New Year, New Me?

I’m generally not a fan of that phrase–“new year, new me”–because to me, it claims that something about the “old” you was bad. There’s nothing wrong with the “me” I was back in 2015; I just know that I could be better. So rather than being a “new me,” I’m hoping to just be a “better me.” I’ve seen a lot of others posting goals and whatnot for the new year, and I figured I’d do something the same.

Goals for 2016

• Continue watching what I eat. I’ve been struggling with my weight for too long. I used to blog about my weight loss, and while I’ve found that isn’t as helpful as I wanted it to be, I think I may post about that here when I write my blogs. (The ones not book reviews, at least.) Which brings me to…
• Post regularly to this blog. I did so well closer to the beginning of the year, but I fell away from the process as the year went on. I lost my job, moved into a new apartment, got a new job, got my MFA…it’s been an interesting year. But I want to be back in the groove of things and connect with you all again! So I’m HOPING to get at least two blogs up a week, one book review and one something else.
• Make videos again. This is something I consistently have trouble with. I had trouble when I started the vlog the first time, and I’m still having trouble now. For now, I do at least have a small excuse: the noise quality in my apartment complex is ABSURD. For example, I was going to make a video today before work, but then maintenance decided that it would be an awesome day to utterly demolish the apartment downstairs. (Also, I think they cut out the power in the building for a second, because my computer turned off in the middle of me writing this blog.) So we’ll see what I can do there. I’m not making a plan for how often I make a video (though I’d still like 1-2 a week) just until I know what’s going on.
• Finish the new edits to SON OF THE REVOLUTION. I got some edits for my book during my MFA defense, and I want to try and get that done and beta read again so that I can try submitting it for publication again. The edits should make it more marketable, so I’m hoping to get those done quickly and start querying.
• Keep reading more. This I’ve done well with, off and on. For way too long, I just didn’t read anymore unless it was for school, and that’s just not acceptable. I’ll set my Goodreads reading challenge again, and this time (unlike last year) I’m going to reach it. (To be fair, I was only 2 books away from my goal, so I’m happy with 2015’s reading. It’s so much better than it usually is.)
• Submit more. (At least 4 a year?) I hesitate to put a number goal on this one because in so many ways this is dependent on me finding calls that I can write to. Do note: this is not “get published more.” Publishing is so subjective, I can’t quantify that. So if I aim to just submit more, I should be in good shape. (And hopefully, I’ll get published again!)

I know there’s more I’d like to do, but these are the basics that I can think of right now. I’ll be sure to let y’all know if I come up with them. 😉

What about all of you? Any plans for the new year? Share with the class!

For now, I need to go mess around with some reviews or something.

Cheers!
R