If you read my post from last decade (wow) you’ll know that I well and truly blew my goals for 2019, mostly due to the confluence of the year being a gigantic bastard and some other factors like me watching too much telly, apparently. But mainly the bastard thing.
So, when it comes to setting my goals for 2020, it makes sense to pretty much copy and paste the ones I missed into the new year. I fully intend to be right back up on the horse this year, and hopefully, all the groundwork and life stuff I’ve done this year can be a more solid foundation for success. Wow, that sounded properly corporate. Oh well. I guess this kind of exercise is pretty much that. If I keep talking about targets and aspirations maybe the Conservative Party will headhunt me for their Big Team Of Massive Wankers and I can spend the next five years asset-stripping what’s left of the UK economy.
*ahem* Where was I? Oh yes, goals. Drumroll, please.
Writing Goals
1. Release three books: And yes, these will be the three books I was planning on releasing this year. The good news is that each is significantly further down the production line than when I said that last year. Sunrise should be available to preorder in the next few weeks and will come out a few weeks after that. At this stage I’m just planning the most effective launch possible. Actually, it might even be four books, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.
2. Write one more: This year I’m only scheduled to write one completely new first draft, mainly as a result of the fact I’m going to take the first three months of the year off from writing. Not from the business, per se, but from actually writing. Which leads nicely into the next goal.
3. Build, build, build: Last year this was about building my audience, but this year I’m looking at it slightly differently. This year is all about building my brand. Hollow Stone Press is at this point very much an idea, but I have plans way beyond just my own writing for it, so I’m going to take some time this year to lay down the foundations for that.
4. Find my tribe: This one is unchanged. I want to form an anarcho-syndicate of amazing indie authors ready to take on the world, change publishing from within, and make all the money in the world in the process. But honestly, I’ll settle for finding a few like-minded writers within easy driving distance of my house. I’m going to go on a few writing away days, attend London Book Fair and the SPF Conference, and I’m possibly going to change up my NaNoWriMo region, too. And it goes without saying that if you’re a writer in the Gloucestershire region or close by and you fancy meeting up to discuss writing and publishing over a pint, you can drop me a line in any number of different places.
Life goals
1. Get healthy: Okay, this time I’m super serious, guys, galls, and gulls. I’m not going to be talking about it much on here, but I’m hoping to lose quite a bit of weight by making a fairly seismic change in my lifestyle, starting on January 2nd. It’s not just about weight, either. I want to get myself properly healthy.
2. Buy a house: I’m somewhat cheating here, given that we’re halfway down this road already, but that said, it’s still something that’s going to be a seismic change for us next year, and will mean I get a writing desk once more, which I’m really very excited about.
3. Love our new home: The truth is that I’ve really not clicked with Gloucestershire as of yet, and perhaps that’s unsurprising given everything that’s happened with work, with the struggles of meeting people when you’re not able to head out to the pub at the drop of a hat, and when everything around you is uncertainty and stress. But we’re here to stay, which means I’m going to have to get used to the place, learn to love it, even. And that shouldn’t be hard – my new home town is a lovely place, the 20th happiest place to live in the UK, according to a recent survey. But forming a connection with a place is a lot more than enjoying the scenery.
And there we have it, seven goals for the first year in a new decade. Hopefully with better results than the last year of the last one.
