We’re in that holiday spiral now, squiders. Halloween’s gone and done, Thanksgiving is mere days away (oh no, it is! I’m not ready!), and then from there it’s downhill to Christmas and New Year’s and 2016 and that horrible feeling that yet another year is gone and you didn’t quite get done what you wanted to get done.
And during this time of year, when you realize the end is looming and you have unfinished plans, there’s not much you can do about them. The month-ish between Thanksgiving and Christmas is full of other obligations–cards and presents and wrapping and guests and family–so it seems like you might as well give up and wait til next year.
(Maybe this isn’t an issue if you don’t celebrate Christmas. Let me know!)
Deep breaths, squiders.
I think it’s important, when the holidays are upon us, to take a step back and look at what we’ve done for the year. Maybe our to-do list is still twenty items deep, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t take some important steps.
For example, I didn’t get my nonfiction series done. I’m still not done with this novel draft that’s due to my editor at the beginning of December. And I still don’t have a usable query letter for my YA paranormal novel. Those were my big goals for the year. Do I fail?
No, not really. Because looking at it another way, here’s what I did do:
- I outlined an entire nonfiction series, wrote a nonfiction book, and came up with related workbooks to go with the series.
- I edited and polished a 89,000 word YA paranormal novel
- I’ve taken a ton of marketing classes
- I got my Patreon up and running
- I finally got an email list!
- I wrote 9-10 sections of my serial story
- Have written most of a co-written novel
- Worked some on other novels so I don’t forget ideas
- Completed a fair amount of freelance editing and coaching
- Blogged here consistency throughout the year
- Wrote and edited three short stories
- Took a flash fiction course and wrote five flash stories
So, from that standpoint, things are actually looking pretty good. And I’d bet you, if you sat down and looked at how far you’ve come, you’re not doing too shabbily either.
What are your accomplishments for the year, squiders?
I’d like to promise a landsquid drawing/story for Thursday, but I’ve got people staying here the next few days and I’ve got to host Thanksgiving, so it’s not actually looking too likely. You’ll get them Tuesday if Thursday doesn’t happen.
