Young Writers Society

2022 is somehow only a month away! It's crazy to think that we're nearing the end of 2021. We still have 31 days to get ourselves hyped for next year, though, so with that in mind - do you have any big resolutions you hope to achieve? And if you do have some, do you have plans on how to reach those goals?

If you posted in last year's resolutions thread and want to see what you wrote there, here's a link to it!

Okay, so I didn't make any goals for 2021, which is probably because 2020 sucked and I wanted to go easy on myself in 2021.

"go easy," I say, as if I didn't literally spend ALL of 2021 frantically trying to complete two master's degrees

So there may be a tweet floating around in the ether of things I said I'd like to achieve in 2021, but I am simply going to pretend it does not exist and start from scratch for 2022, even though 2021 also kinda sucked and we should all continue to go easy on ourselves. 😌

goals for 2022

• look for a full-time job
• read for fun bc I CAN
• watch some new stuff also bc I CAN
• revise GroundskeeperWIP & query package
• agent research
• query GroundskeeperWIP
• draft FakeDeathgagement

Presumably there'll be more writing in there, but I don't look farther ahead than I can see when it comes to writing. I have a ghosty MG book I want to write eventually, but will I be ready by the time FakeDeathgagement is done? Who knows! Will I revise FakeDeathgagement in 2022, or only draft it? Who knows! Will I get an agent and have to halt everything to revise either ChosenGrandmaWIP or GroundskeeperWIP? WHO. KNOWS.

On that note, this year I'm accepting that it's not a good idea to put "get an agent" on "goals for the new year" lists, because goals should be something you have some control over. I can query as a goal, because it's up to me to have a book ready to go, to have a query package put together, and to actually send out queries. But I can't "get an agent" as a goal, because that depends on the agents and how they respond to what I send them.

Side note: that's also the reason that first goal is look for a full-time job rather than get a full-time job, although...hoo boy I sure am hoping my uni hires me when I graduate so I simply don't have to look at all. Cross your fingers and toes.

So, in referencing my list last year, I achieved every one except moving out of my mother's house and learning to properly cook.

I feel somewhat like Sisyphus in regards to the former, not in that I will be here forever, because I don't think that's the case. I can accept this situation in the meantime while I work on continuing to get paid for my art.

All of this is to say, if I'm out of her house by January 2023, great. If not, I'm not going to sweat it. Our family, and particularly her side doesn't have a great track record with health and longevity. One day she is going to be gone and I am going to miss her and wish there was more time, so if I can front load it now, then maybe it's for the best.

I really need to learn how to properly cook. It's a resolution I make every year and never follow through with. Even if I can make a few meals here and there, I'll be somewhere.

I would like for cameras to roll on Eagle Rock this year, and maybe on The One I Loved and The Good Life too. There have been some important strides forward to making that happen, and I am going to keep persevering and praying and believing. I have a good feeling about everything, and if I can just release the feeling of it needing to happen a specific time, and am not so tunnel-visioned on it, everything will come together. I think for a while I was latched onto the idea that filming Eagle Rock would solve all of my problems, and I need to accept that it won't. My actors are all getting to be quite a bit older than their characters, but I think it will still be okay considering no one's age is ever explicitly stated and once you get to your 20s I feel looks wise it's hard to guess. (Heck, there are some 15 year old students at work I think would pass for older than me...)

Beyond that, I want to explore some of my other work and try to get it out into the world. I want to revise Under the Apple Tree and maybe query it once I feel like it's in a good spot.

I'd like to get representation for my screenwriting/directing. Unfortunately I'd probably have to get a separate one for novel writing but my hope is that since the former is my focus, I could get represented that way and say "hey I also write novels, who do you know?"

There are some really cool potential opportunities to star in plays, so I hope everything works out.

Beyond that, I want to keep learning and growing as a person. I want to live in the moment because one day I'll look back at this time in my life and miss something about it, and I don't want to have regrets.

2022, here we come. I'm ready for you.

I haven't thought about having resolutions for next year until now. I have some plans that I intend to implement, but that's something I can also start tomorrow, I think...

