So just like that, we’re in 2023. I kind of touched upon this in a post last week looking back over the last year, but now I want to set out my goals for the year ahead. I did not stick to any of my 2022 goals at all, they got thrown out of the window almost instantly, hopefully this year I’ll stick to them a bit better. This year I turn thirty and I want to make it the best year possible.

First up, I have 2 half finished books that I want to finish the first draft on. I’m hoping to really get going with both of these in the next few weeks and have them both finished pretty quickly. They’re over half way through, so having those finished would be really nice. On top of that I have two ideas that are really fleshed out and I want to have those written down. That will take most of the year writing-wise, but if I stick to it, then come this time next year I’ll have 4 finished books that I don’t have today.

Second, half a short story published every month, on the final day of the month. I started this with Teddy yesterday, and I know the story I’m writing this month. Something I started last year, but didn’t finish. Going forward I also want to have a more strict schedule on here. On the last day of every month will be a new story, every 15th of each month will be a general update post about how writing has gone, or stuff I have planned. The first of each month will be me setting out a challenge of which books I plan to read in the following month, and a recap of what I’ve read in the previous one. (I’ll write out what I’m going to read in January later in this post). I’m hoping to read a lot more varied and unusual books this year, and if I say what I’m going to read, then I’ll stick to it. Then every other day will be reviews of books, films, maybe TV shows, games. Plus randomly will be more like diary posts where I’ve done something or been somewhere that I think might be interesting to read about.

To go alongside that I want to get out and do some things that I haven’t done before. I have two trips planned this year, including one that I was supposed to take back in 2020, but got delayed over and over. Beyond that there’s so many places in the UK that I haven’t been to before that could make good cheap days out.

Probably most importantly I want to carry on losing weight. I’m over a stone lighter now that I was this time last year and I’m hoping to keep that up and lose more weight over the next year. Get out more, walk more, exercise more. I would also really like to climb a mountain like Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa. I wanted to do that in 2022 as well, but just didn’t do it. Maybe this year is the year.

Circling back to the reading, for this month I’m going to read the following four books: Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami, Anything is Possible and Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout, and The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi.

What about you? What are your goals/resolutions for this year?

Thanks for reading,

Ashley