Happy New Year!

Yes, I know we’re already a week in, but so far, 2023 is coming in like the proverbial March lion. I’m still optimistic, though. I’m hoping that we’re just getting all the hard stuff out of the way early, so we can cruise through the rest of the year. One can only hope, right?

Just to be up front, the serial novels will not continue here in serial form. It’s too much day-to-day pressure for me, so, I’m backing up a bit. I am planning to finish Magpie Shiny this year, but on a slightly different writing schedule. My apologies to anyone that disappoints – I shouldn’t have started the serials up again in the first place…but I got a little swept up in actually making good progress there for awhile.

That said, I finally made the time last week to figure out what I’m going to focus on for the next year, and these are my “Big Three”:

– Weekday Quiet Time: 11:30pm – 12:20am
Next day planning, Journaling, and Reading

– Weekday Mindful Movement
One balance exercise, and one dexterity exercise or craft practice daily.

– Weekly Flash/Micro Story
One story no longer than 1k words written weekly throughout the year. Must be started and completed in the same week, not including final edits.

When I sat down and thought about the last year, I considered all the experimentation I did, specifically with writing/publishing. There were highs and lows, which are always easier to remember, but there was a mid-point too, where I was (as always) frustrated to not be moving faster, but I was also making very good progress on my projects – steady, meaningful progress. I wasn’t journaling last year, so it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the shift happened, but if I remember right, it was early to mid summer when I decided that I was doing well enough with my new routines that I could handle a few more things.

I also got enamored with the idea that if I did just a few *more* things than that, I could potentially make more money. And that was part of the experiment too – to see if I could make more money last year than I had the year before (no, I haven’t done my taxes yet, and I won’t until I get our investment account statements, so it’ll be awhile before I know if I managed that). So I left the “smooth sailing” behind for more experimentation and…that was the beginning of the end/burnout.

So this year, I don’t want that to happen again. I want to find a smooth, easy writing and publishing rhythm, and ride that all the way to the end of the year. I want to make good progress in a sustainable way, while still leaving myself time for hobbies and reading and the other things in life that make me happy.

The one micro-story per week is just to give myself a regular deadline that isn’t stressful or difficult to achieve. Consider it an affirmation that I still want to keep writing, and I will keep writing, and working on a couple of novels after I start each week with a warm-up story.

I also don’t want to get hurt as much this year – hence the “mindful movement” resolution. This year, I’m going to focus on maintaining my balance and dexterity. Neither of which are foolproof ways to not get hurt, but they are good ways to safeguard against major injuries from any number of minor things that could happen while I’m dealing with bouncy dogs or just walking down the sidewalk (I mean, you never know).

And of course, my nightly quiet time, which will take a chunk out of my normal scheduled writing time, but I feel like it’s necessary for maintaining good mental health going forward, and also for maintaining my ability to both write and be effective at work – both requiring different types and levels of creativity throughout the day, depending.

So those are my Big Three resolutions for the year. I have other, smaller goals that I’ll also be working towards, but these three get priority. I feel good about them, and as rough as this year’s starting, I still feel optimistic about where I’ll be at the end.

And that’s the important thing, really.

Do you have any goals or resolutions you’d like to share?

Next week, it’s time to “go big or go home”. Or is it?

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