Obligatory New Year Post

It seems like a requirement to make a post (or maybe two) talking about how the last year went and any plans/resolutions for the new year.  I’ll admit I’m not much motivated.  I work on several projects in a year and my priorities tend to change.

For example, here are my goals from last year:
-Submit BM to agents
-Finish draft of Book One
-Write and submit fairy tale by deadline
-Complete first draft of Perchance to Dream
–Nano in November?
-Catch up on HTRYN/HTTS

I did…three and a half, I guess?  Technically four, since I have been submitting, but it never got anywhere past partials and it turns out I need to completely rewrite my first chapter again.  Anyway.  I checked on these in, oh, August or so, and I had completely forgotten about Perchance to Dream.??  Not just that I was working on it, that the story even existed.  So.

I can’t think in yearly terms.  A year is too vast.

Writing goals are hard.  I try not to make goals that I have no control over, and it’s much easier for me to work on a monthly basis.  For example, January here, my top priority is to finish and edit a short story I’m going to submit to an anthology.  After that, I need to get a YA Urban Fantasy ready for Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel contest.  I’ve my side stories to keep up on, as always, I’ve got to rewrite my first chapter (as mentioned above) so I can resume submitting, and I’d like to get another 15K on my main novel project.

Will all of that get done?

Experience tells me it’s doubtful, but I bet you I can manage most of it.  Actually, experience tells me what exactly will get scrapped.  The anthology and the contest have deadlines; they’ll get done.  I have to update my serial scifi every month; that’ll get done.  I enjoy my other side project quite a lot since it’s collaborative, so that will probably get done.  Which means the rewrite and the novel will be the ones scrimped on, though I can’t wait too long on the rewrite or I’ll forget what I wanted to do with it.  I admit to be a little afraid to start on it, because I suspect it’ll start a chain reaction with the rest of the book.

Anyway.

Really the only yearly goal I ever make is the reading one – 50 books in a year.  That will be interesting this year – in previous years, I’ve had times at work where I have to monitor things that made for ideal reading time.  (I read Pillars of the Earth – a 1200 page book – in three days doing that once.)  I started a new job in November so I’ve lost that time.

I’ve also got a weight loss in challenge in effect through March 16th with my mom and my sister.  We’ve each put in $50, and whomever loses the greatest percentage of body weight gets the pot.  I’m almost guaranteed to lose – I’ve only got an extra 10 lbs from the holidays – but I’m hoping it will do my family some good because I worry about their health.  I may sneakily (or not so sneakily) start organizing family activities to make sure everyone is exercising.

So that’s my obligatory post.  What about you?  Any fancy plans for 2011?  Or even just January?