Keep Moving in 2017

tyunglebower ♦ December 31, 2016 ♦ Leave a comment

There are a mere few hours remaining in 2016. It’s a quasi-arbitrary metric, of course; plenty of people don’t use the same calendar to mark the years. Even if they did, what exactly changes, other than said calendar? Nothing, really.

Any New Year is a convenient marker for assessment of one’s life. It’s passing gives one a target at which to aim for changes and improvements. The change of one year into the next is all easier to utilize in this fashion when much of the world goes wild for it, if only for a few moments. In short, though New Year’s Eve isn’t really a thing in its own right, societies have made it a thing. If a concept helps people reset, or put something behind them, I’m all for it.

In fact, I use the time myself. I have a list of goals I wish to accomplish each year that I write up every New Year’s Eve and post to my wall. Writing goals, reading goals, fitness goals, even goals for recreation. Truth be told, I only achieved about 60% of my 2016 list. Previous years I’ve done much better than that.

I could share here what I did and didn’t accomplish in 2016 as per my list. I’ve done that in the past. Yet in the end, I’ve come to realize that’s a bit of a “who cares?” I care, of course, but I doubt it enhances the lives of anybody reading this blog. If it does, forgive me for skipping over it today. But it seems to me somewhat egotistical. Not much value outside of my own reflections on 2016.

Had their been something highly unusual or difficult I accomplished, I’d mention more, I suppose.

And my goals for 2017? I’ll share a few of those with you, not all. That at least has some accountability factor attached, though I expect nobody reading this is going to badger me about it through the year. Having some of them posted in public adds a bit of motivation.

I do plan to publish my third novel by the start of summer, which I’ll be talking about more as the year goes on. My plan is to also have the first draft of my fourth novel, (I haven’t even decided what story that will be yet) by the end of 2017. I’ve got a quota of short stories I want to write in the coming year. I’ll once again be practicing my one man show on a regular basis, now that I have revamped it somewhat. I’ll keep my eyes open for chances to perform it, but I will probably abandon active pitches to organizations. (Something I tried this year and did not succeed with.)

My biggest goal in regards to my writing I would say is my commitment to more promotional activity. Regular readers of this blog know that for various reasons I lack the ability to promote in the conventional manner. But 2017 must be the year when I pursue alternatives, even if it means spending some money. Even my most modest goals of name recognition and book sales have not been met with the methods I have employed. Something must change if I want anybody to read what I write. (And I do, sin that that may be.)

In other ways I hope to simplify in 2017.

The lesson though, is to keep working, keep trying, and keep doing what one does. January 1st is a nice built-in barometer by which to keep track of one’s overall advancement, but I say not to get too attached to it. We do what we do because we are what we allow ourselves to be. It’s a march towards our own destinies and possibilities that no calendar really should be allowed to alter. We get to where we are going when we get there, by continuing to move. Keep moving. So will I.

Happy New Year.