1. move out from my sister / new job.

As nice as it was to move in with her last year in our grandparents' big house because I lost my job due to COVID, the more exhausting it was that my social life suffered. My social life isn't particularly big or exciting, but living in a village with 70 people, where half of them still burn a witch on Sundays (just kidding, but that sums up the village well) is quite a strain. Of course, moving out comes with a new job.
I had already applied for a transfer in my company this year to go to the US, and later to Canada, but again COVID put paid to that. Now I am generally looking for a new job in a bigger multinational company where I also have the opportunity to discover the world a bit and not only from books.

2. finishing the NaNo Novel

NaNo is only two days over and already I haven't written anything. It's a liberating feeling and I don't feel guilty either like I didn't do any sport for a day, but I'd like to pick up where I left off and finish the Novel at least in the coming year. The roots are already there, I just have to contribute to the growing.

3. maybe look for dates more again

Hm... yes... I'm not a fan of those dating apps but that was actually the only way I could get a date (except that knucklehead from work...). I hope to find someone next year where I feel I can grow old with the person.

4. start writing another story.

I've had a story in my head for four years where I already have the characters and plot, but I get stuck every time because I'm afraid I won't be able to fulfil my own expectations. That's why I want to finally get behind it and start writing.

Family issues and mention of suicide ahead.



6. start learning a new language.

When Corona started, I threw myself into Japanese and could already read and write the hiragana and katakana pretty well, but I think I'll throw myself towards Spanish this year. It probably won't be as hard as French and both languages have the same origins, so I think I can travel to South America. I might also start something very "exotic" like Arabic or Mandarin. I haven't quite decided yet. Maybe I'll combine it with my new job to present myself.

I think that´s it. I'm not sure how much of it I can fulfil and there's no priority for me either, things just randomly popped into my head. But in the end, it's the will that counts. The only thing I have that I do every year is read some of my favourite books for the umpteenth time.

Lim's 2022 Resolutions

Philosophical

Be focused
Be tranquil
Be confident
Prioritise more
Write more fun poems, poems of wonder and exploration
Learn more about my country
Areas of focus in the world: environment, culture, wealth inequality
Blur everything else!

Specific Goals

This post will be left as it is once the new year starts, but I might remove some goals or put them on hold if I need to. Also, if I finish a goal early and want to start something new, that will also be happening!

Recurring

make that 40 hours/ week for my degree
do a 'goal chucking' every month where I swap out goals that aren't serving me anymore
do more environment-related volunteering (5 Zooniverse classifications a day)
write 5 big articles for work
incorporate Zen-to-dones that work for me
spend some time each week to edit poetry
write 12-13 reviews each month ( 150 reviews in a year? get my fifth yellow star and my first blue star)
weekly digital decluttering
keep track of things I read (via commonplace book, poetry journal, the Community Poetry Journal, my lit mag stash
host/ co-host a workshop every other month
daily yoga
at least one poetry shout-out a month

Projects That Can 'Finish'

revamping my old poetry blog
compiling an old project
finish 'Supporting Characters'
digital decluttering: the things on my list
attend a Ling conference
finish the drafts of two novels I'm working on
(if I do end up moving to uni in the middle of the year, then that's on the list too)

Language Focus

Keep my focus on te reo Māori
Though some Japanese would be fun during holidays

Pretty simple:
Pass the ACT
End the year with 10,000 more in my savings than I started it
Finish a novel, and publish it in some form. (for free on a website, kindle, through Patreon or something)
Have left 100 more reviews than now!

