Short Stories, pt. V & 2018 Q1/Q2 Goals

Phew!

It's been a month.

Let me start out by wrapping up my short (story) journey. On Friday March 30th, I submitted Tavern 381F to the Writers of the Future competition. As I've said before, my submitting of the story was far more for practice than because I think I'll win.

Don't get me wrong, I think I've taken Tavern 381F about as far as I can take it, but as I learn more about the craft, I'm sure there are things I could revise, polish, and update. I simply wanted to get in the habit of having something out at all times.

The last few hours of working on Tavern 381F were cathartic. After hours of misery and second guessing and panic, everything just seemed to click into place. I got a final revision I was happy with and then took my time reading through for final touches. I'm glad I was able to achieve that certain level of pride with it before submitting.

And now, the waiting game.

Actually, no, now we look at 2018's first quarter goals and make our new ones for Q2!

How did I do this time around? It was not my strongest quarter. I did manage to hit a big life goal, though. Two actually. I'm glad to see both of those crossed off my list. I had also been putting off some smaller personal goals that I got to cross off. Finally, I'm making my way through a Goodreads reading challenge (link) and am one book ahead of schedule. I happened to look at the "average books pledged" number of 48 just now as I copied the link, though, and that's going to shape my 2018 Q2 goals. The last big goal of 2018 Q1 I accomplished was to "write a short story." Thank you, Tavern 38F!

With the first quarter of 2018 done, I want to ramp up my ambition. I want to challenge myself in 2018 Q2. Let's see if I can't stretch the envelope this time around.

Right away I have two ambitious goals at the top of my list. I'm going to continue with a personal goal, trusting that I will be able to achieve it. The second is to start querying my novel, Rat.

To continue with my reading challenge, I want to read (or listen to) six books this quarter. Along with those six books, I want to write a minimum of nine blogs this quarter.

Then I have some marketing goals I would like to achieve this quarter, too. Throw in a few more personal goals and my 2018 Q2 goals are DONE.

How about you? What kind of goals have you set for this quarter? Are you focused more on writing goals, professional goals, or personal goals? @ Me your answers.