A Satisfying End to 2023

Happy New Year.

I'm getting this post out a few hours later than usual because I spent New Year's Eve refining and submitting an anthology of my short stories - with a Dec. 31 deadline. I'd been thinking of creating an anthology for a long time, but didn't realize I had more than enough stories to do so. Once I sent it off, I stayed up until morning working on copyrighting stories that hadn't been yet. As I was doing that, I realized I wanted to swap out one of the stories for one that hadn't made it into the manuscript. Since it's already submitted, that's not an immediate option, but I've made a note for pre-publication. Whether or not that publisher takes the book, their deadline got me to pull it together - a satisfying end to 2023.

Looking back, I accomplished quite a bit this year:

1. I helped my son move twice - first from near me to about ten hours away, then a little closer (but not much). At least he's near his brother now, so I can visit both at the same time. It's only one long day's drive.

2. I put my place up for sale, thinking there was nothing to tie me here, looking at real houses and applying for jobs back in NY. After a few months in a sluggish market, I decided to settle in and make the place mine. I painted the roof with insulating paint and remodeled the sunroom.

3. Meanwhile, I got books and screenplays into contests and kept several short stories submitted at all times. The screenplays don't announce winners until sometime in the next couple months, but Tough Times made it to the finals in the YA category of Kindle Book Awards. The anthology decision will be announced later this summer.

4. I also updated my website, and then got this blog going twice a week and linked it to Facebook and Instagram. I even "boosted" a couple Facebook posts. First steps on the way to improved marketing.

5. I found a critique group online that's helping me with a novel I first wrote in 1981 - I'm aging the characters and making it more contemporary.

6. I started going to a local writer's group and unintentionally became the leader - though I've drafted an executive committee to assist.

7. My income improved primarily through writing gigs, a few editing gigs, and teaching an online reading/writing course for the community college as an adjunct - and developing another course for them. Royalties still trickle in as much as can be expected with virtually no marketing.

So, looking back:The first two items above were unexpected and demanded focus for months - and they were not part of my 2023 plan. Neither was taking charge of a writer's group, which is time-intensive. Seeing the request for anthology manuscripts was a December gift that spurred action on something from the back burner.

Lesson learned: whatever I plan, however I prioritize today, expect to adapt.

Baby Steps Count, It's the Direction That Matters

Happy Holidays! This post is coming out Christmas Eve, but my greeting goes out to everyone celebrating the season.

I just read a National Geographic article about the seven principles of Kwanzaa. A holiday created by one person to foster unity among African Americans, it has spread across the globe. It's not a religion, but the principles seem like a good guide to living, even if you're not black or American. They address unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. The idea of Kwanza is to focus on one of the principles for each of seven days in a row, and then try to take that forward into your life through the next year.

I have my most productive years when I take time at year's end to assess what I've done and consider what I want to accomplish in the next year. I think, to help me plan next year, I'm going to spend the next week focusing on one of the principles of Kwanza each day - even though it's not the right dates and I don't fit the original audience, and I may tweak the nature of the principle to be more general.

If you celebrate Christmas or Hanukuh or play Grinch throughout the month, consider trying this with me:

• Today, think about unity - how you can work together in your family, community, our nation. How can you help heal divisions?

• Tomorrow, think about who you are and what you want to be. If there are changes you want to make, decide what needs to be done, make a plan, and get to work. Let others know you appreciate their part in your life.

Each of the next days, consider one principle:

• Collective Work and Responsibility: Plan how you are going to build on commitments and relationships you already have; consider what others you want to begin.

• Cooperative Economics: This originally encourages African Americans to support black-owned businesses. We've all grown accustomed to ordering from big businesses online - discover your local businesses and consider how to support them.

• Purpose: Consider and choose a purpose in your life and focus on that. How will everything else you do serve that purpose?

• Creativity: Be intentional. For me, this means asking some questions: What do I want to accomplish with my creativity? How do I want it to be expressed? How do I want it to fit into my life?

• Faith: Be faithful to yourself, to your family and community and culture. Have faith you can make the world a better place to be through your daily choices.

That brings us to New Year's Eve - time to create a motivation board or write resolutions or draft a plan for the year ahead.

Remember: Baby steps count, it's the direction that matters.

A New Year – 2019

I’ll be back to short stories next week, but a year ago I was blogging primarily for writers, talking about reasonable expectations, looking back, motivational boards, and planning. I was on a roll, getting things done.

On my About page, I’ve just posted an update describing my second half of 2018. Where writing is concerned, I got off track, stopped using my spreadsheet to plan each week, changed direction ineffectively, didn’t achieve my primary goal, didn’t get my new book out . . . lots of negatives. My accountability partner and I both moved this year and fell out of the habit of weekly planning together, but the last two weeks we’ve gotten back into it, using our spreadsheets to plan and track progress. I’m trying to have reasonable expectations for the 168 hours in each week, leaving time for sleep and other basic human stuff.

accomplishments for the year, making a new plan, and creating a new motivational board. I didn’t really want to do it this year, with all those negatives, but I did. My list of accomplishments did not include my writing goal for the year. However, I did make a respectable amount for writing, editing, and formatting work – considering the time put into those activities. I did keep this blog going, even when I was on the road for months. The switch to free fiction feels right, and there are more followers each week. I attended the RWA conference in Denver, which got me off track when I pitched Peg’s Story, but I attended many informative sessions and expanded my network. Seeing what I’d done right perked me up and got me planning for the new year.

Previous years, I just had one page of large print, listing things I wanted to accomplish during the year ahead – something to keep posted on my wall to stay focused. Last year, I got fancier. I had one main writing goal with three objectives that would help me reach it, then steps to reach each objective and actions to reach each objective. In fine print it fit on one page with narrow margins. It was overwhelming. This year, I’ve gone back to larger print on that one page. My goal is a dollar amount for the year. I have five potential avenues for achieving that goal, so I listed all five. Of course I came up with ideas for each area, and I did pop them into the list (so I wouldn’t lose them), but it’s not nearly as rigidly picayune as last year’s. To make it less intimidating, I color coded the print: first, second, third, and later priorities. Anything like this blog that’s done regularly is highlighted. The red items are the priority for the first weeks of January.

My motivating phrase for 2018 was “Keep Paddling”. Well, the board got packed up at the end of June and kept in a storage unit with most of my things – and my motivation, direction, and drive floundered. Having no set work space didn’t help. I just pulled it out from under the tarp where many of my belongings await a place in my new digs. I’ll keep it leaning against the wall wherever I’m working, until I have a spot to hang it up.

I’ll keep paddling.

www.sherimcguinn.com

www.amazon.com/author/sherimcguinn

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8459664/

P.S. Feedback welcome. I always respond. If you don’t see a “reply” box, try the “comment” button up on the left.

#organization #settinggoals #actionplan #planofaction #motivation #settingpriorities #planning #motivationalboards #objectives #writinggoals #accountability #keeptrying #freefiction #reasonableexpectations #planningforwriters #expectations #timemanagment #goalsetting #goals