What Will I Get Done This Year?

Image credit: jpldesigns / 123RF Stock Photo

Happy New Year! It seems that every year I start out with great intentions, and then they fall to the wayside before long. I guess I'm too easily distracted. But I would like to set forth a few things I want to do in 2014, based on what the past year was like. I'm no longer working in the bakery, so that's an extra 24 hours a week to get some things done. So rather than wasting time, I need to work on completing a lot of projects that have been shoved to the back burner a little too often.

Writing:

1. I need to finish the sequel to The Samurai's Garden. It's about half done. I just need to concentrate and get it finished.

2. I should blog more. I think I need to be more disciplined about this. I've had lots of guests here and I've sent posts to other people to advertise my new books, but I need to work on defining this blog a bit more. So I think I'm going to try to blog at least twice a week, and one of them is going to be a post I write myself - hopefully about something creative I've observed or done.

3. I've committed to one project due later this month. I'd better get in gear and finish it!

Crafting/Sewing:

I have sooooo much fabric and craft supplies it seems I could keep busy forever. I need to use some of this stuff up and give away what I'm not going to use. Last year I made a little dent in my supplies by vowing to post a picture of a project each week. I think maybe I ought to re-instate that. Make something and post a picture. Every week. Hopefully each project will be made with supplies I already have on hand.

Reading:

I have a lot of books on my ipad that I could be reading. I can't review books by Astraea Press authors but I can let them know I read and enjoyed them. I signed up for the reading challenge at Goodreads and I want to finish reading at least 50 books this year. That's not quite one book a week. I should be able to do this if I don't waste a bunch of time online playing games and reading articles about people I don't know and really don't care about!

Okay, these are my goals for 2014. My plan is to post my own blog each Thursday, and have guests on other days. Tomorrow is Thursday - I guess I'd better get in gear!

I'm a Reader, Too

Lately, I've been spending a lot of energy writing. Since my schedule was already pretty full, some things had to be put on the back burner. One of them was reading. I've always loved to read, escaping into different worlds, living through achingly hard times with the protagonist, and cheering when they overcome their difficulties. I was especially drawn to romance stories, because they almost always end with a "happily ever after." I remember during one especially busy period in my life, when I was teaching full time and keeping up with two very active teenagers, I would read one romance novel every night. I found that living through the characters' conflict and resolution helped me get to sleep, knowing that all was right with the world.

During the last Christmas season, I noticed that Goodreads posted a reading challenge. I could choose a number of books to read, and Goodreads would help me keep track of them. The idea appealed to me, because I could feed my creativity while helping my fellow authors by giving them feedback on their books. So many of them have graciously read my stories and written reviews, and I wanted to get into the habit of doing so for them. I decided I would try and read 50 books in 2012 (I know that's nothing compared to what some people read, but it's a huge jump for me!), rate each one, and write short reviews. That's a little less than one book per week.

It's been tough sometimes, but thanks to ebooks loaded on my phone, my ipad and my laptop, I'm keeping up. I never thought I'd be comfortable reading on the tiny screen on my phone, but it's great for passing the time when I have fifteen minutes here and ten minutes there. I'm reading some wonderful books! If you're a Goodreads member I'd love to learn about some of the books you're reading too. Add me as a Goodreads friend. We'll share our thoughts on what we're reading, and we'll each learn about more great books. What could be better?

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Easter is coming up, and I wanted to make some cute "baskets" using stuff I have in the house. I decorated some plain gift bags with some lace flowers and later I'll fill them with Easter goodies. A quick and easy project!