Hopes for 2021

Hello! It’s another fine Tuesday in 2021. I hope it’s going well for you. Since it’s a new year, we can make new goals! Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Most of my goals this year involve writing. Here they are!

Get an Agent: This is a goal that I don’t have complete control over. After all, you can never guarantee that someone will like your book enough to want to represent you. Even if they like your book, it might be too much like something they’re already representing, the market for that kind of book isn’t right, etc. But what I can do is submit my book to agents. I figure five a month is good. By the time I run out of agents to submit to, I’ll hopefully have another book ready to try again.

Finish (and publish) Saving Adelinetta: I started writing this Young Elites fanfic nearly five years ago. I wrote nearly 200 pages while watching the Rio Olympics. When I came back to it a couple years later, I felt it was awful. However, I worked on it and finally finished publishing part 2 of the book last week. Now I have to write and publish part 3. I’ve known how it was going to end from the very beginning. Since I started this book five years ago, I’ve become a better writer, so hopefully it won’t be too difficult to finish.

Write The Rift: I think I got the idea for this fanfic before Wildcard came out. I’ve always wondered why June’s name was June, even though he was born in July. If she had been due in June, she would have been way overdue since she was born on the 12th. This book is to answer that question, along with: why is Day’s family impoverished when his ancestor was the incredibly wealthy Asher Wing? I pretty much know how this story will end too. I started this book a couple years ago, but I didn’t like the beginning, so I’m planning on redoing it.

Rewrite Save the Best for Last: I wrote my second “novel” my senior year of high school (it was around 100 pages, so it was more like novella size). It was a best-friends-to-lovers story called Save the Best for Last. I haven’t seen it since high school, but I’m going to “rewrite” it. It will probably turn out completely different, but it will be similar. However, this version is going to be set in The Brightness of Shadow universe. I love being able to expand on this universe. When I created the world, I figured it was too big for just one story. This is actually the second of four stories I’ve thought up in this universe. I haven’t even written about the Walrus people yet! Maybe someday. I hope to write this book during NaNoWriMo this year.

Finish 1st Draft of NaNo20 Duology: I started this duology during NaNoWriMo last year, and am in the second part of the duology. Right now my muse is having me write the rest of Saving Adelinetta (it’s been long enough) but I hope to get this one done too. I’m hoping for a productive writing year!

Read 110 Books: This was my Goodreads goal for last year, and I barely made it. I’m setting this goal this year, and am allowing myself to include The Great Courses audio/video courses in the 110.

Finish Reading The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: This book is 3980 pages long. I’ve been reading it (although not actively the whole time) since September 2017. It’s time to finish it.

Finish the Duolingo Welsh Tree: I have finished the Spanish, German, French, and Portuguese trees. If I finish one skill a day, I can finish the Welsh tree in about three months. Why Welsh? Will Herondale speaks it. Actually, I started learning it a little before I started reading The Infernal Devices for the first time. But I might as well finish. I started learning it because it was kind of obscure, but I like it.

Increase My Zazzle Products: One of the things I’d like to do is increase my Zazzle products. Looking back on my first (now completed) ten-year journal, I realized I used to make hundreds of dollars a month from it. I stopped making products for several years, and this year I’d like to increase my products and make some money. I don’t plan on working on it for hours a day like I used to, but spending a little bit of time on it several times a week will help me make some money.

Do More Craft Projects: Something that brings me joy is creating things for people. I love when people read my stories (especially if they enjoy them). Sure, I like making money from my Zazzle products, but I also think it’s pretty cool that people have things in their homes (or are wearing shirts) that I created. I’m also kind of picky about the things I make though. If I wouldn’t want to buy it in the store, I wouldn’t want to make it either. Right now I’m making my first sweater. I’d like to make this Sherb later on this year. Perhaps I may finish that dolphin cross-stitch I’ve been working on.

So those are ten goals I have for the new year! So what are you hoping to accomplish this year? Next week’s topic is “Books I Meant to Read in 2020 But Didn’t Get To.” There really aren’t that many, so I’m going to do “Books that have been in the TBR Lottery the Longest” instead.