Goals for 2015

Okay, so my 2015 Goals didn't work as well as I'd hoped.

Writing: I kind of crashed and burned mid year, but even before that, I wasn't sticking to the writing goals. I also had a hard drive fail in May, but that doesn't excuse my lack of writing in April and March.

Financially, I was on track to get the 50% reduction I wanted until June (I was at 65%, SO CLOSE!), but again, that psychological crash happened and messed everything up. Now I'm at ~ 80%, so a 0.2 reduction on last year.

Travel: This, I managed, even though the bucket list isn't written. I got to Barcelona, Munich, Rome, Venice and Innsbruck, so I really did get out. Not all those were on my Bucket list, but Rome and Venice were, so that goal can be ticked.

So, okay, emotionally it was a bad year - I'm not sure if I'm going to write about it or not - but I achieved some goals and made progress in others, so it wasn't a total failure. I just need to keep at it.

So here goes.

From last year: I'm taking a leaf out of the book of one of Magical Words Bloggers, and creating a set of Goals for 2014, rather than Resolutions, because Resolutions can be failed and forgotten, whereas Goals are works in progress.

Goals for 2015:

1. Financial Goals:
a) Reduce my debt by Half, and
b) Stick to a weekly budget.

Actions:

• Maintain my budget logger

2. Travel Goals:
a) Make a bucket list of cities, sites and London theatres, I want to visit.
b) Visit at least three of those places this year, one city, one site and one theatre.

Actions:

• Write a bucket list of cities and sites I want to visit
• Write up a log of what shows I've attended in what theatres and therefore which theatres I still need to visit.

3: Health Goals:
a) Aim to loose at least 10kg, preferably 20kg.
b) Keep a Food / Mood & Activity / Mood diary.
c) Walk to or From work at least 5 times a week
d) Do Yoga or Pilates, at least twice a week every week.
e) Attend group all year and work on issues / write about issues / make notes on progress.

Actions:

• Set up a Food / Mood and Activity / Mood diary
• Set up a weight tracker
• Maintain my emotion diary

4. Writing Goals:
a) Write 300 New words a day. Doesn't matter what the writing is - blog, stream of consciousness, story, emotion diary, brain fart - just as long as they're NEW words.
b) Finish CM1 by 31/03/2015 and SEND IT OUT TO AGENTS.
c) Finish Draft 2 of CM2 by 30/06/2015 and Get it into my Critique Group.
d) Finish Draft 1 of CM3 by 30/09/2015.
e) Write Draft 0 of CM4 in November 2015.
f) Blog at least once a month, preferably at least once a fortnight.
g) Write one review a month on the Online Writing Workshop.

Actions:

• Set up a writing tracker
• Set up a submission tracker
• Set up a blogging tracker

5. Reading Goals:
Read one fiction, one non-fiction and one writing reference book every month. My fiction reading especially has plummeted in the last five years, but I have no real excuses - I've still bought books, I'm just stacking them up, so now it's time to get through a couple.

Actions:

• Set up a book log

So there you are. Wish me luck!

New Year, New Rules.

This year may herald very big changes for me. It might be the last year I live in England. It might not. The Visa Gods have yet to decide. But regardless of my location, I am determined to make a few changes in my life. I have in the past overcome a couple of good obstacles, but I still have a couple of large ones to be encompassed.

So, my goals for this year are quite all-encompassing:

1. To live within my means, and pay back all I owe.

2. To look after this wonderful machine, my body, and let it become the weight it should be.

3. To experience as much as I can and say yes to new experiences, especially to those things that scare me.

4. To blog about all of my experiences and to finish writing a book. Ie, Write, Re-Write and Submit!

5. To open myself up to finding new friends and love and to learn to enjoy socialising.

Some old, some new. We'll see how we go.

Happy New Year All!

What are your new years resolutions?

