Hello.
I don’t know if I’m back for real, or only for a little, or if this is my last post ever (hopefully not). I *do* know that, while I like a lot of things on Instagram, I miss writing random posts for this blog and I want to do it more.
How have you all been?
Cathedral is officially published (a post about it is coming soon on my other blog!). You can buy it for $4 as an ebook or $7 as a paperback here. If you live near me (SW Michigan), you can buy a signed paperback for $5 (just email me and let me know).
Anyway, I have a poem to share soon and a few other random posts I want to do, but for now I’m going to go through my 2021 goals (which I posted on here a while ago) and talk about what I did/did not do. Then maybe I’ll make a list of 2022 goals.
➽ FINISH WRITING REMNANT. ❌ Did not do this. It’s at nearly 80k, but it’s not done, and I haven’t written it much at all lately. I still want to do this someday, but I’m okay with not having done it this year.
➽ START WRITING PARADISE. ❌ Also did not do this… because it’s the sequel to Remnant. But I will! Someday!
➽ WRITE A LOT ON AT LEAST ONE OTHER PROJECT. ✔️ I did this! I have over 20k words on my Greek-inspired sea magic story. I like it a lot.
➽ WRITE 1K/DAY, 4 DAYS/WEEK. ❔ Sort of. I did this sometimes, and not others. In general, my writing has not been very consistent this year.
➽ WRITE MORE POETRY. ✔️ Yes! I wrote some of my very favorite poems this year: “borrowed grief,” “goodbyes,” and a new one that you all haven’t read yet. There were several others, too.
➽ LOOK INTO REALM MAKERS AND HUTCHMOOT. ❔ I mean, yes, I looked into them. I didn’t go to either. I still want to in the future.
➽ SUBMIT WORK ONLINE AT LEAST 3 TIMES. ❌ I didn’t. (:
➽ KEEP BLOGGING. ✔️ My blogging has been very sporadic, but I have blogged this year, as evidenced by this post!
➽ BE MORE ACTIVE. ✔️ I think yes. This is something I’m still working on, but I’ve improved.
➽ EAT (MORE) HEALTHILY. ✔️ I’m completely gluten free now and it’s been great for me!
➽ READ THE BIBLE 5 DAYS A WEEK. ❌ I did not do this consistently this year. I have, however, gotten a lot better at Bible reading and spiritual practices in general, including attending matins and compline almost every day at college!
➽ IN GENERAL, JUST PRAY MORE. ❔ I think so? I don’t know how to categorize/count prayers, but I’ve definitely been praying.
➽ READ 100 BOOKS (20 NONFICTION). ❌ Nope! I read 62 (so far) this year, and I’m good with that. College has taken up a lot of my reading time.
➽ KEEP UP WITH MY PEN PALS AND ONLINE FRIENDS. ✔️ I’m actually all caught up on letters right now (yay!).
➽ MAKE NEW FRIENDS (and keep the old ones). ✔️ Thanks be to God for helping me find like-minded, amazing people at college! Here’s to the LLLL, SSS, and everyone else who helped get me through the semester. (Also, I stayed in touch with my hometown friends AND grew even closer to my best far-away friend via letters, texts, and phone calls.)
➽ PLAY THE PIANO AND SING MORE (and maybe some acting?). ✔️ I’ve been playing piano sporadically (this reminds me, I should go play some more today), and I’m in the college choir. As for acting, that hasn’t really been happening. I wish I had auditioned for my college’s production of Henry V, but at the time I didn’t realize they were casting girls in roles originally written for males, and it would have been a lot of time commitment to add to the overwhelmingness of my first semester. Ah well. I’ll be on the lookout for auditions in the future.
➽ GET A JOB! ✔️ I worked at a local bakery/breakfast restaurant all summer, and I work with an events coordinator at my college.
➽ GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL! ✔️ Not much more to say here. I got tired of all the fanfare, but I did it, and now all my school is voluntary.
