2012 Goals

Yesterday, I posted about my 2011 goals and how I was doing on them. Today, I’m posting about my goals for next year. I’ve divided them into three spheres: work, home, and family. My goals this year are much more ambitious than last year, when I was at home full time with an infant.

Home:

1. Declutter bedroom: If you’ve been paying attention, this has been on the to-do list for quite some time. I’m kind of a tough customer when it comes to saying goodbye to clothes — even if they’re clothes I never wear anymore (like my office wardrobe, when I haven’t worked in an office since 2006).
2. Organize attic, basement, and spare closet: the downside of all the reorganizing we’ve done in the rest of the house is that certain areas of the attic and basement have become catch-alls. I know a lot of the stuff in there is not needed anymore, and I should toss it.
3. Get rid of unused furniture: Also a long-held to-do. This includes one dresser in the guest room and one dresser in the master bedroom that have both sat empty for months… and yet there they sit, taking up valuable real estate. I need to get my act together and Craigslist the darn things.
4. Resod yard/rip out side garden: This is SB’s pet project for spring.
5. Fix fence: We really need to get on this. We’ve been dragging our feet for almost two years now. What happened was a tree fell over on one corner of our chain link fence and pulled the whole thing out of whack. The gate hasn’t latched right since, but since it’s just one corner and we don’t want to replace the whole fence, we’ve had a tough time finding someone who wants to do that little job. (Every fence company I call quotes us replacing all the fences on our property). This is par for the course in home repair I’ve found. We have one cracked floorboard — but all the repair folks won’t do anything for us unless we let them rip up our entire floor. It’s ridiculous. You have to either become a DIY expert or get taken to the cleaners for every tiny piece of home repair.
6. Plant herb garden: I’ve already started on this with winter hardy rosemary and sage.
7. Plant veggie garden: I’m grateful for all the success I’ve had with tomatoes but I’d really like to start expanding my repertoire. However, everything else I’ve ever tried has been middling to full-on bust, including: lettuce, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, radishes, strawberries, and bell peppers. The hot peppers were okay, but we rarely ate them.
8. Keep working on that Ent.: I spent days ripping down vines last spring and I don’t know how much good it did — most of them grew back. This year I’m going to try attacking it in winter. Maybe when they’re dead/dormant it’ll be easier to detach them.
9. Fix bushes in front yard: Some of them are starting to look super raggedy and our last attempt and trimming/shaping didn’t go too well.
10. Fix refrigerator ice machine: see above re: repairmen as to why that hasn’t gone over so well yet.
11. Do at least two other home improvement projects. I have a few potentials on my list.

Family:

1. Spend quality time with Sailor Boy: And that means more than just being couch potatoes in front of Netflix once Queenie’s gone to bed. If we’re going to be couch potatoes, it should at least be in the pursuit of finally finishing Portal 2’s 2-player game.
2. Spend quality time with Queenie: Somehow, I think this will be the easiest resolution of all to keep, if only because Q herself actively pursues QT with us at all hours.
3. Put Rio in agility (or similar) classes: This is part of my “Rio needs more QT” resolution. I also think she needs to spend more time with other dogs. Ever since we lost Gracie and stopped fostering, she’s been pretty dogless, and while in Florida for Xmas with my parents’ and brother’s dogs, it showed.
   
4. Take Rio for a hike at least once a week: I miss our hikes.
5. Take a family vacation: This is a biggie. We haven’t been on a real vacation since before Queenie was born, and she’s getting to an age where she might have fun on a vacation. We just have to decide what to do.
6. Put Queenie in swimming lessons this summer. I think she’ll love it! She loves swimming here in Florida.

Work:

1. Promote the six new releases and four reprints I have coming out in 2012. Yes, that’s how many I’ve got in the US alone. I have a few foreign releases planned as well. Schedule forthcoming.
2. Pursuant to previous, update website!
3. Finish Major Secret Marketing Effort for FDSTS #1. I’m actually haflway through that.
4. Finish MSMEfFDSTS#2. Barely started on this one.
5. Finish new book. About half way through this as well.
6. Finish Secret Project #1. Have been making good headway here in Florida.
7. Finish Secret Project #2. Or, you know, start it.
8. Attend at least two writing-related conferences. Not sure which yet.
9. Get invited to at least one short story anthology. Putting that out there in the universe. I love me some short stories, and I have a pretty good track record so far.
10. Follow up with co-conspirators re: Secret Project #3. Hear me, co-conspirators? I haven’t forgotten!