Well, since I’ve done the whole accountability thing for how I’ve done in 2015, I guess it’s time to set some targets for myself in 2016. I know one thing for sure, I won’t be getting married again.
Target number one: Move house. This was going to be ‘completely uproot my family and move across the country’ but now it might not be. It might be, but it very well might not be. It’s hard to say. We shall see. At the very least I want to move into a new place, because I really don’t like the house I live in currently, and that’s not really ideal. Oh, and apparently we need to get a dog this year. I’m told that’s very important.
So, a new house, possibly in a completely different part of the country, and a dog that will live in said house. Of course, should the ‘completely uproot my family’ part of the equation come off, I can probably write off all the below targets.
Target number two: Launch my glittering career as an independent author. In 2016 I want to ideally launch 4 books, but I’ll settle for getting Blood on the Motorway, Sleepwalk City and Welcome to Discovery Park released. I also want A Final Storm ready to go, and be far enough in the next series (a sci-fi horror called Europa) to be sure of being able to release that in 2017. I also want to have a follow up to Welcome to Discovery Park on the way, although I’m not sure what form that will take. Also, weekly blogging, and I plan on starting a journal. So, no pressure.
Target number three: At least attempt some semblance of a healthy lifestyle. I don’t want to do the diet thing again. It’s soul destroying, and when I fall off the wagon, I tend to fall hard. I’m thinking this year should be about a lifestyle change. All home cooked foods, no eating junk food and crisps and stuff like that. Make my own bread. You know, become one of those artisanal food wankers everyone loves so much. I already have the beard, after all.
Again, a healthy lifestyle should be completely compatible with the first two targets. In all seriousness though, I eat like shit, and it doesn’t help my concentration at all, which I kind of need given I have an intellectually demanding and stressful job, and a hobby that requires huge amounts of the power of brain and will.
Target number four: Read ‘the ladies.’ I was quite pleased last year, in that I almost achieved my self-imposed target of twenty four books, the first time I have ever come close to achieving that, at least since I had kids and started counting these things. I was horrified to discover, however, that with exception of the odd writing craft book, I hadn’t read a single fictional work by a woman. Now, I like to call myself a feminist, and a writer who takes pride in the diversity in their own works, so this shocked me. I don’t know why, it’s not like I looked down the list and said “But these are all men!”
It shocked me even more when I tried to remember the last time I read any fiction by a woman. I’m fairly sure I read Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein last year, but certainly nothing modern, probably not since I finished Harry Potter. This quite frankly makes me look like a bit of an idiot. So, in 2016 I’m going to redress that. I’m not going to set a number, but I’m going to read all women next year, to try and make some kind of dent in this shocking lack of diversity in my own literary knowledge.
So, I guess that’ll do. Four targets, all of which don’t really work with each other, which shows what a master of strategic planning I am. Let’s come back at the end of 2016 and see how badly I got on.
In the meantime, have a lovely festive period, in whatever way you wish to celebrate it, and see you in the New Year. Oh, and if you want to chime in with your own accountability targets, drop them in the comments, or a link to your own. Let’s all play accountability!