Hey good luck to all of you in stretching toward your goals for the year! I hope you achieve many of them!

~~~

2021 Review - 2021 Resolutions

Writing - I did a lot of writing & organizing and did send out one chapbook draft and I completed NaPo, but largely I did not meet the goals I had set out. I was a little too ambitious and ran of writing-brain-energy.

Career - Yes! I passed my internship, got through my interviews, and began my job. And now only live ~800 miles away from where I'm from, rather than 1500+.

Personal / Spiritual - My sleep schedule isn't perfect, but it is 85% better than last year when I was only regularly sleeping 4 hours a night for a long while. I finally got to see my parents again after not seeing them for an entire year. And while I made very little progress in my Bible-Verse memory goal, I did do well in keeping my personal devotionals for the most part.



Writing / YWS

> Finish Draft of "YEAR" & send out somewhere ** I really want to finish this draft, because I'm really proud of the work so far.

> Finish "LETTERS" project with @tgirly !! or at least make demonstrable progress on it.

> Complete NaPo

> Get my last two red stars

> Host two poetry workshops at least

> Don't over-extend my time or energy on YWS


Work / Financial

> Actually take all my vacation time off

> Take a course for continuing education.

> Teach three studies

> ~ don't burn out ~

> Make progress / concrete plan with timeline for house search !!

> Finish paying off my student-debt


Personal / Spiritual

> Continue practice of monthly goal setting

> Actually commit to doing 3 month plans

> Read Bible EVERY Day

> Do prayer service weekly

> Begin discipleship group

> Do quarterly prayer retreats

> Finish ancestry book

> Hopefully visit family this summer

> Read 4 books outside of work

> Do a better job keeping up with journaling


Health / Wellness

> Improve Sleep Schedule

> Actually Take Lunch Breaks

> Keep better connections with mentors & friends

> Find time every week for hobbies

> Regularly evaluate wellness

> Be forward thinking, don't get bogged down by past relationships etc.

*Just claiming my spot, I'll fill this in later*

2021 was a pretty crazy year, but I got a few things done that I had always wanted to do, including starting my own solo writing, just like a passion project. I want to continue that in 2022!

2022 Goals

• Start my own story.
  
  • I want to seriously get back into writing solo. I wrote a bit as a passion project but this time around I want to actually write something serious.
  • Plot something seriously
  • Write to 25k words
• Continue writing Aether's Heart
  
  • Aether's Heart is amazing, and I want 2022 to be a great great year for it as well.
  • Get to Act 3 by the end of 2022.
• Successfully run my event in January >.>
• Invest in my own projects and ideas and pace myself better
• Stay consistently active all year on the site.

I'm excited for next year

In the past few years, I've made incredibly detailed resolutions that I could never entirely follow through with. Hopefully, keeping things simple will make these resolutions a little easier to achieve!

(Some of these are honestly more of a goal for next month, but shhhh.)

Looking forward, I'd love to:

• Create and sell an e-book version of my poetry book.
• Get Extraterrestrial: The Podcast off of its hiatus.
• Become more active on the social media accounts I'm running for said podcast, as well as the ones I'm running for my friend's Minecraft SMP! I'd also really love to utilize Instagram more, and retweet casual tweets that aren't advertisements for my podcast + the SMP.
• Maybe make more merch and unrelated designs on Redbubble? A few extra dollars every month or two wouldn't hurt.
• Get The Cryptid Hunters to a point where I can query it. To start, I'd really like to revise it to a point where I can share it with my close friends and family.
• Stress less about school, probably by being a little more aware of grading systems and by using tutoring more.
• Work as a tutor, once I actually get the job. If not that, it would be great working somewhere else on campus.
• Have more fun and be happier.

Edit: Forgot a goal!

• Finish Frankenstein's Monster, my Genshin Impact fanfiction. This is a goal that I can easily reach within a few months.

Umm I will add more stuff later but for now,

2021 was a rollercoaster and I am hoping 2022 will be atleast a bit more predictable. So here's a few things I would like to stick to in 2022 (mostly until my exams are over, it's hard to imagine what comes after) :
• Not watch any anime or movies or anything thing like that.
• Not read webtoons ( I will read webcomics but not on webtoons)
•Be on schedule with my studies.
• Write more poetry.
• Try not to freakout much ( I mean atleast it's not 2020 or 2021 right)
