Time Moves Ever Onward
Reviewing My Goals for 2024
Early in January I posted this essay, Pondering the Orbs of Time, looking back on 2023 and setting goals for 2024. As the half way point of the year approaches I wanted to check in on the goals I set for myself.
READING GOAL 13/52
One a week is faster than I thought. I have read 13 so far and am thus (as of writing) 9 behind. Not to worry, my reading tends to oscillate between feast and famine so I expect to catch up over summer, fall behind in the autumn, and then race to the finish in December — probably with short books and children’s books (they’re for everyone, don’t let the genre name deter you). This does not include the myriad of reading I do on SubStack, mostly short stories. I have read slightly more fiction than non-fiction but am trying to keep the two balanced this year which may be why I have fallen behind. Also, Final Fantasy XIV Online must take some of the blame; a massive multiplayer online role playing game which I adore and have started playing again.
SHORT STORY GOAL 22/52
On schedule and I don’t intend to miss a Tuesday. I may be stretching the definition of story some weeks with vignettes and “vibe” pieces but it all counts. Not all have achieved what I set out to do, some have. Ones I thought were brilliant have landed flat and ones I felt I’d rushed have met with fanfare. The idea that inspired When Did you Last see your Father? I want to revisit but am unsure how, while others like The Diamond Moon have a wealth of threads to pull on.
NOVELLA GOAL 1/4
Like with short stories this will continue to be on track as the year goes on. The Summer serial is planned and being written. Autumn and Winter are faint embers, Autumn may be a horror novella with no genre restriction on short stories and we will, likely, return to Ixonia for the Winter season.
NOVEL GOAL 0/1
No comment.
WORD GOAL 121’923/732’000
The leviathan. 732’000 words in a year or 2000 a day. So far I’m at 121’923 (as of Tue, 4th June). Far off the 300’000 I should be at BUT far ahead of myself at the same point last year which was the real point of the challenge; to write more, more consistently.
Around late March I switched from a target of 2000 words a day to a target of No Zero Days but I still find myself writing 4000 some days and nothing other days for a wide ranging average of 5000-10000 a week, or 1100 a day which I am okay with but could be higher.
At this rate I would be content with 366’000 words by year’s end even though it would be failing to reach the target. Saying that, the target remains three-quarters of a million because I like it.
ESSAY GOAL 1/6
This goal was simply a way to fill the gaps between novellas and I am not concerned with hitting it, after all I publish fiction not analysis.
I started reading and making notes on Aristotle’s Poetics this week and the essay for that will come next week. For those not aware Poetics is made up from fragments of lectures and writings Aristotle made about how to write fiction and what good fiction is, mostly plays; tragedies and comedies as they were known in Ancient Greece. A great deal matches with what is taught today but a couple of things are different, namely he places the plot higher in importance than character. But more on that next week.
Overall I am neither pleased nor displeased with my progress as that’s not the point of the goal setting but rather a means to an end. To that regard I need to write more beyond what is published here and find something I’m excited to read.
QUESTIONS
Did you set yourself goals for the year? How are they going?
I did have some goals though unfortunately I was unable to meet them so I had to shift gears.
I didn't have a word-count goal but maybe I should. This year I probably have about 50-60k words clocked, maybe 70 if I include nonfiction. This is not counting the Iniquity of the Federation since I finished the first draft yesterday.