Another year, more retrospective and looking ahead! Let’s go over what’s happened, and what lays before me, shall we?

I made five goals last year, completing two and partially completing the other three. The two I succeeded at were completing three books and putting money aside for research trips. I’d hoped to write more books, but they were a little long, and losing my brother (and several other more distant relatives) didn’t help. The three I didn’t complete were the sequel to Embers of War, titled Forged in Conflict (~85k words, I still want the full trilogy complete before publishing any of them), the Dungeon 2023 thing where I do creative random stuff every day (I effectively succeeded with other stuff, but it wasn’t in the doc, so it doesn’t count), and exercising the recommended amount each week (Bike busted several times, and at a certain point I gave up). I got at least halfway through the year with each, which is relatively good.

Still, things happen. Life progresses, and I dealt with what I got. I have a new writing method which may help write faster. We’ll see if the record player helps. Now, goals for the coming year!

• Eat at home more. We have a freezer and a pressure cooker, I want to use them. We also tried doing steamed buns in the instant-pot yesterday, and they were rather good, if overly sweet (I think a different variety wouldn’t be as sweet). I want to test more things.
• Write three books at the bare minimum; Seed of Chaos, Talyn’s Saga 4, and Through the Fire 5. I intend to keep that rotation until something else finishes.
• Keep doing weekly writing on Forged in Conflict until it’s done, then Tempered in Battle, the last one of that trilogy. Hopefully I finish both this year, but… I’d rather write sustainably than burn out.
• Cruise next winter, maybe. There’s one which goes to the Yucatan Peninsula I’ve been looking at, which would allow me to go to two places I’ve wanted to visit to research; visit a Mayan pyramid, and simply go on a cruise, as it’s likely the closest I’ll be able to get to how I imagine a passenger liner in Eve of Destruction would be like. My dad joked a submarine was closer, but… not quite what I was thinking!

And that’s it. Oh, I’ll try to exercise and what-have-you, but I’d prefer goals which are more achievable, since failing sucks. I hope the new year treats all of us well!