thoughts
I’ve always been terrible at New Year’s resolutions. I make them, I think they’re great, and then I give up about a week into the new year. But this year, I’m attempting them again. And I’m hoping that by posting about it, I’ll have an added incentive to actually follow through. Probably not, but we’ll see. (I also realize that it’s taken me over half the month of January to get around to writing this post, but I’m clearly still a work in progress.) So, without further ado, here are my goals for 2020.
1. Read at least 100 books. I wanted to attempt 366 books, but considering that I’ve read only 4 over the past 17 days, it’s probably for the best that I’m not going for a book a day. 2. Write at least 10 new poems. I have a folder full of poems that I’ve written over the past several years, but I haven’t written any new ones lately. And since poems aren’t too long, I figured 10 was doable. 3. Submit at least 20 poems. I somehow managed to get one of my poems published in an online lit magazine in 2019, so I’m hoping that if I submit at least 20 this year, I’ll get a few accepted. 4. Write at least 2 new short stories. After years of believing my ideas were too big to be contained in a short story, I’ve recently discovered that I kind of love writing short stories. I feel that I’m able to really showcase my love of a twist ending in my short stories, so I’m looking forward to writing some more this year. 5. Submit at least 5 short stories. I had one published in a print anthology in 2019 (and got paid $5 for it!), so I’m going for it again this year. 6. Finish writing at least 1 novel. If you’d look through the folder on my computer labeled “In-Progress Novels,” you would find 26 unfinished novels. And though I haven’t yet picked which one is getting most of my focus this year, I am determined to move at least one of those novels into the folder labeled “Finished Novels.” 7. Apply to writing workshops. My only hesitation with this one is how ridiculously expensive all of these writing workshops are. Which is why I just said apply. Then, if I’m accepted, I can decide whether or not I can afford to actually go. 8. Run a 5K. I decided that none of my goals were going to be about losing weight, because I don’t have a healthy relationship with that. However, getting back into shape by taking up running again might not guarantee that I will lose weight, but it will help me not sound like I’m dying whenever I climb a long flight of stairs. 9. Post a #TBRTuesday picture every week on Instagram. This one is entirely to get more bookish Instagram followers. 10. See a live show. Despite how much I hate being around other people, I absolutely love going to concerts, musicals, plays, and comedy shows. I’m definitely going to one, but hopefully I find a couple others I can make it to as well. 11. Take a road trip to Savannah, Georgia. I have wanted to move to Savannah, Georgia for years despite the fact that I have never been there before. So I figured I should probably check out the place before I decide for sure whether or not I want to live there. 12. Get a passport. Considering how well I do on planes (see this post for more info on that), I have no real reason to get a passport. But who knows? Maybe I’ll drive to Canada at some point. 13. Learn how to sew. In the 8th grade, I made a t-shirt quilt for my oldest sister. Now, I want to make one for myself. Unfortunately, I did not save all of my meticulous notes telling me how to make a t-shirt quilt. So I’m going to buy a sewing machine and re-teach myself. Those of you who know me in real life are probably already aware that this can only end badly. 14. Learn to play the harmonica. There is no reason for me to do this. Which is partly why I want to do this. 15. Practice the piano at least twice a week. I started taking piano lessons when I was 6, but then quit during high school. I can still play fairly well, but I’d like to get to the point where I wouldn’t be embarrassed to play in front of someone else. 16. Practice the guitar at least twice a week. I taught myself to play the guitar when I was 16, but then didn’t practice much throughout college. Now that I don’t have a roommate who might find it annoying, I can actually play my guitar without assaulting someone else’s eardrums. 17. Visit my friends and their kids more often. Most of my friends live within a few hours’ drive from me, yet we just don’t see each other that often. It’s true that adult friendships are hard, especially if you don’t work together and live in different towns, but I’m determined to put more effort into my friendships this year. Plus, my friends’ kids are awesome, and I love hanging out with them. 18. Perform for an audience without puking. I used to do this all the time and absolutely loved it. But since my anxiety started to get the best of me, I haven’t really been able to perform anymore. But I’m working on it, and we’ll see if I manage to succeed. 19. Ride in a car more than 20 miles. This one probably seems weird to people who don’t know me that well. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. I get extremely car sick when I ride in a car. I can drive with no problems, but I can’t be a passenger. I’ve gotten to the point where I can ride for 12 miles before I have to throw up, so I’m hoping I can keep increasing that distance. 20. Post on the blog at least twice a month. This is the only way I’ll ever get caught up on my Summer of Stephen posting. 21. Get rid of unused stuff. I have way too much stuff that I don’t need. So I might as well give it to people who will actually use it. 22. Cook at least once a week. Knowing myself the way that I do, this one is least likely to happen. 23. Get a new tattoo. I have three at the moment and it’s been almost three years since my last one. It’s time for a new one. Don’t tell my mother. 24. Say the rosary every day. I usually do this during Lent, but I’m going to try to do it throughout the whole year. 25. Say the chaplet every day. Same explanation as #24. 26. Wake up at 5 every morning. Sometimes I can do this for several days in a row, and sometimes I barely drag myself out of bed before 7. So we’ll see how this one goes. 27. Learn to change a tire. As a single woman who likes to go on road trips, this seems like something I should be able to do. 28. Learn to drive a stick shift. Much like the harmonica thing, this is mostly unnecessary. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to do it anyway. 29. Apply to Project LIT. I learned about this at the Kansas Association of Teachers of English conference back in October, and I figure that if I’m going to continue to teach high school English, this would be a great thing to get involved in. 30. Visit the Mother Cabrini Shrine. I climbed all the stairs to visit this shrine when I was little, but haven’t been back since. I also don’t remember much other than the fact that there were so many stairs. So now I want to go back and see if I can hold onto more than just the exhaustion of climbing the stairs. Well, that’s all of them. I have no idea how many I’ll manage to accomplish, but I’ll try to keep you posted. Wish me luck!
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Jacinta M. CarterProfessional Book Nerd Archives
March 2019
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