Tag: goals

Unplanning My Next Year’s Goals

by eileentroemel, posted in Crochet and crafting, Life, Writing

My year has certainly not turned out the way I planned it.  This is one of the reasons I don’t like to make long term plans. 

It isn’t that my year has been worse – quite the contrary – it just hasn’t turned out the way I planned.  I could be disappointed in myself and the events of the year but that would be ridiculous.  I was supposed to submit to contests and publications at least four to six times each month this year.  I didn’t.  I was supposed to get my poetry books, romance book, and meditation book all published.  I did this.  I did more than this.  I got eleven books and two crochet patterns published. 

In looking back at my year, because that’s what we do at the end of December, I find myself very satisfied with what I’ve accomplished and am looking forward to the accomplishments of the coming year.  I have four books in progress that I want to get done.  I’m certain these will get done and published. 

Knowing me, there are other stories rattling around in my head that will find their way onto paper and into publication. 

I keep telling myself I need more balance in my life – equal out the time I spend crocheting, writing, working, spending with family and so on.  I’m not sure that is true.  I think having the imbalance helps me accomplish things.  When I’m so focused on one or two things, I get them done.  Very little gets in my way or stops me from accomplishing what I set out to accomplish.  Sometimes it takes me a while to figure out what I want to accomplish but once I do – it usually works out in the end – even if it isn’t the way I planned it. 

When I look forward to the next year, I know I want to write, crochet, spend time with my family.  I think I’ll leave the details of how that works out to the future and just enjoy the journey I’ll be taking in the upcoming year.

Going with the Flow

by eileentroemel, posted in Writing

When I finished my degree last December, I had goals.  I had specific goals I wanted to accomplish every month.  I was going to step up my submissions.  I wanted to have five to ten submission each month.  It shouldn’t be hard to maintain that as I wouldn’t be doing school work.  I wanted to get my romance novel and my meditation book published.

Looking back at how I felt in January facing these tasks, I thought the submissions would be the easy part and the book publishing the hard part.

I’ve flip flopped.  I have almost no submissions this year, maybe four or five, and none of them went through to publication.  It’s annoying and frustrating.  However, not unusual.

On the book front, I’ve published the two I hoped to.  I also have published six more and will probably publish one more before the end of the year, possibly two more.

It seems like every time I turn around, I’m working on another manuscript of some sort.  Currently I’m actively writing in two manuscripts and editing a third.  Last night I finished a rough draft.  Today I wrote an outline for the next book in the series.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes.  I discovered that I’ve got a lot of my page numbers on the wrong side of the pages for a few of my books.  I’ll have to fix that and see if there are more fixes before I upload a new file.  I’m enjoying the process.  I love almost all aspects of it.

I freely admit I’m obsessed with checking sales and hoping that the little line is above zero.  I get a thrill when I see one of my books has sold.  It’s exciting to me to know that someone in Canada or the UK (or any of the other countries) has bought my book.  I wonder if the story will cross the culture differences and if they will enjoy it.  I hope so.

My goals have flown out the window but I don’t really care.  I’m loving what I’m doing.  I’m thrilled with the work I’m doing and loving telling a story – hopefully a good story.

Come check out my book page at:
eileentroemel.weebly.com

Fall Equinox

by eileentroemel, posted in Life

September 23 is the fall equinox this year. Fall is a time of harvesting, finishing up projects and completing goals.

I had several goals this year. One of which was to go visit the girls in Georgia. We did that and had a wonderful vacation. It was great to get away for a week and see all three girls. I’m hoping we can do something similar next year.

For writing, I had specific goals. Some of these I’ve met and exceeded and others I’ve totally not met. One of my goals was to submit work / articles each month. I was hoping to do at least three but so far I’ve only done sporadic submissions.

Another goal was to get one or two books published. I’ve now gotten seven books published. I seem to have exceeded this goal by quite a bit. I’ve got two more books in the wings which I’m hoping to get out there in the next three months.

Going into winter and heading to the winter solstice becomes a time to reflect on what I’ve done right and wrong this year, how I need to change to improve, what I need to leave alone and just keep the same. By winter solstice, I’ll be looking at what my new goals will be and what I want for the next year.

Fall is my favorite time of the year. I always feel energized and love the season. The colors, the crisp fall air, and the slowing from summer craziness (and before the holiday craziness). For me it is a happy time of enjoying the beauty of the season.