It’s been almost 6 months since I first wrote up my New Year Resolutions 2019. With that in mind, I’ve decided to do a 6 month resolution review on where I am and how I’m shaping up with them. Spoiler, this year has not quite gone according to plan. (Yes, I am now singing The Corpse Bride opening song…)
1) Double My Yearly Page Views
As it stands, my blog views for the year are currently around 850. Last year I managed to get around 2,700. So I’m almost at a third of where I was last year but with only 6 months left to go. I don’t think that this is potentially as accurate as it could be. I know that the first half of the year seems to be more difficult for me.
Knowing that I’ve checked what my views were the same time period last year. This time last year, I was at 918 page views. So not really that far from where I am now. However, it does mean that the next 6 months are going to have see me doing some serious promoting and shouting about my blog!
2) Increase My Time Management and Productivity
This was something that I was really hoping to be able to sort out in the first 6 months of the year. But if you can’t already tell, it’s not something that I’ve really managed to do. This is why I love doing a resolution review. It allows me the time to check back on what I’d set myself to do and see where I can improve.
I did love using the Effici Planner (gifted) for the first couple of months of the year, but I found it really difficult to keep on top of. I felt like I was spending more time planning things than actually doing them. I’m now trying a method of fully planning out my posts for the month and aiming to get them written a week or so in advance. Wish me luck!
3) Publish My Novella
This is something that I am slowly getting closer to! Todd has set me a mini-goal of having this self-published by 31st August, which didn’t seem too scary but now I’m a little worried. I’ve gone through the first draft, and I also have a few responses from my initial beta readers! It’s weird to see that something of mine has been read by others. By people I actually know, but at the same time I love it! But maybe not so much the edits I now need to do.
I am hoping that it won’t take me too long to go through the thoughts and make some necessary adjustments, as I would like to stick to the 31st August goal. But I also don’t want to sacrifice quality over time restraint.
4) Run 5km in less than 39 Minutes
Back in January I thought this was something that I would be able to breeze through. I’d been getting quicker for the past 5 weeks, and I could feel myself improving. But as whenever I feel like I’m getting close to this, disaster strikes. Until Mid-March I was unable to do much exercise due to a torn muscle in my thigh. Luckily, the muscle was not torn so there was an actual gap in it, but it kept me off the running track for a good portion of the year.
In April, I thought that I’d been able to make some good strides and was running 5km 3 times a week! The most I’d done it in years, but then I injured my foot on the same leg as my muscle tear. I’m not sure how I did this, and to be honest, I am partially convinced this was due to me not moving properly after my injury. It’s only been in the past few weeks where I’ve been able to get back out there and run. I’ve not hit the 39 minute mark yet, but I am confident! I don’t want to sound too confident though, or sod’s law may damage another part of me.
5) Lose 12kg / 25lbs / 2st
This kinda ties in with my above point. And because of all my setbacks, I am struggling to see much of a difference in my weight. I have been taking pictures every few weeks, and I can see there has been an improvement in overall sizing this year, but the scales haven’t moved much. I’m kinda putting it down to muscle building. I don’t know if I need to revise this target as I don’t know how achievable it will be now.
6) Finish My High Fantasy Novel
I think this is resolution review is potentially one of the better ones for me. I haven’t finished this Novel, not with trying to work on the Novella. However, I have made some good progress with it. Not as much as I would have hoped for this point in the year, but currently I only need to write 300 words a day to finish by the end of the year. I am hoping this means that I can do a few days of around 500 to 1,000 words and still have time for my other edits.
I feel like I’m being really ambitious with trying to get both done at once, but this Novel is the one I would love to send out to query. The quicker I can get it done, the more I can see if I am publishable writer. In the sense that someone is willing to take a chance on me. Although, I would also like to see my Novella do well in its own right.
7) Completely Clear My Credit Card Debt
This is another thing that I am actually working towards! I’m almost halfway there with it. I am in shock with how much I have managed to knock this down, and I’ve got a plan to keep it down. I usually use my credit card to pay for my car insurance in one go. However, this year I think I will be able to pay for it with my own money! There has never been more joy.
I’m lucky that my car insurance has come down enough for me to put the money on one side. This is going to really help me in the long run. Now I need to make sure that I do a bit of money juggling, to ensure there are no issues with getting my car insurance money together.
I do really think this may be one of my most achievable new year resolutions that I’ve ever made.
Resolution Review Thoughts
Out of the 7 resolutions that I’ve made this year, I am a little concerned about my progress so far for most of them. I am hoping that I’ve managed to give myself enough of a kick to get things going again, but we won’t know until the end of the year. That’s the great thing about having a review of the resolutions that we make. You can see what you need to work on to make sure that you achieve what you set out to do.
Now to make sure that this resolution review wasn’t a waste of time and starting making some of these happen!
Hasta la fuego
