There are two days of the year where I like to really sit down and reevaluate pretty much everything I have planned in the next 365 days. On New Year’s Eve, I set a whole bunch of writing-related goals, some realistic and some way out there, and then on my birthday, I look at my life in more broader terms, including writing, the day job, the kids, my health, etc.
And since my birthday was Saturday, I’m doing it again this year. Only this time, I’m writing it down.
Health & Exercise
This year has been a difficult one, in the physical sense. I started out year # 41 getting hit by a car while walking to a convention center to be on a writing panel. I’m still having lingering issues with my shoulder, so weight training has been minimal. On top of that, the arthritis in my back has been acting up, and I somehow hurt a bunch of muscles in my left knee and have been having problems walking around. That could be from the accident, or it could be an old karate thing flaring up, or it could be from something else.
Who knows? Either way, with that stuff and the combination of chasing around four little kids, exercise has been practically nonexistent for me. A shame, consider how important it has been to me throughout most of my adult life.
Anyhow, I’ve got to figure out a way to do some light-to-moderate exercise and weights this year. Three times a week should not be impossible, even it if means waiting until after this kids are in bed.
And as for diet? No more sugar. Ever! Okay, let me clarify. I’m limiting sugar. No snacks. A small dessert is okay, but no in-between candy. And more vegetables. For real. We’re on the kids constantly about fruits and vegetables, so I need to lead by example, right?
Writing
So like I said, I tend to set up a whole bunch of writing goals for the year every New Year’s Eve. Some I accomplish; some I don’t. Some I know I’ll accomplish; some I know I won’t. So here’s where I look realistically at them and evaluation what I can and can’t do for the rest of the year.
Look back at those goals, I’ve pretty much written off the idea of writing any new short stories this year. Unless something really pops into my head and I can get a decent first draft in a day or two, I need to focus on other stuff. And other stuff is this blog, Theme of Absence, and finishing a first draft of a new novel. And let’s not even mention my “mystery project.” It’s a great idea, but it just ain’t happening, and I get sad when I even think about it.
I do think a first draft of a novel is possible, however. I haven’t really began writing it yet (yeah, I know…), but I’ve got all of the major plot points and characters mapped out in my head. I’m thinking somewhere along the lines of 100,000 words. That’s a lot for me, considering Holy Fudgesicles and my other unpublished novel both come in around 55,000, but I can surely make this one that long. It’s not the trilogy I’ve been talking about in some of the Scrivener posts, but it is fantasy and has a little bit of horror thrown in.
And I think it will be fun 🙂
Family
Here’s the one area where I think we’re doing okay. We’re (somehow) balancing between getting four kids to piano lessons, early tech classes, Spanish, Kindergarten, Pre-school, and lord knows what else. I guess if I were to make any changes here, it would be to get them in bed earlier, and maybe some day, some how, figure out a way to have a night out with my wife (and no one else.)
Day job
Hey, as long as the writing can’t replace it, I’ll have the day job. Might as well make the most of it, right? We had a lot of big changes this year, and right now, my top priorities over there in IT land are to:
- Get better organized. Fortunately, with the new office, I cleaned and purged, so my office is a beautiful, clean little area, with a spacious desk and meeting table. My inbox, however, is a MESS. My project management skills are embarrassing. THIS WILL CHANGE.
- Procrastinate less. Look, I know everybody procrastinates (some even wear it as a badge of honor for some reason) but I think outside of being rude to people, chronic procrastination is the most despicable trait one can have, both in the working world and in real life. I get sick when I think about how much I procrastinate. Now, sometimes laziness can be attributed to procrastination. That’s not it in my case (at least I hope not.) I believe fear is the reason for my procrastination. If I don’t know how to do something, or if I’m afraid of breaking something, I put it off. And off. And off. Until I get in trouble. That’s got to change and the remedy for this is research. Be proactive with research. New projects don’t just appear out of nowhere; there are months of meetings beforehand, and plenty of time to prepare. So that’s my goal. Defeat procrastination by being better prepared.
At the beginning of this post, I talked about New Year’s Eve and my birthday. New Year’s Eve is my favorite day of the year. It’s when I feel the most optimistic and positive, and just can’t wait to hit the next year running. My birthday, however, is the complete opposite. Maybe this is a common thing as you age, but for the last few years, if anything, I feel mostly depressed about my birthday. Maybe it’s just because of all the chaos in my life, that it just doesn’t seem special to me. Maybe it’s just because all I can seem to think of is the lyrics from one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands (“Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death.”)
Anyhow, today I was just feeling like I’m 42, wondering if I even want to hit 43. Obviously I do; I want to hit 143 if that were possible. And I apologize for getting a little down at the end of this one. I hate feeling down, and hope that the stuff I have planned in this post will help.
So thanks for reading and I hope we all have a great, productive, happy, and healthy 2018 and beyond.
