as focused and uncluttered as possible.
Track the things I want to change each month. Yes! Although I may not always stick with the trackers themselves, I do find that the idea of what gets measured gets managed is true for me. Keeping track of the things I want to change is key to getting off my butt and actually doing it. It’s a good habit that I plan to stick with in 2019.
Goals Not Met:
Read 1 children’s book per week. Not quite! I read 19 children’s and/or YA titles this year, which is 33 short of a book per week. But I also decided that I didn’t really want to focus on writing for kids this year, which is why I decided not to keep up with this goal.
Finish SCBWI class with a manuscript I can publish. Since I decided about halfway through this class that I wasn’t super passionate about pursuing writing in this genre, I also abandoned the manuscript I was working on.
Publish 3 issues of Black Heart. This didn’t happen, and in fact I didn’t even manage to get one issue published this year. In short: there is just so much work to do to put together a single issue of the magazine, and I’m doing it solo, so for right now I’m putting the whole thing on hiatus. I’m still trying to decide whether I can put out one issue per year, or maybe every other year.
Create 12 “Buttontapper Challenge” ideas and post daily on social media. Although I mostly stuck with my daily posting on social media throughout the year, the Buttontapper Challenge never seemed to gain any traction, so I scrapped it halfway through the year due to lack of interest.
Create a class around my existing ebooks. Not quite. Instead I put together a workbook based on my Preptober posts from last year, which you can purchase here.
Travel to Chicago to add material to Chicago from A to Z. Although my husband and I originally hoped to move to Chicago this year, we realized it was just too far to go (especially with two cats who definitely do NOT travel well), and that moving to a state that wasn’t nearly as progressive as California was not a good idea, given the psychotic man-child currently running ruining our country. Instead, we moved to Sacramento, and I am thinking of writing another A to Z guide about my new hometown.
Land an agent. This was related to my YA publishing goals, and since I never finished the books, there was nothing to pitch.
Secure a book deal. Same as above. No manuscript + no agent = no book deal.
Do another 5K Walk/Write weekend. I never scheduled one for myself, and didn’t have a group to encourage me to do it, so I didn’t participate this year. Maybe next year?
Run a 5K with Jenna. I haven’t even trained at all for running a 5K, but I have been walking a lot more, so perhaps I will work my way up to actually walking in a real 5K in 2019.
Take a train trip to LA. Just didn’t have time to do this one before the big move. Maybe next year?
MORE Successes:
- Created and completed a Positivity challenge, based on an online class I was taking, along with reading and blog posts
- Finished the audiobook for San Diego from A to Z
- Had my first erotica novella traditionally published: Montreal Mischief
- Completed the A to Z Challenge in April
- Published No More F*ing Weirdos!
- Started my Wife for a Weekend manuscript
- Published my Preptober! workbook
- Did two virtual 5Ks for Read A Book Day and my 40th birthday
All in all, I’m counting this as 15 Successes vs. 11 Goals Not Met, so this will help me narrow down my focus as I create a new list of goals for 2019! (Pssst! Check back tomorrow to find out what some of my new goals are.)
How was YOUR 2018?