It’s been a tradition to share my goals and plans for the new year on this blog for a couple years, so here I am to do that again.
I’m currently working out exactly what relationship I want to have with sharing my life on my blog — when I turned sixteen and was allowed to share some more about myself online, I was really excited to do it, and I think social media culture in general has given me an urge to write about myself. And I don’t think that’s entirely wrong, because I do have a platform (however small) and people who might enjoy reading about my experiences, but I have lately been becoming more private and more intentional with what I share, because despite how much I love my readers, I have a life outside of my blog and my writing and I want to keep that separate.
Well. I haven’t worked out all the rough edges yet. I hope you will all stick around as I think about these things. And welcome to my end-of-year thoughts.
2022:
writing
➽ FINISH A NOVEL. ❌ Ha. Writing keeps fading to the background as I focus on other things (like school and reading and friendships).
➽ WRITE 1K/WEEK. ❔ The goal with this was to have 16k in the spring semester, and some more in the fall semester. I didn’t write that much during the school year, but I did add about 20k to a WIP and wrote a fair bit of poetry and other random stuff, so I think my total for the year was probably about 30k of new fiction and poetry, which I’m okay with.
➽ PLAN ANOTHER POETRY COLLECTION (or something of the sort). ❔ The idea was to get better at KDP formatting. I did mess around with formatting my own version of Orthodoxy, which was (mostly) successful, and have been working on formatting Laddie, but I don’t think I’m going to publish more poetry anytime soon.
➽ EDIT/SUBMIT “THE TALLTERROR.” ❌ I don’t know if I like this story anymore.
➽ ATTEND AT LEAST ONE ONLINE/IN-PERSON WRITING EVENT. ❔ Becoming an editor for a magazine sort of counts, right?
other
➽ BE INTENTIONALLY ACTIVE. ✔️ I definitely didn’t do this all the time, but I got better at it.
➽ INTENTIONALLY EAT BETTER. ✔️
➽ READ THE WHOLE BIBLE. ❌ (But I did read some of it!)
➽ READ 75 BOOKS, and read more nonfiction. ✔️ I’ve read 106 books so far this year and 17 were nonfiction (I’m almost done with my 18th nonfiction). This is 43 more books than last year, and 13 more nonfiction, so I’m very happy with this!
➽ KEEP UP WITH LETTERS. ❌ I was going to catch up on these over winter break and then I left them all in my dorm 😦
➽ INTENTIONALLY CULTIVATE MY FRIENDSHIPS. ✔️
➽ PERFORMING ARTS! ✔️ I took two semesters of organ lessons & one semester of choir & one semester of voice lessons, auditioned for two shows (and was cast in one), and sang a few times at my church.
➽ FAMILY CAMP. ✔️ I wasn’t able to volunteer or work there this year, but miraculously God gave me peace about it, and the week I spent there with my family was beautiful.
➽ CONCERTS/SPEECHES/SHOWS. ✔️ Saw Jordan Peterson and Michael Ward speak, saw several shows (Pilgrim, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Ada and the Engine, The Threepenny Opera, Translations, Our Town), and went to a Goitse concert, as well as many student recitals!
➽ INTENTIONALITY & CONTENTMENT. I don’t know how to measure this kind of a goal; I’ve gotten better at some aspects of this, and I’m still working on other parts of them.
2023:
➽ FINISH MY SEAMAGES NOVEL. I don’t know if this will happen, because I would rather not fail school and read lots of books, but we’ll see.
➽ SUBMIT SOMETHING SOMEWHERE. I am thinking of writing something for the magazine I help edit, or a poem for my college’s literary journal.
➽ VARIOUS HEALTH GOALS, mostly staying active and eating well 🙂
➽ DEVOTION 5 DAYS/WEEK. This is Bible reading (and if time, I’ve also been reading some of the Book of Concord).
➽ READ 80-100 BOOKS. No particular nonfiction goal (and I’m okay if I don’t make 100 books this time, since I really had to prioritize it in 2022), but I’m getting better and better at reading good books and classics and philosophy, which is a trend I’d like to continue.
➽ READ THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW IN GREEK IN MY FREE TIME.
➽ AUDITION FOR SOMETHING, either a play or a choir.
➽ STAY ON TOP OF THINGS. What with running one or two organizations, editing for a magazine, working a job, and taking a lot of credits, I’m going to be very busy, and I want to do all the things I’ve said I will, and write letters to my pen pals on top of that.
I hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas so far, and I wish you the best in the new year. God is good, even when we are not.
May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks,
Maya
gaily in the dark 
I wish you luck in your 2023 endeavors!
LikeLike
It’s definitely a tricky line to walk to figure out how much of life to share on your blog, and vice versa too, honestly. I hope that you’re able to find a balance the works for you!
Congrats on your progress on your goals this past year, and I hope your new ones go well, too! (Especially reading the Gospel of Matthew in Greek. Wow!!)
LikeLike