On Planning

Although I don’t like “resolutions,” I do like the process of reviewing the previous year, and then planning for the upcoming year.

A quick note: goals work best if they’re SMART:  Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

This means I shouldn’t have a goal of selling a certain number of short stories, since whether or not they are purchased is, really, out of my hands (assuming I write the best story I can at that moment), but I can have a goal of writing a certain number over the course of the year.

Writing

I’ve signed up for a couple of challenges through WMG. One is to write 2025 words per day. The other is to write half as many words as Dean does.

The first is a SMART goal. The second, given that I have no idea how many words Dean will end up writing, and no control over how many he writes, is not. But I’m 99% sure if I hit the first, or even 50-75% of the first, I’ll have a decent chance at the second.

Words in a vacuum, doing the same thing over and over again, is not useful. Writing must be done while learning more about craft at the same time.

I’m planning on taking the new Advanced classes—there’s one every two months—for 2025. (Please note, I have an “everything” membership, so these are already paid for/covered!)

• Advanced Rule of Three
• Advanced Setting
• Advanced Cliffhangers
• Advanced Novel Structure (will likely sub in a different advanced class, info flow or voice, for this one)
• Advanced Tension/Suspense (no link yet)
• Advanced Making Stuff Up (no link yet)

I’m also hoping to go to at least one in-person workshop, but I’m not yet sure on the timing.

Travel

We’d like to do another European trip this summer. The timing of our vacations is linked to Dave’s school/teaching schedule, of course. We’re thinking Scotland; neither of us have been, and it looks beautiful!

We’re doing a long weekend trip to San Luis Obispo/Paso Robles in a couple weeks. Free hotel night certificates, use ’em or loose ’em!

Other than that, no concrete plans right now, though we were chatting about central California during Dave’s spring break. We haven’t been to Pinnacles, one of the newer National Parks, and it’s inland and a bit south of the Monterey Bay, which we haven’t visited in awhile.

Exercise

Welp. As noted in the previous post, I did sign up for a Spartan race in April 2025. My goal is to finish it, of course.

But I think the more important part is the training. I’ve been really diligent about following my coach’s plan so far; and I think the best goal is to remain consistent doing so. That hits all the SMART points.

Will I do another one? It depends on how the first goes. But even if I don’t, I want to keep up the 3+ days per week cardio (running or Peloton), and 2+ days of strength training. And given that I’m goal/race oriented, I’ll find some sort of event to train for!