It’s been real, 2023.

As is my tradition at the end of the year, I’m writing this post to wrap up and update you all on my progress against the goals I set at the start of the year, you can read about them in my Welcome to 2023 post.

Here’s the list of goals:

• Publish Singular Purpose
• Finish manuscript for horror short story collection and/or another novel
• NaPoWriMo 2023 (April)
• Keep up the blog
• Craft projects, including crochet, painting, etc.
• Read 5 books
• Music performance
• Travel/holiday

This year has had some ups and downs, my health has been a bit crap and therefore my energy has been lacking in a lot of ways. I’ve achieved most of my goals, so I think for a year that’s had some sucky months, I think I’ve done pretty well.

I published Singular Purpose, my seventh novel in February 2023. I’ve had some excellent anecdotal reviews, but I have a lot to learn about marketing and sales, since they are still low.

I have finished a 90k manuscript of a collection of horror stories which I hope to publish in the first half of 2024. It’s been fun writing these scary, creepy, paranormal stories, and I’m sure that whoever is monitoring my Google search history is now concerned about me. There are six stories in the collection, which is called Morgana, My Queen. I have a cover to reveal in a post early next year, so keep your eyes peeled.

I completed NaPoWriMo again in 2023, read about that in my post 30 Poems in 30 Days. It’s great to be able to stretch my writing skills in another format, and the fun thing about NaPoWriMo is they give you prompts each day so even if I’m not feeling inspired, I can usually come up with something.

The blog I haven’t been able to give as much time to as I would have hoped. I’ve posted a few times, hopefully keeping my readers engaged a little, though it would be nice to be more regularly posting. I’ll do my best to increase that in 2024.

Craft projects were another area that wasn’t as well done as I would like. Part of the health stuff I’ve had this year was a lot of chronic pain, and when I’m in pain I don’t want to do craft projects. I started a mural but didn’t get far with it. I’ve dabbled in a few crochet projects, though they’re just pottering along. I did go to a beginner crochet slippers workshop which was fun, though probably better suited to genuine beginners. I also did a class making polymer clay figurines which I enjoyed (see the tiny Gandalf-inspired figurine in the photo above). I hope to have a bit more energy in 2024 for projects that are just for fun.

And then we come to reading, well, as with craft that didn’t get much time this year. I did a bit of reading for the Romance Writers of Australia competitions, I’m a volunteer judge, but apart from that I didn’t read much. I like to do the competitions partly because it helps newer writers, but also because it helps me to know what other people are doing, I learn something even from the stories I don’t like, and it makes me spend more time reading than I would otherwise.

Music performance was a bit better, I played in two small piano events organised by my piano teacher to encourage her students to perform. Granted, a good ninety percent of her students are primary school aged children, so the stakes were pretty low. I still got quite nervous both times, but I think that’s just what happens. I joined a band for a couple of months, but that turned out to be too much for my health stuff, so I had to bow out. I may or may not try joining a band in 2024 but I’m not going to put it on the list.

Finally, there was travel. I ticked this goal off with some to spare-I went up to Sydney to attend a writing conference which would have counted, but I also spent a couple of weeks in Vietnam in the middle of the year, so I well and truly achieved this goal. I’m glad I was able to make time for this and was able to adjust my travel plans around what my health stuff was doing.

I did a low-key version of NaNoWriMo and came away with 20k words, which was more than the goal I set of 15k. I need to be a bit gentler with my goal setting so that I can get the sense of achievement without running myself into the ground. I guess that’s a balance I’ll keep working on as I move forward.

In terms of friendships and relationships this year, I think I have made and sustained the good ones. It’s good to have a network of people who enjoy spending time with me, and after a couple of years interrupted by COVID and isolation, it’s been nice to get back into some casual get togethers.

I’m working on my 2024 goals now, and I’ll post them soon. I feel hopeful, which is something I lacked for a while this year. I’m starting a new day job in mid-January, so there will be a massive learning curve, and I hope that it works out to be a better balance with all my other stuff. My health stuff has been better lately, so I hope that we are able to continue with the improved trend.

How did you go in 2023? Did you kick your goals butts? Or did they kick yours? If your only achievement this year was surviving, congratulations. Sometimes just doing that is harder than it seems from the outside. I hope everyone had a peaceful and festive holiday season, and maybe you’re getting some rest before going back to a new challenge in 2024. I look forward to seeing you there.