To start the year, I set myself some goals for the year ahead.  I plan to check periodically during the year on how well I am keeping on track.  If you set yourself goals it is important to check on yourself to make sure you are on target and to re-focus yourself.

If you want to view my last check in on myself, click here.

Achievements

This is a new section in my personal reflection. I am often so hard on myself and critical that I forget to celebrate my wins. Today, I am acknowledging what I achieved and giving myself a pat on the back:

• Completed NaPoWriMo’s 30 day challenge
• Achieved over 100 followers
• I wrote a guest article for Carol J Forrester’s blog, Writing and Works (click here)
• My poem on mental health was featured on Stoner On A Rollercoaster’s blog (click here)

On Reflection

Here a the highlights from this quatre:

Summary:  Putting my goals into a table has made it much clearer as to what my targets are. I am really pleased with some of my achievements this quarter.

Blogging: I am so pleased with how I have not only managed to post weekly but most weeks I’ve posted three or more articles. It has really helped to have a schedule with topic ideas.

Writing: In April I attempted NaPoWriMo. The support of the poet community was amazing and really boosted my confidence. Posting daily was a challenge in itself, let alone trying to meet the daily prompt.

Blogging Goals Review

• ACHIEVED:  I exceeded my weekly post target every week. On average I’ve been posting three to four articles and in April I posted daily, sometimes more than once!
• ALMOST ACHIEVED:  The draw back of so many articles is time to schedule the tweets on LoCal. I think I need to rethink my Twitter schedule to make this more manageable.
• ACHIEVED: I have really enjoyed sharing more personal articles about my family life and plan to include more personal content in future.
• ACHIEVED:  I have started including some personal posts on my blog such as my son’s World Book Day and What I’ve Been Watching.
• NOT ACHIEVED: I tried vlogging and created two videos but I wasn’t confident enough to share them. Maybe with more practice I’ll get better and he more confident in my video content.
• ACHIEVED: The monthly schedule has been awesome. It really helps to see what I plan to post and when. I keep ideas for posts and can switch items in my plan as needed.

Writing Goals Review

• ACHIEVED:  I have finished querying Drift. I’m now handling the “we thought it was good but not for us right now” gentle stream of rejections. If I don’t hear good news, I still have three other options I am considering.
• ACHIEVED: Yes, I got my tickets and I’m looking forward to the events at Felixstowe Book Festival. There will be an article on how it went.
• ACHIEVED:  I have now finished The Gender Game and two other books. I’m roughly getting through a novel every two months, so next quarter that will be my goal. I’m currently deciding what to read next.
• ALMOST ACHIEVED:  I have been reading about Pitch Wars. I am still not sure what to do but I think as a writer I don’t get involved until August… we’ll see. It would be awesome to have a mentor.

New goals

For the months ahead,. I have updated the table:

As I wasn’t successful at keeping my Twitter schedule up-to-date, I am going to try and improve that in the next quatre.  I’m still keen to try vlogging but it is not as high in my importance as it was earlier this year.

In the next quatre, I expect I will reduce my blogging frequency in favour of getting back into novel writing and to allow me to take it more easy with a newborn.

My wild imagination cannot let go of the dream of being published and I am holding out hope that perhaps an agent I have queries will want to take my novel on.  If that was to happen, working with them would be my number one priority.