Tuesday, December 31, 2013

2013 In Review and 2014 Plans

Last night or early this morning, I had a dream featuring my dead cousin. He was murdered back in October, and while we had been inseparable as children, family circumstances separated us in our teens. I never knew the man he grew into. In my dream, we were digging garbage out of my house and yard, sorting stuff out for recycling. Nicky drove up in a battered truck wanting to confront someone he blamed his problems on. He didn't look like the last pictures I had seen of him, the full head of hair threw off my recognition. I woke up when I realized he is dead.

What a way to start the end of the year. But it was a positive dream. I was rooting out what doesn't work for me and I'm not blaming anyone else for my faults. My finances, health, and writing are not where I want them to be thanks to my choices.

Same song, same lyrics, every year.

But if you're expecting me to go dig up what I swore I was going to do in 2013 and beat myself up for not doing it in this post, nope, I'm not doing it. I do have changes on my mind and I have already tweaked my KanbanFlow checklists, so this is more what do I have to look forward to than what I regret.

Writing including Blog posts: I shunted off the original work again, despite having a productive word count. That's okay, I'll pick it up for 2014. Blog posts I wrote and typed and never posted (as you can see by the post-dated post I've been posting today). I can post daily--see Discipline Under Fire--so I don't think posting every week is an impossible task. So Tuesdays will be my blogging day and I'll compose in Blogger's editing window, so I won't gather typed posts that I don't post.

Three writing projects at once is too many. I never should have let the Muse team up with the Perfect Girl who thinks everything must be done as son as I think of doing it. However, bouncing between two projects hits the sweet spot. Rather than concentrate on meeting a word count--even though I will track it--I'm making a list of what I want to work on for 2014.

  • First draft of Strix: Forget the Sun
  • Second draft of Stellar Gift of Death
  • Post TDKR: Weapon of Shadows
  • Post Part of the Night: the Wayne Legacy
  • Rough draft of the next story in Signs and Portents

Health: I'm officially a diabetic now, my Achilles tendons have been tight every morning I get up for weeks now, and my hips have been tightening and causing me pain. I have to exercise and I have to overhaul my food choices.

The Primal exercise program I developed worked well until I stopped doing it. :p So that's where I'm starting tomorrow with that mix of body-weight exercises and yoga routines. Plus the elliptical machine since my blood sugar and weight are so out of whack I need more exercise to bring it down.

I know what to do food-wise, but I didn't buckle down during the holidays. Holidays are over now, so no more excuses.

Finances: I refuse to beat myself up for what has happened, so my goals for 2014:

  • Pay off car
  • Get current on all bills
  • Stay current on bills
  • Reward car payoff with laptop purchase
  • Remodel bathroom

That's all I'm putting on myself for 2014. Now I have writing, posting, and cleaning to do.

Have a happy New Year, everyone!

Read Free!
The BookWorm