Hey all, Sam here.
Usually when it comes time for a new year, a lot of people start making New Year’s Resolutions…and some even manage to stick to them. Overall though, I tend to see so many of those resolutions get dropped early on in the year…which is why I prefer to set goals for myself for the year.
But my author friend Bree also starts her year off by giving herself a word of the year (and this year she has picked “expand,” because she is expanding her family, and expanding her finished and published books, and a number of other awesome things). I like that idea, but considering how tough 2023 was for me, I didn’t want to sit and agonize over possible words to choose for the year….so I’m purely going with “self-care.”
I want to take better care of myself, especially mentally and emotionally. 2023 broke me down, chewed me up, and then spat me out…or so it felt. So in 2024, I want to be kinder and gentler on myself, while also moving forward with being productive.
So…yeah…let’s go over the general goals I have set for myself when it comes to the year 2024.
Reading
I completed 145 books in 2023, which is much better than the previous two years, but nowhere near the awesome reading progress I had the two years before that. However, I am also trying to remember to set realistic goals as well…so for now my Goodreads Reading Challenge sits at a goal of 100 books, which should be easy enough to do.
I also have to be careful with my book buying, and want to be a little more mindful of what I’m spending my money on, because the simple fact is that David and I do not make the kind of money we did when we lived in Ohio. We’re managing, and we can cover our bills with a little bit extra for some fun, but we have had to pare down on some things. I’m even considering looking at bookish subscription boxes and seeing if there is a better priced option for me, because my YA/Adult combo from FairyLoot seems to keep getting price adjustments to it (some of which is supposedly because of living in Iowa, I guess).
Anyway, I of course still have NetGalley to contend with, and a good way to curb my book buying while still having plenty to read and talk about is by focusing on my NetGalley shelf a little more. I have so many upcoming and also backlist titles I need to read and review.
So, yeah, I want to read at least 100 books this year, although I fully expect to be adjusting this goal later in the year.
Blogging
To go along with my word of the year goal of self-care, I know I need to make adjustments to the blogging schedule. Trying to generate daily content, even with David’s help, just leads to a lot of pressure and stress, and it made it difficult to do some days.
I’ll probably still keep Manga Monday as a mostly regular thing. I do read a decent number of manga, and would like to keep reviewing them. Some Manga Monday posts might even turn into Manga/Anime discussions instead of just single volume reviews.
Tabletop Tuesday posts will happen when David and I have something to discuss about tabletop gaming…whether that is a tabletop accessory, or a game, or a supplement to a game…but I’m not going to push for this to be an every week thing, because we only get one day off work together because our work schedules suck, so we’d both rather spend our time doing cool geek things together and relaxing.
WIP Wednesday will probably stick around, but I need to talk about David about that and see if he still wants to chime in each week or not. Some weeks it was difficult for us to sit down together or separately to write up posts or sections of a post…so stay tuned for more information about this coming later.
And finally, Weekend Writer posts. Yes, they are sticking around, but I genuinely have to change how I do these. They take so much time to write, generally an hour or two PER POST, and sadly, I just do not get the engagement to make the time suck worthwhile. So, the first weekend of the month, I’ll still do my creativity prompts, and the last weekend of the month, I’ll still share a little bit of what I’ve been working on, whether that’s just sharing what I wrote from the prompts, or from a different writing project. Other than that, I’ll be doing semi-regular reviews of writing craft books or newsletters or blogs or social media accounts, but I won’t be doing the huge chapter-by-chapter or section-by-section deep dive breakdowns that I was doing.
Sadly, though it was rewarding for me to think so deeply on books about writing, it was just way too stressful for me and took up quite a bit of time.
Writing
The other big goal for 2024, is that I really want to finish Roll for Romance. I want to have the rough draft complete and then do at least one full editing/revision pass on it this year. I think this is an achievable goal.
Thanks to NaNo, I built up a pretty nice little writing community, and as I said, my author friend Bree is around too (she lives basically the next town over), so we plan to hold some coffee shop writing and editing sessions through the year—–obviously depending on how she’s doing with the new baby, who is coming sometime in the next few weeks.
So, yeah, I have been doing a lot of plotting and world building and background work for Roll for Romance, and the plan is to get the book drafted. I’ve actually already commissioned some character art to help keep me motivated and it is so cute! I can’t wait to share it with everyone, do some character reveals and such….but I’m not allowing myself to share that with you until I’ve finished the rough draft of the book.
I’ve been trying to write this book in some form or another since 2017, and I’ve just kept doubting myself and my abilities, and putting so much pressure on myself that I could never get the words on the page. But I want this story to be told, and that means I need to write it. I know I’m a decent writer. I’ve re-read some of my older writing, and it’s still pretty good. I know I can do this. I just need to ACTUALLY do it.
So, cheer me on and wish me luck.
Conventions/Trips
Last year, we helped my friend Signy Cullen out with a couple conventions: FanExpo Cleveland, and Cincinnati Comic Expo. We also attended Gen Con.
This year, Cincinnati Comic Expo is going to be significantly smaller, because their usual convention center is undergoing some renovations and such for the next two years, so they are going to a nearby convention center that is smaller…so Signy decided to not even try to be a part of the Artists Alley until they are back to their normal convention center. Hopefully by that time I’ll definitely have a book or two out in the world so I can actually provide something more than my presence at the booth.
But, we will hopefully be able to save up enough money to get ourselves to Gen Con again this year, so that is the beginning of August, and it should be more awesome tabletop fun.
Okay, that is it for me today. I have a couple 2023 wrap-up posts to get up soon (like my final 2023 Book Haul post, and my Top Ten Reads of 2023 post), and the first Weekend Writer post of the new year will be coming this weekend. And I should hopefully have some book review posts coming very soon.
Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
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