Goals for 2024

I feel like the end of 2023 rushed up on me before I was ready, and here we are, two days into the new year!

I looked back to my goals post for 2023, and was surprised to see that I didn't post it until February last year.  I didn't remember taking that long to get around to writing about my goals.

When I wrote that post, I still had a freelance client I was working for.  That ended a month or two later when the platform didn't pay me.  I had to fight to get paid, which I did eventually, but they retaliated by kicking me off the platform.  I tried another platform, but I didn't care for it.  I had already been contemplating what I wanted to do with my freelance career, though, so it wasn't a difficult decision to let my freelancing lapse for now.

Currently I'm writing materials on a volunteer basis for the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls & Toys, where I'm also on the board, and for now that's my only professional writing work.  Eventually I might take up freelancing again but for now I'm pursuing other things.

As for those other things, I didn't accomplish what I wanted in 2023, but I'm hoping to have better luck in 2024.  I wanted to finish my first novel of Ruby Ransome and start the self-publishing process, but I took a break from working on the novel around the holidays and never got back to it again until NaNoWriMo 2023 rolled around.  I'm hoping to accomplish those things this year, though.  I took a break from writing for the holidays and to get my house projects done, similarly to last year, but I have hope that I'll be able to get back to work on it more easily this year.  I have more momentum this year, and hopefully all the work I've been doing on covers will keep me excited and motivated, too!

As I mentioned last year, I don't really do New Year's resolutions anymore.  I used to set a handful of resolutions at the start of every year, and then fail spectacularly at them throughout the year.  I stopped because it was so discouraging to go through the same pattern every year.

This year, though, I am going to set one writing goal.  I debated on making it to publish my novel, but I decided that's a lot of pressure, especially as I'll be new to the publishing process.  What if something goes wrong?

So instead, I'm setting this goal for 2024:

Finish Ruby Ransome and Pandora's Box.

I like that goal because it's enough progress that it's more than I've been able to do so far, but not so much that it'll be too easy to fail at.  And honestly, even if publishing gets delayed for some reason, just having finished the novel will be a major achievement for me.

Last year, 2023, was definitely a significant improvement over 2022 (the year where my horse almost died), but I think I can do better this year!