New Year, New Goals

Today is the Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, the day I take down the Christmas tree and officially end the holiday season and acknowledge the new year.

For 10 years, I've started each new year with a list of goals.  There are big  goals, like dropping weight or travelling, and smaller goals, like cleaning the closets or updating my resume.  Rather than resolve to change a behavior in the new year, a resolution usually forgotten within the first week, setting goals allows me the opportunity to work at several things throughout the year, those more easily achieved goals provide a sense of accomplishment each time one is completed.

Last year, I chose 15 goals and put each one on a post-it note stuck to my bathroom mirror.  I managed to complete 7 of those goals during the year, four others are still in progress, two were abandoned because of financial need and the last two were simply abandoned.

This year, there are 11 goals.

RESTART MY BLOG

There it is and here it is.  My last entry was March 5, 2014.  So I took a year off.  I'm not really sure why, other than writing is hard.  Being interesting is even harder.

READ A POEM A DAY

I read two or three poems every day through various emails I receive, not to mention the number of poetry books I read.  Last summer, I paid $1 for a copy of A Poem A Day and decided I would read these poems, one a day, to start my mornings.  I am six days in, today's poem was appropriately from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

BUILD MY SAVINGS ACCOUNT

I'm a poet and writer and I'm terrible with money.  I always have been.  Money burns a hole in my pocket and I have no savings.  Last September, I followed a plan to put money away each week until Christmas, which gave me $171 to spend on presents.  It was an easy enough plan, so I've determined to follow the plan all year, which, if successful, will result in a piggy bank of $1,738.  I put the first $15 away last Friday.  And this leads me to my next goal.

NO MATERIAL PURCHASES FOR SIX MONTHS

One of the harder goals for the year.  I can buy food, pet food, toiletries and laundry needs.  Nothing else.  I nearly broke this goal on January 1 when I picked up some discounted holiday wrapping paper in the grocery store.  I did some preplanning by purchasing socks and new suspenders before the year ended.  My mom will be buying me new shoes for work.

LESS TV MORE READING

This goal was implemented a couple months prior to the new year.  As part of the goal, and an effort to not purchase material goods, I dropped Netflix.  I haven't had cable in nearly four years and I don't miss it.

DECLUTTER MY LIFE

I'm not a hoarder, but I do have a lot of stuff.  I've already started a box of things to send to the thrift store.  I'll be cleaning out closets and dresser drawers and kitchen cabinets throughout the year.

WRITE TWO POEMS A MONTH

I'm not a prolific writer and I have a tendency toward laziness.  Writing is hard, writing something well is even harder. 

MAKE TWO POETRY SUBMISSIONS A MONTH

This is the drudgery of writing, even though most submissions are now done electronically, it still seems like the most tedious task.  I fell off the wagon last year and it's time to put some words back out into the world.

SUBMIT A MANUSCRIPT TO FINISHING LINE PRESS

I've had a goal for several years now of seeing a poetry manuscript published.  I've tried the contest route and only ended up tossing money into the wind.  Last year, I was accepted into an MFA program, a great honor, but financially, it is not a prudent move for a man about to turn 54.  Self-publishing has always been the ugly stepchild of publishing, but those days have passed and many authors have turned to this idea to see their novel or poetry published.  It's my turn.

ATTEND AWP IN MINNEAPOLIS

I have wanted to attend this conference for several years and it will be held in Minneapolis, April 8 - 11, 2015.  It's a 4-hour drive to Minneapolis and I have a dear friend who lives there and I can bunk at their house and save on hotel costs.  I have about a month before the deadline for preregistration and will weigh this against my goal of not spending on material things.

PARTICIPATE IN NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH

The last goal for 2015 and one I've participated in for the past four years, writing a poem a day for 30 days.  It added 120 poems to my personal manuscript; a lot of bad poems, a few good poems, maybe one or two really good poems.  This last year was the most difficult.  I was uninspired and struggled to complete the poems.  I think I'm burned out on this effort.  I'm considering writing prose this coming November (I did this the very first year I participated).