➽ GO TO FAMILY CAMP! ✔️ One of the best weeks of my summer, second only to the week I stayed as a volunteer afterward. Seriously, guys. I learned to sail, and I made new friends, and I jumped off the pontoon boat like fifteen times (still have scars on my knees to prove that I climbed back up without help), and we read the Silmarillion aloud at midnight, and, and, and… I really hope I can go back next summer.
➽ START COLLEGE! ✔️ And I happen to really like it!
➽ (MAYBE) MEET SOME ONLINE FRIENDS. ❌ Sadly, no.
Okay, now it’s on to my 2022 goals. Apologies for the length of this post (but after my long absence, you can stand a long post).
~ writing ~
➽ FINISH A NOVEL. I’m not going to specify which one. It’ll probably be either Remnant or the aforementioned sea magic story, but who knows, I could be re-inspired to write Red Raven or Secrets or even The Ancient Song. (I have a lot of WIPs. In case you hadn’t noticed.)
➽ WRITE 1K/WEEK DURING THE SPRING SEMESTER (and set a writing goal for the fall semester too). That’s only 16k, but it’s 16k I won’t have if I don’t make myself write.
➽ PLAN ANOTHER POETRY COLLECTION (or something of the sort). Now that Cathedral is out in the world and I know how KDP works, I want to self-publish something else! Maybe another poetry collection, or a nicely typeset version of a classic in the public domain, or something to do with the church year. I have lots of ideas 😉
➽ EDIT/SUBMIT “THE TALLTERROR.” This is a short story that I’ve been meaning to finish edits on for nearly a year now.
➽ ATTEND AT LEAST ONE ONLINE/IN-PERSON WRITING EVENT. This could be something like Realm Makers or Hutchmoot, but also something as simple as a webinar (I like Nadine Brandes and Sara Ella’s). Or, maybe, participating fully in Crazy Writing Week.
~ other ~
➽ BE INTENTIONALLY ACTIVE. By this I mean that I want to choose a specific activity and get better at it. This might mean walking or running every day for a month, or trying a workout series on YouTube, or stretching consistently, or getting back into martial arts.
➽ INTENTIONALLY EAT BETTER. I want to work on avoiding foods I know will make me feel tired, sick, etc. and choose things that are energizing and nourishing.
➽ READ THE WHOLE BIBLE. Pretty self-explanatory. Also, I’m letting myself start with Joshua since I read the Pentateuch fairly recently.
➽ READ 75 BOOKS, and read more nonfiction. 🙂
➽ KEEP UP WITH LETTERS. Also, I should probably stop adding more pen pals, but I probably won’t.
➽ INTENTIONALLY CULTIVATE MY FRIENDSHIPS. I want to keep my friends, and grow closer to them, and also (maybe) get to know certain people better (people that aren’t my friends yet, but I think would like to be).
➽ PERFORMING ARTS! I’ll still be in choir, and I’m starting organ lessons this spring. If I have time, I’d like to play the piano some more, and I want to audition for at least one show this year.
➽ FAMILY CAMP. We’re going for a week in July, which I am very excited for, but I hope to be able to either volunteer for a couple of weeks or be on staff all summer. It depends on a lot of variables, mainly financial. Mostly I’m praying for God to give me peace with whatever happens.
➽ CONCERTS/SPEECHES/SHOWS. I’m going to see Jordan Peterson this spring (yes, for real), and I’d like to see Behold the Lamb in person again. Also, I’m going to my sister’s musical, and I’ll see some shows at college. If I have the chance, perhaps I’ll go to a concert (The Gray Havens or The Arcadian Wild?).
➽ INTENTIONALITY & CONTENTMENT. As you can probably tell, most of my goals for 2022 involve being intentional with my actions. I don’t want to waste time; I want to have free time when I mean to, and not just because I’m bored or putting off schoolwork. I want to turn in essays early and complete assignments well. But most of all, I’m praying for contentment, because there are so many things I want that I can’t or won’t have. I want God to work in my heart and help me accept the lot I am given, and do the best I can with it.
