Inspired by Patricia Ann McGoldrick’s blog , I created a word cloud of what I’ve been writing about this year. I can’t use Wordle, because I can’t stop my computer blocking the software I need to upload to use it, so I used Tagxedo instead. You can make it more Wordle-like by changing the emphasis to 1. I warn you that playing with either of these programs can be addictive!
I thought that the word cloud was pretty informative actually. The words goals, writing, and time featured pretty predominantly. Obviously these are things I was writing about and concerned about last year. Did I set goals and accomplish them? Yes–and no. I finished my 30-day writing challenge, so that was a definite yes. Some other writing goals I wanted to pursue fell by the wayside.
So what about next year? What will my goals be? The writing challenge brought a few things into perspective about where I am with my writing and my writing business. Do I have a novel ahead of me? No. Some shorter pieces? Yes. Do I have some marketing plans? Yes. Am I still teaching? Yes. Do I have one major goal that I want to accomplish in the new year? Yes, I want to be a lot kinder to myself. Yup, that’s the goal I picked. And I think that if that is the starting point for any other challenges that I take on–writing, marketing, losing weight, exercising (oh yeah, the last 2 are definitely on my list)–I think I’ll have a better chance of succeeding.
I’m trying to turn the have-to’s and their accompanying moans of gloom into actions that I do because they are actually good for me, that come from treating myself well. It’s an effort to fix my head voices that are far more often negative than positive. I hope to end the year with them less eager to point out failure, and more inclined to shrug their shoulders and say, “Well, not everything works out the way you plan. What can we try next?”
What are your next steps for 2013? Have you set writing or health-related goals? Do you have any strategies for success that we should know about?
I’ll be back in a few days with your writing prompts for January.
Until then, be kind to yourself. 🙂