So, the joke around the internet is, does 2021 have any months besides January? It was quite tumultuous, and let’s not even talk about Wednesdays. (Attack on our Capitol, Impeachment, Inauguration, and Revenge of the Redditors all were Wednesdays. I am seriously considering taking Wednesdays off for the rest of the year.)

While January felt long, it was actually quite productive. Two big goals, writing a short story and posting it every week and 168 creative hours in the month were both nailed! (Even have an extra story held back, just in case.) Creative hours were 174 this month. I read five(!!) nonfiction books and three novels, as well as at least seven short stories.  I am happy with the monthly progress. There was a blog post all but one day this month, and that is something I am proud of. There was one day I was sick, but life does happen. There are a few personal goals that fell by the wayside, but I think February, being shorter will be good for them. I was able to listen to my favorite podcasts,  Sarah Hart Unger’s Best Laid Plans and Cal Newport’s Deep Questions at least twice a week. I participated in a pilot group for Laura Vanderkam’s Tranquility by Tuesday project and some of the suggestions were quite helpful in managing my time and energy in January. Some things did not apply, as I don’t have young children at home, so my evenings are pretty much my own.

For February, I will continue to concentrate not so much on product, but process. That seems to be working for me so far. I have been fairly consistent getting to the desk with coffee by 5:20am, doing Morning Pages, a blog post, and some free writing on the week’s story. Lunch time is either a short story or novel, or lately, a Masterclass or two. After work is yoga, and reading at night. Lather, rinse, repeat.  If i get through the first round of the short story challenge, I won’t get the new assignment until April 8, but I am looking forward to getting the feedback.  

Also talked to an editor about potentially writing a non-fiction book and I am uber excited about it. More details to come! So a new February goal will be to have some things together for the Book Proposal. Very do-able, it’s a subject near and dear to my heart.

Quarterly goals/systems are also working nicely, As long as the daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly things are lined up, it’s going to be a good year.

How are your 2021 resolutions/goals/projects going?