Mine will be:

1. To finish writing one of my books this year.
2. To eat more vegetables... a thing I always forget to do.
3. To do yoga at least once a week. I love it and I keep forgetting this fact.
4. To see more of England.
5. To find a more permanent job, one I can get my teeth into.

Happy new years 2010 and good luck with whatever you desire to do this year.

Year-ish Round-up

It hasn't quite been a year since I first left Australia, but I think I've managed to cram quite a lot into the last 11 months.

I've visited many countries and investigated their cities in depth: These included Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Berlin (Germany), Brussels (Belgium), Cologne (Germany), Edinburgh (Scotland), Hong Kong (China), Krakow (Poland), Lisbon (Portugal), London (England), Paris (France) and Stockholm (Sweden).

It's also been a year of firsts: I moved overseas, I lived in hostels, I got a contract job, I participated in NaNoWriMo, I had a white Christmas, I went snowboarding in Austria, I went to Portugal to go to a concert, I visited the Louvre and many other amazing museums, I had Belgium chocolate and Belgium beer in Belgium, I saw a castle which began life at the beginning of the first millennium, I participated in the last night of the Proms, I saw a Proms concert in the Royal Albert Hall, I went to a talk given by Neil Gaiman, I saw a play with Patrick Stewart in the lead, I went to a LitCon... the list goes on.

So all-in-all, I think I did manage to explore a lot in this last year. Now it's time for the next chapter. The universe bit me, so I now have to heal up and then I'll plan my revenge!! :)

It should be fun.

Cessation of Hostilities

I was walking home last evening (as I’ve done every night this week – I’m quite proud of myself!) and I realised something. I lacked the grip of a certain constant companion what has been perched on my shoulder ever since I arrived in this ‘ere country.

It was the absence of fear.

I am now comfortable in this city. I feel like I’ve been getting involved in a new relationship with all the anxiety and heartache, worry and nerves that this entails. And let me tell you, London can be an absolute bitch at times. She’s moody and grumpy and miserable, and although she’s quite a buxom wench, who enjoys her beer and a wide variety of cultural expressions, she can be very short tempered, pushy and occasionally downright mean. But this week, she’s been in a good mood. I’ve only seen one shower and we’ve had sun every day. I believe we now have a working relationship. We are civil to one another, have the occasional contretemps but also share a few laughs and I think occasionally she even likes me!

I’m finally getting used to the claustrophobia this city incites and the dance routine you have to engage in any time you walk down Oxford Street or Tottenham Court Road. People live so close together here that personal space is a non-existent thing. I’ve found it quite confronting to have people walk so close to me, treading on my heals, standing within millimetres, squeezing by me leaving a trail of their perfume / aftershave on my skin… I’m continually looking over my shoulder and hanging onto my bag for dear life. But today, one of the endless stream of magazine hawkers, charity scalpers, stinking beggars, free newspaper pushes, religions spruikers and scientology converts offered to hug me if I’d stop and talk to him, and he even tried… and I didn’t’ even bat an eyelid. It didn’t bother me. I laughed!

The job is going well too. The people are friendly and approachable, the work is interesting and I have as yet not managed to be bored once.

I have also landed on my feet in terms of flat mates. Not only does she share my love of films and television, but she likes Jane Austen as much as I do! And when I embarrassingly managed to kill her fern when she was away last week (most of the time I have green thumbs but I’m obviously not used to this silly hot/cold/dry/humid climate) she didn’t mind! She did a visual autopsy, pronounced the corpse to be indeed dead, and that was that. Wow. Someone as easygoing as I could ever wish for!

But most of all – and I suspect that this is the deal clincher – I got paid this week. What a relief. The fact that I have money coming in (even if it was only the first 2 ½ weeks worth) has made the world of difference. It wasn’t a million bucks, it was barely a thousand, but it was in the plus column in my bank account, and so was black and not red. I feel grounded and suddenly solid. I’m not going to blow away at the first hint of bad weather.

I have a job, I have a home and I have a town to call my own. I’m no longer at war with myself. I can say its ok – I did the right thing.

Alls well.