Changes...

I have been practically non existent in the online world the last year or so, and that's mainly because real life has been so very real, exciting, and full of changes. Pretty much all GOOD changes, but changes nontheless. And change, of course, always means a little upheaval in one's everyday life, therefore, things like goals and habits and creativety--daily writing, weekly updating of blogs, publishing books--tends to fall by the wayside.

But it looks like life is finally settling down to normality again. And before I continue, I have to tell the of the best and biggest change in my life:

Yes--I got engaged!

(Wedding date and other planning is still being worked out at the moment...)

What else have I to announce? Nothing much; well, nothing that compares to that anyway. 😄

At the moment I'm working on my goals for the New Year, and mapping out for myself how I intend to accomplish them. All fun for me, but boring for you I'm sure. But a quick rundown of what I'd like to do this year includes:

• Hit a yearly writing wordcount goal (180,000 words because that's just 500 words a day. I've added a wordcount meter to track my progress into the sidebar).
• Do a Reading Challenge--for me that simply means read all the unread books on my bookshelf (around 80)...and maybe on my Kindle too (thats more like 200...yeah, could be I need to sort through that and ask myself if I SERIOUSLY am ever going to want to read this book, or this book, or this book...)
• Speaking of which--declutter my computer and other aspects of my digital life! (*coughs* like whats on my Kindle? *coughs*)
• I would like to sign up on a site where I can sell prints of my artwork. Still looking into that one. Etsy would be fun but I don't know if I have the time or patience to sell and ship handmade goods at this time. We shall see!
• And of course I want to publish more books this year (I totally failed on that in 2016)
• Also various daily habits I'd like to get into: read my Bible (and keep some sort of devotional journal), exercise, eat healthy and track my food/calories.

I also have decided to try the 101 Things In a 1001 Days Challenge...with some changes of my own. Really its better to say it started out to be that challenge but I had more things to put on my list than 101, and then it seemed that since 1001 days are nearly 3 years, I would just make it a full 3 years. So, we shall see how that pans out.

My main goals for January are:

• finish and publish When Freida Fixes It
• update my fairytale flashfiction anthology
• Have an "Idea Month" where I write or sketch three new creative ideas every day
• Make some "tiny art" this month: Inchies, Rinchies, Betwinchies etc.
• Go ahead and sign up on one of those artsy sites and get at least one art print going! (aka, learn how to do this thing...)
• Of course, start my reading challenge, and the various habits mentioned (which includes 500 words a day for my writing challenge!). I may need to make some kind of habit chart or spreadsheet...
• Declutter/organize my clothes, and work through my Ebooks and Documents for digital decluttering.
• Work on my "101 Things" challenges as I have time,
• And a few more private matters on the list I'm not mentioning online!

As for how I intend to hit all these things...basically breaking them down into Weekly Task Lists and Daily To Do Lists. I can't help myself. Secretly I'm an Organizing List Freak...

At any rate putting my goals and to do lists on my blog keeps me accountable! Now we shall see what I actual manage to get done this month and this year...

Wish me luck!