Well here we are. Right back at the beginning again. 2018 is gone and 2019 beckons, a big, wide landscape, an empty canvas ready to be painted over, a blank page waiting to be filled with words.
So before I run out of metaphors, let me wish everyone out there a happy new year.
Of course, for me the beginning of a new year means just one thing. Time to set some goals.
I’ve been doing this religiously for quite a few years. Sometimes I do well in achieving them. Sometimes, not so well. I don’t put too much stress on the process – I don’t cut myself up if I don’t achieve them. But I reckon it’s good to try to give some sort of shape to your efforts as you go out into a new year.
So what about 2019? What sort of goals am I going to set for myself?
Given the way the last couple of years have gone, I thought I might approach things a little differently. Rather than set myself a series of very specific and discrete goals, I thought maybe I would think a bit more generally. I still do have one goal in particular that I do want to achieve, so I thought I might start by listing that out:
1. Continue working on my current novel WIP. You should know the one by now, after all I’ve been talking about it for years. It’s the comedy/fantasy/romance/satire/adventure (and whatever else I can throw into the mix). It’s now almost two years since I began work on a first draft – a first draft I completed around the middle of last year. It’s way past time to get started on draft number two. I don’t expect to have this finished by the end of the year. I’m not even prepared to put some number on how far into it I’m going to get. But I’d like to think I’ve made significant progress.
And that’s pretty much it. Sure, I want to achieve a whole lot more than that, but I’m not putting numbers onto it. Maybe I’ll write some more picture book texts, or even something a bit longer. Maybe I’ll get going on that STEM idea I’ve been mulling over for a couple of years now. Maybe I’ll even get something else published.
It doesn’t matter. Whatever I achieve is whatever I achieve. And in the meantime, I’m hoping to stay whole and healthy and happy. I can’t think of anything better to aim for than that.
Hopefully, in 2019 you will achieve all of your goals as well.
Posted by Jonathan Gould and tagged as