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End of December and Autumn Term Reflections

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I know, I know, I've done the year reflections just earlier this week. But it's also the end of the month and the term, so I'm going over the goals and setting goals for January and the Winter term. I refuse to call it Spring term because I'm not in denial about the seasons.


Goals for December

  1. Finish editing LP and send to a manuscript assessment. Yes.

  2. Finish the academic paper. Yes.

  3. Blog twice a week. No. I only posted once on the week of 16/12.

  4. Run twice a week. Yes, just managed to do that.

All in all, not bad.


Autumn Term Goals

In September, I set these goals:

1. Finish editing Labour Pains and have it ready for an agent to read. I'm counting it as yes, even though I haven't sent it to an agent but to an assessment, but the function for me is similar.

2. Have at least three solid ideas for a short story. Yes. I have quite a few more than three and will develop them during the Winter term.

3. Read Moby-Dick. Yes. It was long.

4. Music goals:

  • Work on chords and scales - meh.

  • Go to three open mic evenings to see how they're run - even performed on one.

  • Finish Album art - yes, and my album is live now, so yay!

5. Fitness goals:

  • Find a pool that doesn't suck - yes, but I'm not using it.

  • Schedule an hour twice a week to go and swim as much as I can - well, no, but I'm now running without pain which is even better.

6. Academic paper:

  • Go over feedback to my draft of the academic paper - yes.

  • Re-write and send back to my supervisor - yes.

So, a few things can be clearly seen here. First, I suck at setting specific goals. I call it one goal, but it's really a cluster of goals. That's fine, I think, for term goals, but I need to be better at breaking these down as I did here. Second, I actually accomplished nearly all my Autumn term goals, which is pretty cool. As a reward, I'm taking a night off with my partner this week.


Now, let's see if I can do a better job with the goals for the next term.


Winter Term Goals

  1. Labour Pains: finish and decide. Following the manuscript assessment in January, I will know better whether I want to polish it off and send it out to agents, or if it's best to wait until I have something good.

  2. Rise: This is the working title of my second book. For this book, I would like to finish the first draft and then decide whether it's worth editing. I'm not sure it's any good, but I have to finish the first draft to know for sure.

  3. Short Story: Finish the short story I started working on (The Missive), and perhaps start another one while Missive is cooling off.

  4. Read: Jazz (Toni Morison), The Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison), Talking to Strangers (Malcolm Gladwell). I'm also currently reading Morison's "The Origin of Others" which I think would be helpful in the upcoming literature study (Jazz + Invisible Man).

  5. Music: I want to have a successful performance on an open mic night. It may take a few tries.

  6. Fitness: Run twice a week regularly. Aim for 5k with no pain.

  7. Academic paper: for now it's on hold, as my supervisor has it.

January Goals

  1. Finish The Missive (first draft). Reward: find an exhibit and go see it.

  2. Go over my Rise notes, figure out how to proceed. Reward: make dessert just because.

  3. Finish reading Origin of Others and Girl, Woman, Other (Bernadine Evaristo), so I have time to read Jazz at the end of the month. Reward: More reading.

  4. Work towards another open mic: select a song, rehearse, pick a night. Reward: a night off (stupid movie, popcorn).

  5. Run twice a week. Reward: a phone holder for pro-runners.

Happy New Year! :)

 

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