Can you believe it’s April? First quarter is over, and I feel like I blogged about my annual writing goals last week. To keep me in line, I’m conducting quarterly evaluations on myself.
Once you’ve written down your goals, it’s easy to set them aside and forget about them. Doing a self-review is a good way to hold yourself accountable for achieving your aims. You can evaluate your progress by week or month, but I prefer by quarter. It feels like less of a time crunch this way.
You can read my 2017 annual goals here. Here’s an update on what I’ve accomplished thus far:
I’ve read four novels to date:
- A Demon Bound by Debra Dunbar (Interesting protagonist, 4-stars)
- The Thought Readers by Dima Zales & Anna Zaires (Fun, fast read, 5-stars)
- Vengeance Be Mine by Louisa Lo (Lots of magic, 4-stars)
- Niko: A YA Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Thriller by Kayti Nika Raet (It was good, 3-stars)
I’m currently reading Prince Lestat by Anne Rice. It’s amazing. Reading Prince Lestat is like visiting old friends you haven’t seen in years, but thought about all the time. Rice’s prose is beautiful, putting me next to the vampire Armand as he paints in a dilapidated building or strolls on the beach.
The artwork for the third novel’s cover is done, and it looks good
I revised Hound Dog Confidential, again, and it is back under the red pen of my editor for the line edit
I wrote five flash fiction stories
The next items to tackle in second quarter are: 1) Finish the fourth (fifth?) round of self-editing on Through the Villain’s Eyes and send the draft to the editor; 2) Write more short stories and flash fiction; 3) Continue writing the third novel in The Children of Ekhidna and Typhoeus series and figure out a proper title.
On the one hand, I feel like I’ve achieved a lot, but on the other hand, I feel far behind. Fortunately, a writer’s journey isn’t a 100 meters sprint. It’s actually a Mad Max style obstacle course where the losers see their manuscripts eviscerated by acid-spewing dragons.
Where are you guys at with your New Year’s resolutions?
I hope you liked this week’s blog post. You can read the first chapters of my urban fantasy series The Children of Ekhidna and Typhoeus on the books page.
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stacy benedict 
That’s awesome Stacey! It’s good that you’re checking up on your progress. Recently I’ve been creating To Do lists to organise myself better and I’m surprised at how much I get done when I make time for different things and lists to check off. I get distracted easily, but the list needs to get done in that day or days. Feeling more productive that way. I’m looking for a good scheduling app, but yet to find one that I like. Goodluck with the third Novel. 🙂
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Thank you Lorenza! I get easily distracted too. Every morning when I’m in the shower I go over my personal and work goals for the day, which is like a mental to do list. The most important ones I write down at work on sticky notes. It does make me feel more productive too when I get to cross something off. Thank you for commenting.
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