Young Writers Society

2021 is almost here! I'm sure that none of us could have predicted how 2020 would go. I'm also sure it's hard to predict exactly what will happen in 2021. But even if next year is just as unpredictable as this year was, do you have any resolutions you want to accomplish? If you do, do you have any plans for how you're going to reach your 2021 goals?

(And if you did last year's version of this thread and want to see your resolutions from it, here's a link to that thread!)

Hmm...

• Finish at least one more book/story of any kind
• Work on being more optimistic
• Start doing at least three reviews a week
• Reach out to new people
• Broaden my understandings of others by reaching out to them instead of just studying them
• Do all I can to give my gf the love and affection she deserves
• Come out to my mother as a heteroflexible
• Learn to be more accepting of others

my 2020 resolutions so far!!!
- write more poetry about my feelings
- go through my playlists o_O
- record myself and my friends more
- stop relying on others for happiness so much
- love myself!
- get stronger, targeting core, back, lower arms, and thighs
- take painting and drawing classes
- spend more time building up my wardrobe
- become a cleaner person!!!!
- improve handwriting hehe(it is chicken scratches)
- get that flexibility
- grow in my faith and spend more time reading my bible
- try to be more optimistic
- clear up skin
- grow out my hair
- take more time reading(and not for school)
- do team tortoise at least once this year
- get to five review stars!!

probably will be adding to this.

Ahhh resolutions. Those things I always fail <.< but uh hopefully 2021 will be different!

whatcha's new year's resolutions

• Stop putting unreasonable expectations on myself
• but also stop procrastinating you dingbat
• Pretty much the same thing; manage my time better. I swear the time I go to sleep has slowly been drifting later and later and that's at least partly due to poor time management.

• Get back into the flow of writing reviews! I'd like to try to write one a week, but we'll see what happens.
• Experiment more with different types and forms of poetry. Especially prose-poetry, that's something I've wanted to really play around with for a while now but just haven't gotten around to.
• Along similar lines, try to read a wider variety of poems!
• Spend more time on the wfps. Does this even need an explanation?

• Learn how to be independent and dependent, not just one or the other (apparently a fancy word for this is interdependence?)
• Do more visual art!
• Stop picking my nails for goodness sakes [<- this is the fourth year it's been on my New Years resolution list aaack]
• Read for fun. School + job + extracurriculars + spending too much time on my phone + 2020 = not much reading for fun.
• Laugh until I cry more often. There's absolutely NOTHING like laughing until you're sobbing and can't breathe for good vibes.
• Stop saying "just" and "like" every other sentence. Just like, cut the habit out, okay??
• Be more active. Like, even just a walk every other day would be great.

1. Writing

- Get back into a semi-consistent writing schedule.
- Complete the second, still pretty rough draft of Ghosted by the end of January.
- Keep writing poetry! <3
- Write a third draft of Ghosted by the end of the summer~
- Start working on the draft for my podcast's second season.

2. Health & Self-Care

- Fall back into an actual schedule.
- Have breakfast every day at a reasonable time.
- Get enough sleep.
- Exercise whatever way works best that day: an impromptu dance party, walking around the neighborhood or even just doing some stretches in my room.
- Do things for enjoyment and not just profit/work/school.
- Try keeping a mental and/or physical gratitude journal.
- Focus more on the good things in life.
- Eat more fruit.

3. School

- Get to know my professors, even when their classes are asynchronous.
- Use office hours!
- Don't obsess too much over grades.
- Geek out about what I'm learning with friends, family and YWS.
- Keep in touch with my school friends.
- Talk about school positively whenever possible.

4. Miscellaneous

- Get back into casually reviewing~
- Post on my podcast's Instagram more frequently.
- Start up a Patreon for my podcast.
- Promote my poetry book!
- Get my official author/creator Twitter and Instagram accounts up and running.
- Stay in touch with my friends, even if they're going to different colleges or are in-person when I'm still online.

I just have two:

- Give my parents and siblings all the love in the universe ^^
- I just want to be happy <3

my next year resolution will be just "not to expect"

Mine are pretty simple (though possibly strange)

1. Change my username
2. Learn Swedish
3. Become an expert on the Byzantium

I'll be adding more to this list.

-Stop being surprised
-Change my username
-Learn Python
-Learn Japanese
-Stop doing homework on the weekends (you need breaks sometimes)
-Stop getting mad at people about the mask situation
-Stop getting mad at how my church is handling Covid
-Read the Bible everyday
-Be responsible with how much time you spend on electronics

I always have the same resolution every year: Stop biting my nails. It usually works for a few months..... but I cave before too long and don't try again until the new year XD.

