Welcome to 2019. This is yet another opportunity to start fresh and accomplish new goals. I started last year to create a list of goals at the beginning of the year so that I can measure my progress and have a sense of accountability. Here are the goals that I set for myself last year that, unfortunately, I didn’t accomplish.
- Publish my first book by July 1st, 2018.
- Read 24 books by December 31st, 2018
- Blog 4 times per month
- Be active on social media daily
Unfortunately, I was unable to publish my first book last year. However, I did start two more projects that I am planning on working on this year. Although this may seem like a failure, I believe that I achieved small stepping stones through research. I was able to clearly identify exactly what genre I want to publish in and began working on two books.
I was short of my goal of 24 books. However, I did read 18 books in a variety of genres. I am a member of a book club now and it forces me to read books in genres that I wouldn’t consider otherwise. This has definitely been an exciting experience. At the beginning I thought I was not going to enjoy reading in genres that I do not find interesting but I have been pleasantly surprised by some books. These are the books I read in 2018:
- Passive Income: 40 Ideas to Successfully Launch Your Online Business by Adam Ovechkin
- Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
- Fahrenheit 451: A Novel by Ray Bradbury
- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- Macbeth by William Shakespeare
- The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
- The Joy of X: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity by Steven Strogatz
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
- A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage
- Five Chimneys by Olga Lengyel
- Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
- Origin by Dan Brown
- The Witcher: Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski
- The Witcher: The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
- Payton by Connie, Jarrett and Brittney Payton
- A Shade of Vampire by Bella Forrest
- Diary of an Oxygen Thief by Anonymous
I unfortunately became very inactive on my blog and my social media. However, I became a member of authors groups and have learned a lot about publishing, the challenges of publishing, and advertising. It is important to educate myself as I go through this process.
On a positive note, and not to justify falling short of my goals, I did start my eBay business this year. Getting back into the mindset of having an online store and doing product research took my mind and focus away from my writing. But now that I have the eBay store up and running, I will focus more on my writing and on creating quality content to help authors who, like me, are starting their publishing journey.
With that being said, I now have a vision for 2019 and these are the goals I have set for myself for this year:
- I will publish my first book by October 1st
- I will be active on social media at least twice a week
- I will read 20 books by December 31st
- I will blog at least 4 times per month
- I will continue to grow my eBay business
I have made the commitment to achieve these goals and I am looking forward to a successful 2019.
Happy writing, everyone!