• Do my best to make it into a good college but not wreck my mental health while doing it.

More coming later I guess

2021 Review

Last year's thread

School - I think my time management has improved a good amount! There have only been a couple of dreaded "oh crap I left this way too late" moments over the past year. I definitely have not succeeded at putting more reasonable expectations on myself, though; so that's something I'll put on my resolutions this year again, too.

Writing/ YWS - I did experiment with some new forms of poetry this year! And I spent a bit more time on WFPs, too. I wrote a good amount of reviews during RevMo, however throughout the rest of the year I did not write nearly as many reviews as I was hoping, so hopefully in 2022 that will change!

Personal - I have stopped picking my nails quite as much, so yay !! (I'm finding that wearing nail polish discourages me from picking them). I've also done a bit more art/painting/sketching just for fun, and it's been really enjoyable. I have not, however, read for fun as often as I wanted - I think I read maybe 4 novels over the course of the year, total? And I was hoping for more like a novel a month.

2022 Resolutions

Personal
- Fix my sleep schedule
- Spend less time on YouTube/TikTok/Netflix
- Read more books
- Catch up with my friends more often :)
- Be more confident in myself!
- Journal more frequently
- Get some fresh air every day
- Stay in touch with family

School/ Extracurricular
- Get involved in more clubs (if Covid allows @_@)
- Get better at performing piano
- Get in 5 practices every week
- Reasonable. Expectations. Seirre.

Writing/ YWS
- Write at least a poem a month
- Aim for my second blue review star
- Stay on top of my WRFF thread
- Try putting together a chapbook over the course of the year?
- Be more present in forums + clubs
- Complete NaPo

Alright let's see how much of 2020's resolutions I've actually completed!



Alright, onto next year's goals! C:

• I want to start writing the Alternate Universe bc it has potential ;-;
• Don't fail grade 10, period
• Continue with the working out & praying pls <3
• Review some more !
• Also NaPo bc it's fun :p
• Read more bc it's fun and I love it sm!!

Gonna keep it very simple this year and see what happens. :0

Last Year's Resolutions

Taking a look at last year...

Finish the first drafts of the three main novels I'm writing...surprisingly enough...yes, well sort of, finished two drafts, the other one got scrapped.
Sneak into university somehow...also somehow managed it.
Have an existential crisis this April when I turn 18 and realize I'm supposed to be an "adult"...the easiest thing on this list.
Make sure NPL 2021 goes ahead smoothly...despite the Covid barriers, I did pull this off somehow...
Make sure the RFDT 2021 is introduced...succesfully pulled off
At least get to 2500 reviews by the end of 2021...Got to 2750 reviews, so that went well
Start the first drafts for my next three novels...Started the drafts for two out of three...so I take that as a kinda-sorta win, but yeah didn't fully pull it off
Make sure to keep in touch with Princess, Tony and Stean no matter what..I did...somehow
Make a friend at uni? Why does everyone say this is important? ...tentative..questionable..yes? Hello...is this an impostor? I talked to humans...ahhhhhh
Try very hard not to die...I did



Moving onto this year...

Finish An Anachronistic Aye, draft 1
Finish a second draft of Sorcerers and upload it all to YWS
Finish a third or even fourth draft of Survival: The Escape and get it to a point where I can look at publishing options in 2023 or perhaps even try said options in 2022 itself.
Finish the first drafts of the sequels to Survival: The Escape aka Survival: The Search and Survival: The Return
Improve my GPA a bit more...just a teeny tiny bit.
Maybe get to a point where every time I have to buy food for myself I don't have a mini panic attack
Get TJOMC Season 2 to a completed point and just maybe start TJOMC Season 3.
Do more Streams with Vankous and Raymond for Dishonored, and play those DLC's and Dishonored 2
Start the tentative first draft of another one of my older plans
Beat the star system and maybe...dare I write this down...pass Snoink.
Make more storybooks and a few more roleplays
Try to guide A Voyage Among the Stars to its last arc if not finish it.
Do NaNo again
Talk to more humans if possible
Organize a TJOMC get together in that one tiny window in June-July if at all possible.
As always, try very hard not to die.

This year is set to be boring...I think...or is it I hope...because really, I think I could do with a little bit of boring for a change because I know 2023 is going to be a blockbuster year in some capacity or other and 2020 and 2021 were plenty exciting.