New Year's Resolutions 2021

[Negrek]

It's that time of year again! Do you have any resolutions for 2021? Did your 2020 resolutions work out at all? (Last year's thread is here, if you want to refer back!)

In the end 2020 really laughed at all my plans for the year, which I can't really feel too bad about. I had quite ambitious goals at the outset of 2020, but as we move into 2021 I think it'd be wise for me to take it a bit slower. As far as writing goes, I think I'd like to try and publish one chapter per Blacklight round. Since each round is four weeks, that's basically a chapter a month, twelve this year... not enough to wrap the whole story up in 2021 (which I hoped I'd do in 2020!), but a pretty reasonable pace of progress. And hopefully a pretty doable pace, especially considering that a couple of those chapters are nearly done already!

 

[Rainfall]

Yay! (I've been eyeing that first thread, very happy to see this new thread!)

For me, I think I'll keep my writing goals very very simple and easy and non-committal.
- I would like to write at least a short review of 250+ words for a fic every month.
- Perhaps I should also start writing at least one paragraph every month.

Looking forward to everyone's goals!

 

[K_S]

My goals, writing wise, are to finish a long fic (either "Traversal" or "Dodging") and edit at least three of my old fics and clean out their notes from my storage (Four by four, Two paths, and some other I haven't decided on).

 

[StellarWind]

Same as last year... 3840 x 2160.

(What the frell do you mean, not that sort of Resolution?)

Now that I've gotten the obligatory pun out of the way and the resultant groans have been appropriately monitored as part of the screening procedure, I suppose it's time to display a more serious answer, and the answer is that I genuinely don't have one. Never did quite mesh with the concept of new years' resolutions, to be honest. Deities know where the year is going to take me and throwing general commitments that may or may not actually take shape is not exactly something that my brain likes doing.

I would, nevertheless, like to attempt to actually write something this year, if only because it's been Bloody Ages™. Now it's just a matter of finding time between work and FFXIV <<;

 

[RisingDawn]

Well this year, my resolution is to start on all the projects I've put on hold since last year. That translates to roughly 3 or 4 fics which I've planned out, made an outline off but not started. Hopefully I'll be able to write at least 5 chapters of each this year

 

[DeliriousAbsol]

It's not a resolution per-se, but I plan to pick up my ocarina again. I started learning a few months ago, and put it down as I was bored of playing the same two songs over and over 😅 I've got a book to help me learn now, so hopefully the variety will keep me interested.

I've also set myself a goal of reading 20 books on Goodreads. I enjoyed my reading goal for 2020 so I've increased it this year. I have two on the go atm (one for daytime the other for bedtime), and I finished one at the start of January.

I'd also like to get my original project in motion, but Rekindled takes centre stage in my writing so I can get it finished. In fact, I plan to finish the re-write before the end of the year. Let's see if I can do that...

 

[Equitial]

Writing - I don't like setting any concrete goals for particular projects, but I do want to make Find a Way Home a priority. Last year, I chose various main projects throughout the year and committed myself to do at least 500 words/30 mins of work on it every week, so I'll do that again with FaWH being the continuous main focus unless I finish!

For general writing, I'm going to continue with my goal of doing at least one "writing" a day. Last year, I also set a wordcount goal where most months I wanted to write 500 words per day, with "words" translated very loosely. (Any words at all, correct spelling and comprehensibility optional. Also time spent writing translated to 1k words/hr, which included if I just sat in front of my screen.) Beyond the monthly goal, I also set a yearly goal for 250k, which I met! Also exceeded. By 50k *cough*

So, seeing as I surpassed last year's goal, I've decided to be ambitious and increase my goal to 320k words by the end of the year. That translates to 750 words a day for most months, with an increased count for NaNo months. I had to think hard on this, but I've decided to challenge myself with this!

(btw, this forum post counts for words, so I'm off to a good start today xD)

Reading - Reading isn't really hard for me, but I like to make it a goal because it makes me feel good about myself ^.^ My goal is to read books and short stories and have fun doing it!

I also wanted to make a goal for reading and reviewing fanfic, but I didn't come up with any specific parameters before the end of the year, so yeah... I'd like to do something, though! I just gotta think of it >.>

Language - Last year I mostly studied German and French. I reached the end of the German course on Duolingo, so I'm feeling really good about that! I want to keep doing some studying, with the goal of being able to read a full book in the language? 👀 We'll see.

I studied French, but realized I wasn't that interested in the language itself. I've decided to set it aside, being satisfied with knowing the basics. So for 2021, I've started two languages I haven't studied at all before: Spanish and Japanese. Spanish I'm just going to go through Duolingo. For Japanese, I'm going at it with various resources. This is my first language that uses a different alphabet, so I'm very interested to see how this goes.

 

[Adamhuarts]

- Make at least six "completed" artworks throughout the year.
- Make it through the next semester without a hitch.
- Draft a comic oneshot and finish it by the end of the year
- Revive and redesign my lost and forgotten original characters
- Go through and complete at least three art video courses by the end of the year
- Make up to 100 submitted reviews throughout the year.

 

[kintsugi]

ooh, I should codify these so I can laugh at them later.