So there you have it, friends. I’m glad to be back and here’s hoping I accomplish these goals in 2022! I’d say I have a pretty good chance considering I completed about 75% of my 2021 goals.
Do you have any goals or plans for the new year? Do you like indie poetry books? (if so you might like mine ;))
Until next time.
~ all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us ~
when through the woods 
AHHH *flails* Maya posted! Totally made my day, girl. 🙂 Those goals all sound great, and very reasonable, but you know what I like most about this post; you’re so REALISTIC with yourself. you’re just like, ‘yep, I didn’t get to that, but it’s okay, I did this instead.’ I mean. I tend to hold myself super scrupulously to things, so I just gotta admire that. 😀 Anyway, I really enjoyed reading this. and I would personally vote that you finish ALL THE NOVELS this year *more fangirl flailing* but since I know that’s probably not possible lol, my vote goes to sea/greek/etc. vibes WIP (commonly known as Erith) (though why it’s not commonly known as Luca considering Luca is uncommonly known as Erith is still Greek to me) (quite interested to find out). 😛
I love Indie poetry, haha, and I do plan to buy a copy of yours once I get the funds lying ’round. 🙂 Kinda scrimping and saving right now, since one of my goals for this year is to go to a private Catholic college. I’m currently waiting around in an agony of anticipation to see if my top choice accepted me, so I guess one of my goals is to get accepted lol. XD That aside, I also hope to a) finish 1-2 novels b) start a blog c) work on myself a lot d) let go of the past (you no doubt know what I mean specifically, friend of my heart) e) gain some weight, lol (am rather underweight currently) and maybe f) just be HAPPIER lol. Tallyho and God bless you, dear Maya!
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Haha, thanks. I don’t find myself “realistic” but rather, I’m just good at pretending I’m fine with things when I’m not. Though I guess I am fine with most of these goals and their outcomes.
(Welll… you’ll just have to wait and see. That is a reasonable question, though, since she *is* commonly known as Luca *grins*)
I’m still praying for your college hopes/future, my friend! And your other goals sound awesome and I will be praying for those too.
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Yay you for doing so much this year, & here’s to smashing those great goals this next one!! (:
I too will be attempting to read 75 books, finishing a novel, putting together a poetry collection (just for fun for friends), & attending Realm Makers (& hopefully, at least virtually if offered, Hutchmoot).
also graduating high school which is cool 😛
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I’m hoping to attend Realm Makers too!
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Ooh, graduation is going to be fun! Will you be doing the Conservatory after that still? So exciting!!
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I have to say, I was really happy when I saw this post in my inbox. Glad you’re back (and as a side note, it’s kind of nice to know that I’m not the only one who doesn’t always complete my writing goals;)).
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Replying to my own comment because I realized I actually did have goals for the new year:
-1. Complete the second draft of a story I’ve been working on for years.
-2. Stay on top of Latin homework.
-3. Read books.
-4. Stay on top of Penpal letters (I’m behind right now).
-5. Be active.
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Great goals! My goals are very similar, I just like to write them down in longer form because it’s fun 😛 How is Latin going for you?
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What are matins and complines? 🙂
I’m attempting the read the Bible in a year in chronological order so I think it’s cool you have a similar goal! Also, camps and concerts are both awesome things. I didn’t actually make “goals” per se this year, but I made a habit tracker so I can hold myself accountable to do good things and stay healthy. I think it’s lovely that you want to focus on contentment because contentment is really hard. This year I’m choosing to focus on wonder because I want to see and praise God for the beautiful things in my life.
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Matins and compline are morning/evening prayer services! My church does versions from our service book (LSB from 2006), but I believe various denominations have been doing versions of them for centuries, and monks would do them (along with many other services like vespers, nones, etc.) every day. They’re a really peaceful way to start and end the day, and I love chanting Psalms and reading responsive prayers.
Chronological order is a great idea! I’m trying the order the Bible is bound in for now, but I might try chronological someday. You’ll have to let me know how it goes!
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