Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Taking a nibble, not a bite

HAPPY 2012 EVERYONE!

Since it's still January, I don't think I've left it too late to write about goals.

I'm a little bit nervous writing this post. I don't have the best track record when it comes to sticking to goals, so by putting them up here for everyone to see means risking public failure (which is not as good a motivator as I wish it were).
The reason I'm putting my goals here is because I know how awesome the writing community is at encouraging their peers and helping keep each other on track. Yes, you lot are awesome.

I've recently reached a whole new level of busy: I work full time, have just started an internship, am endeavouring to finish a novel, and will be starting back at uni in a month and a half. Whew! And I'm very good at time management, if I do say so myself, but only when that time belongs to someone else. At work I'm all about efficiency. At home I'm all about procrastination. So it's time to bring a bit of that efficiency home with me if I'm going to stay on track for 2012, and, in order to do that, I'm going to try breaking my goals down into manageable chunks.

GOALS 2012:
  1. Finish all revisions on Blood Legacy (oh yes, the very same one) by end of February. I am well and truly over this book!
    • Revise one chapter per day minimum.
  2. Start writing BL 2 and plan the new story idea tentatively titled Immortals Cure, Immortals Curse.
    • Start both of these end of Feb, plan time around these then.
  3. Treat internship as a second job, prioritise over other work to ensure MSS are processed with time to spare!
    • Work on these for a few hours every night, before jumping on Twitter/FB/Reader.
  4. Get FIT! Not toooo original. Hoping I won't join the ranks of people who start out hard and by week three are back to sitting on the couch. To avoid jinxing it I haven't gone out and bought any new work out gear.
    • Go for three jogs a week. I went for one last night. It lasted all of five minutes. Baby steps, right?
    • Do some sort of 'other' exercise that's not purely cardio. Yet to be decided.
  5. Kick butt in my final year for the publishing and editing grad dip!
    • Ummm... since we haven't been given our course outlines yet, I'm not sure how I'm going to go about this. Mostly just work.

In my head the list seemed longer than this. And now it's written down in small chunks it seems manageable! Excellent!

What are you striving for in 2012? Have you had to break it down into little nibbles, or do you have no problems facing a big goal head on?

4 comments:

  1. Prue, it sounds like you're not in need of the nibble approach. You've already been doing so well with your goals! What sort of projects are you planning on doing other than writing?

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  2. Success with your goals!

    Nibbles, yes. That's what I need to do but I'd rather do great big chunks :D
    2011 saw me putting aside fixed times for writing and I've got that pretty well nailed.
    Ditto exercise - mostly brisk walking or exercise DVDs if it's grim weather.
    2012: Keep writing and exercise going.
    Finish revising my short story; take up revision again with novel.
    Start habit of doing half hour on a project other than writing on the days I'm home. Fixed this from 2 - 2.30pm.
    I feel like one of those people spinning plates on canes :D  

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  3. I love your versions of exercise! They sound like fun. Maybe I'll have to get a Kinect or Wii or something like that.

    I already know you're insanely good at sticking to your goals. I aim to be like that!

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  4. For my exercise, I plan to jog in place while watching my favorite television shows. I also dance with the Kinect. It's incredibly fun while making you want to pass out from exhaustion all at the same time!

    For my goals this year I was very specific about what I wanted. Somehow that gives me the same feeling as breaking down goals into manageable "nibbles."

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