We are midway through October, friends, which means we are more than three quarters of the way through 2019. So it’s time to check in on the goals I made for myself at the beginning of the year.
I set some pretty ambitious goals for myself this year, and so far I’m doing pretty well. I got a job, graduated, studied for the bar and took the bar, moved to D.C., and started that new job, and while I wasn’t totally calm throughout all that, I didn’t completely lose my head either.
Before you ask, I get my bar results in less than two weeks. I’m trying not to think about it. Thinking about it is horrible.
Last time I checked in, I talked about how I hadn’t been doing well with my goal to exercise more. It seemed like every time I tried, I either got really, really sick, or I sprained my ankle. But my ankle is pretty much better now, and I haven’t been sick in weeks (knock on wood). Since I moved down here, I joined a barre studio, and I’ve been going at least twice a week, sometimes three times a week. I really like it, and I especially like how much progress I’ve made in just a few weeks. I certainly couldn’t do some of the moves I’m doing now. I’ve also been going to the gym in my apartment building, though I admit not as regularly as I would like. There’s just so much to do between work and making food and writing and keeping my apartment reasonably clean that it’s hard to find time. It’s easier to go to a class that I signed up for and paid for than it is to find a random half hour to go downstairs to use the elliptical. I’m still working on that. I need to treat it like a class and go straight down there after work without starting some other project. But on the whole this is a massive improvement over my zero-exercise life during law school and while studying for the bar, and I’m feeling pretty good about myself.
I fell a little behind on my reading goal in August and September. I read three books in August and two in September. But I’ve already read five books in October, so I’m confident I’ll be able to pick up the slack and finish at 100 books for 2019. So far I’ve read a grand total of 73 books this year.
On the writing front, things are definitely going well. As I’ve said a million times, and probably will not tire of saying any time soon, I signed with a literary agent in February. It took me forever (thanks bar exam), but I finally finished the revisions to my middle grade fantasy novel last weekend. I set out to complete three drafts of major projects this year. So far I’ve completed one. There isn’t that much time left, but I’m pretty close to finishing my middle grade sci fi adventure book, which will make two projects. And November is NaNoWriMo, which should give me a boost. I’m pretty sure I can meet this goal, though if I don’t, I will still have accomplished a whole lot, and I’m proud of that.
Finally, I fell off the blogging bandwagon a bit in July, August, and September (thanks again bar exam). I’ve started back up again, as you’ve no doubt noticed, and I’ve created a calendar through the rest of the year. I’ve also mapped out a regular schedule that I think will be helpful for everyone. First, I’m starting a new series of posts about blindness. I’ve been thinking about it a lot since I wrote this post about the #AbledsAreWeird hashtag last spring. I want to contribute to the conversation around blindness and how someone who isn’t blind can be helpful in a positive way. Also, October is Meet the Blind month, so now seems a good time to start. Don’t worry, we are definitely going to talk about that name. I have feelings. I’m going to put these posts up on Mondays, so look for one soon. I’m planning to post book reviews of the books I’m currently reading on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I’ll use Wednesdays for catch-up days for books I read over the summer but haven’t reviewed yet. And I’ll write about writing on Fridays. My plan is to write the week’s posts over the weekend and schedule them, because I don’t have a lot of time on weeknights. We’ll see how well this goes. I’m not planning to post anything new on the weekends, unless I need to play catchup with my schedule like I did this week.
So as we’re heading into the home stretch of 2019, I’m feeling pretty good about what I’ve accomplished and what I can accomplish in the next few months. And I’m already considering what my goals for next year should be. After this year, I honestly don’t know.