Rob's Surf Report

NaNo More and More!

Are you already thinking about next year’s goals?

Setting Goals
This is what my workspace looks like after the first pot of coffee. (Photo credit: planningqueen)

They say that starting a new year is a chance to clear the slate, to start fresh – or at least, they say something like that.

Personally, I’m not one for making New Years resolutions, but I do like the idea of using reflection and goal-setting. Goals are flexible and tentative guideposts, whereas the monolithic resolution had this connotation of finality, being set in stone. The risk of failure into great for a “resolution”, in my opinion, and so goals are a much easier fit with my unique combination of laid-back demeanor and win-at-all-costs motivational drive.

So here’s the thing: I said I was doing NaNoWriMo, the goal of which is a 50,000-word rough draft. To date, I am only a little over 10,000 words in . . . And there’s a good reason for that. In fact, there are several reasons, most of which are tied to the fact that my family is moving to a new home at some point in the near future. If you ever thought that buying a new home was a complicated process, try buying one while selling the one you’re living in simultaneously; the amount of work involved is intense, and I have to give Mme. Ross a lot of credit because I dumped most if that work in her lap, since I still have to bring home the proceeds of a 50-hour-a-week job.

English: Old dog kennels The building was used...
This is the house we’re buying. Just kidding, I don’t even know where this is! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Every time I look forward to writing something comes up, and we have to look at something, clean something, fix something, paint something, or sign something; and I resigned myself a week ago to the looming fact that November NaNo is not possible for me to complete this year. Despite these reasons, I refuse to make excuses. I intend to keep going with the super-flexible goal of 1,667 words a day until my story is fully drafted.

So this is where goal-setting for 2014 comes in: my goal is to finish the draft, edit it to perfection, and find an agent who will represent me. Then I can begin another story by the end of the year and possibly complete NaNoWriMo 2014. Can I do it? I think I can. Sometimes you just have to paddle out and see what happens. I’ll celebrate my wins and learn from the shortfalls.

Learning, after all, is the goal of life.

What do you think? Do you have goals for next year already in mind? Tell us all about them in the comments!

This post was prompted by today’s Daily Post prompt.

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16 comments

  7. We didn’t sell and buy all at once! That is a lot of pressure. We sold our former home four years ago, and we just bought another home this year (we’ve been in it a few months). The time we spent looking for a new home drove me crazy. My husband and I like different things in a home, but we found one we agreed upon. It only took two years.

    2014 – Besides graduating college, I want to learn to write essays – that people will want to read 🙂 Nothing as ambitious as writing a novel. That is a huge goal. I don’t make resolutions either.

    Good luck getting to the Pacific coast in the summer of 2014! Don’t surf at dusk – shark feeding time…

    Reply

  8. You keep on keeping on Rob. Set those goals and remain flexible. You will succeed because your passion is what is driving you forwards 🙂

    Reply

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