- finish posting EoE
- finish writing D&Dnite
- draft a plot for HoD??? are we allowed to do that?
- yolo writing on wishmaker oneshot, watch it become longer than a oneshot, cry, attempt to finish before january, fail, post a half-assed slapshod oneshot on the deadline, cry some more, renew the cycle I started with naturally/EoE and watch a longfic burst out of the chest of the half-assed oneshot alien-style,,,
- choose one: channeler or dear brooke, who knows, maybe it will be happy this time, i am kidding, lmao

 

[NebulaDreams]

Huh, in terms of the resolutions I set for 2020, I pretty much did what I set out to do. I got two journalistic articles out, I put out a few one-shots on these forums, and I dabbled in original writing, to mixed results. Both of the stories I tried to push were non-starters, due to a lack of inspiration as well as missteps that really hindered my motivation. But overall, it was a decent year for writing.

Most of my goals are writing oriented, since there's not much else I can do during national lockdown. But here's my list:

• Edit follow-up to Out of Hand and release all the chapters, which I'm halfway through revising.
• Continue TCATS. I've been in editing/outlining hell with this for a while and I want to break it this year, especially since soon, it will have been a year since I put out the last new chapter. Since I have a beta now, it should make the task easier since it feels quite daunting to pick up again.
• Finish the first draft of my romance novel. Yes, I'm doing a fantasy romance novel, and unlike my false starts last year, I actually have an original project I feel good about this time. The hard part will probably begin once I start the editing process, but if I can get the initial stage finished, that'll still be a huge achievement/milestone for me.
• Read more books and fics. I often get so caught up in my own writing process that I forget to read for fun, and the same goes for fics as well.

My other goals are:

• Officially open up art commissions.
• Finish my proofreading course. I'm gonna have to do it by July anyway or else I have to pay a fee to extend it.
• Get somewhere with this mentorship I'm doing with Penguin.
• Do more exercise, especially with Ring Fit Adventure.

 

[kyeugh]

my resolutions last year were to 1) practice my art some more, 2) record a few songs, and 3) update my fic more consistently. i recorded a single song and published a whopping two chapters, so uh, whoops. i did make some nice headway on my art though!

Spoiler: summary of art 2020

i'd like to make some progress on my fic this year too. not making any hard resolutions there but a chapter every two months at least would be really nice. i think i can manage that.

more concretely, i took a page out of dragonfree's book and resolved to draw something every day this year! i've kept up with it so far—i've been posting my doodles every day on the art blog i made, regardless of how bad they are. and some of them have been truly bad. but a drawing a day is still something!

 

[Starlight Aurate]

Hmmm I tend to not make "New Year's Resolutions" per say as much as I change up habits by season. But! If I had to say what I plan to commit to:

- Upload revised version of Drowning
- Once revisions are posted, post a new chapter every 2 weeks
- Continue posting every 2 weeks until fic is completely uploaded (which won't be in 2021 so this will bleed into 2022)
- Work out 6 days each week

I know that last one isn't related to fanfic but I do notice that taking care of my physical health allows me to be more focused on extraneous things! Periods where I exercise a lot have been helpful with writing and reviewing more, so I'd say it ties in.

 

[Rainfall]

Heyo!
I know there's also K_S's update thread!

Progress report on your Resolutions

So how are you all doing on your resolutions, posted here or otherwise? It's been about a monthish so I figure this would be a good place as any to put up how we're all doing with fulfilling, changing, not doing, looking for inspiration, or escape hatches out of, our self inflicted goals that...

forums.thousandroads.net

This is embarrassing on my end. Quite behind in my goals, will likely have to down-amend even the simplest of goals!
__

On a separate meandering note.

Had thought about a casual reading blitz concept before--it wasn't going to be any kind of formal event, necessarily, but potentially around June.
And then Yellow, and Pano, and others? had the reading concept! that now relates to the @ Reading Rookidees concept
At any rate, I'd be a terrible person to support some reading blitz concept, especially with how preoccupied with RL and not-discord I am lately and potentially to come; but still do like the idea for itself.

 

[kintsugi]

ooh, I should codify these so I can laugh at them later.

- finish posting EoE
- finish writing D&Dnite
- draft a plot for HoD??? are we allowed to do that?
- yolo writing on wishmaker oneshot, watch it become longer than a oneshot, cry, attempt to finish before january, fail, post a half-assed slapshod oneshot on the deadline, cry some more, renew the cycle I started with naturally/EoE and watch a longfic burst out of the chest of the half-assed oneshot alien-style,,,
- choose one: channeler or dear brooke, who knows, maybe it will be happy this time, i am kidding, lmao

it is later and I am laughing at these. excellent job to my past self.

how'd everyone else do?

 

[K_S]

My goals, writing wise, are to finish a long fic (either "Traversal" or "Dodging") and edit at least three of my old fics and clean out their notes from my storage (Four by four, Two paths, and some other I haven't decided on).

Um so I finished nothing long fic wise...

But life happened for like 4 months and I did no writing in that span so sorta understandable...

I did clear out a ton of old files/folders though. Had one of those 3x3 cubby for crafts filled wwith folders and got it down to two boxes filled with writing instead of nine.

And I tackled all the reviews I promised in 2021...

So while I didnt get what I wanted done I got something done....

 

[Negrek]

Full disclosure, I didn't start a 2022 resolutions thread because I still haven't decided how to tackle things this year. Because last year I fell pretty well short of what I wanted to do! Only published five chapters, which unfortunately is about my average, but very much not where I'd like to be.

I certainly know a few things that haven't worked in terms of meeting writing goals in the past... We'll see what I can figure out to try this year. The 2022 thread is coming this weekend, probably... The new year doesn't start until I say it does. :P

 

[K_S]

I'll update the progress tracker post when the new res post goes up....