YWS and Writing

- Write 500 words a day
- Write 7 reviews a month (to get that next review star by the end of the year)
- Create a more professional writerly blog for short prose (and submit some to contests too)
- Revise 'The Miscreants'

Health

- Care less about what others think of me
- Take a long walk once a week
- Exercise 30 min a day
- Clean more regularly (once a week)


Reading and Learning

- Read 50 books for enjoyment (and I'll probably make a post somewhere here to keep track of this and keep myself accountable)
- Zooniverse! Do 300 classifications on a Linguistics-related project
- 100WC 5 comments a week
- Finally read Tolkien
- Learn to cook 5 meals
- Learn to code with R (for a research project I'm joining)

Uni and Productivity

- Try to get 35 hours of studying done a week consistently
- Go for some skills training workshops

TUCK'S 2021 RESOLUTIONS AND GOALS

SCHOOL
⮞ 20 hours of effective studying and schoolwork every school week
⮞ Straight A's in every course
⮞ Narrow down college choices to 6 choices
⮞ (if COVID permits) go on 3 college tours

WORK
⮞ Become a trainer
⮞ Continue meetings with work mentor as long as is possible
⮞ Share ideas with management
⮞ Build at least 3 strong relationships with coworkers

START-UP
⮞ Complete 10 commissions
⮞ Launch a website
⮞ Recruit 1-2 people to participate in an official capacity

FRIENDS & FAMILY
⮞ Build a strong support group of people that I am local to
⮞ Spend meaningful, undistracted time with my younger siblings
⮞ Attend 1 purely social, in-person gathering at least once a week (once COVID permits)

PERSONAL GROWTH / HEALTH
⮞ Read 12 books
⮞ Begin a habit of meditation
⮞ Establish a better-maintained sleep schedule
⮞ Get (an average of) 8 or more hours of sleep a night
⮞ Lower time spent on phone to <2 hours/day

FAITH
⮞ Read my Bible every day
⮞ Become connected with my youth group
⮞ Find a spiritual mentor
⮞ Participate in outreach events

There's a kind of magic that comes with the end of a year and the start of a new one.

1. Health
- exercise in some form each day
- change wake-up/fall-sleep routine
- stretch at least once per day
- figure out a good diet

2. Creativity

i. Writing
a. set up a writing schedule for next quarter
b. write for at least 30 minutes a day
c. write at least 10k words per month

ii. Poetry
a. come up with a poetry theme
b. write snippets each day
c. finish at least 4 poems per month

iii. Music
a. get up to 12 songs to regularly play/cover
b. finish at least 1 song per month
c. practice/play guitar/ukulele each day

3. YWS
- write an article in every Squills publication
- plan to publish Squills once a week
- reach 450 reviews and get second blue star
- write at least 5 reviews each month

4. Misc
- get back into practicing Spanish
- and start learning Korean
- listen to more k-pop groups
- start memorizing dances

5. Goals
- complete napo
- complete nano
- complete a camp nano
- have 1 project fully in 1st draft

2020 Review (2020 Resolutions)
Writing -> I submitted more poetry to contests, got a poem published, almost got my chapbook draft published, and wrote more songs. Only thing that was a big failure is I completely gave up on an academic article that I wanted to publish.

School / Career - > I graduated and began my internship! I have a plan to pay off my student debt within 3 years and I think that's going to be very do-able.

Personal / Spiritual -> Uh didn't really do too well with these goals, and wish I would have. The only thing I think I did manage in my personal goal section was not spending so much time worrying about past relationships, so yay.



Writing / YWS

* Finish my two chapbook drafts & send them out ~

* Complete NaPo

* Run 4 poetry workshops this year

* Write at least 2 KB articles

* Get my KotGR unicorn

* Write more songs AND burn a CD of them for fun :]

Career

This is going to be a really big year for me professionally, to be super vague about my life -> I'm finishing up my internship in June, have a really big evaluation this March, and if all goes well will be entering an application process this summer. If all goes well I'll be moving again maybe in July / August and then beginning to work at doing what I've been working my whole life to do. // sorry that probably sounds dramatic.

> I'm definitely nervous about this application / selection process, so these are less "resolutions" and more like "hope it works out this way" points. Some of this might also be messed up due to Covid, but hopefully I ...

* Pass my evaluation in March
* Pass my internship with good references in June
* Secure a full-time position by September that ...
A) is closer than 1500 miles away from my family
B) is not in a super rural setting
C) is a positive work-environment consistent with my moral commitments

Personal / Spiritual

* BIGGEST GOAL FOR 2021 -> GET SLEEP SCHEDULE BACK ON TRACK @_@ I had this as a big 2020 goal and tried very hard to make it work, but being in quarantine for a few months, moving time-zones, dealing with some seasonal-depression, changing from a school to a work schedule etc etc I have a lot of excuses ~ but I really really really want to commit to getting a healthier amount of sleep in 2021.

* Some spiritual goals: Continue practice of Bible Journaling + Daily Bible Reading + try to memorize 25 Bible verses. Do a "day of prayer" quarterly. Be more intentional with following up with discipleship group bi-monthly.

* Practice translating a chapter of the Bible once a month.

* Continue to work on ancestry projects & maybe actually meet up with my mom's cousin who has been helping me in person if covid-allows

* See my grandmother again if covid-allows.

* See my parents again. Haven't seen either of my parents since December/January and it makes me really sad.

2021 Goals!

1. Post more on YWS (Calling myself out on here )

2. Work on my constantly growing list of book ideas

3. Take care of my mental health as much as I already strive to do with my physical health

Aaand... that's all I'm working for so that I don't overwhelm myself!