And just like that, the insanity that we have called 2020 is reaching its close. It’s been a year, to say the least, but there have also been so many blessings and growth through it all. Thus I thought I’d wrap-up the year by looking back at my goals and sharing some thoughts on the year.

All the way back in the blissful time that was January (seriously, January feels like a different lifetime ago), I shared a list of my goals for this year, because HELLO ACCOUNTABILITY. It always helps me so much to stay on top of things when I’ve publicly proclaimed I’m gonna do the things. But the real question is: Did I do the things???

WELP. That is what I’m going to explore today! Let’s look back at my goals and see how I did. With some reflections on the year tossed in for good measure.     
   

LOOKING BACK AT 2020’S GOALS

Query at least 6 literary agents for Burning Thorns

Achieved: YES!

This was the biggy. Last year I had dipped my toe into querying, but this year was gonna be the year I AT LAST got serious about it. And I did.

I didn’t just do 6 agents, I queried 9! I kind of shifted my goal to querying 3 agents every 3 months, and managed to actually stick to that all year.

It was stressful and exhausting and I got no bites whatsoever, and instead my inbox has a considerable amount of rejection letters now.

But you know what? THAT’S OKAY. That’s normal. It’s just the way of querying. Even though I’ve only gotten rejections so far, I feel so SATISFIED. Because for years and years and years I have put this off. I’ve not made as much effort as I should have toward my dream of being traditionally published until now, and it feels so good to at last be making effort toward it. If anything, this was my greatest accomplishment of the year, rejections and all.

Not to say each rejection letter didn’t send a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach and make me question literally everything. It did. Pretty much every time. But then I pulled myself back up, remembered it’s part of the process and that there are a lot more agents out there. One rejection just means that wasn’t God’s plan, and He has something better. God has a plan for my writing, and I know He’ll lead me right to it. I just have to keep trying.

(BTW, earlier in the year I wrote a WHOLE POST on this subject of rejection if you need a dose of encouragement. Rejection is, alas, part of a writer’s life, but it can be a GOOD thing. <3)

Rewrite The Nether Isle

Achieved: Yep, yep!

This was the secondary Big Goal of 2020. While I’m querying Burning Thorns I want to work on getting another novel query ready should BT just not work out (which is definitely a possibility).

The Nether Isle was my NaNoWriMo ‘17 novel, and one quite dear to my heart. (And one of my few standalone novels, which is always a plus when trying to get a debut novel traditionally published.) So I chose to make it my next project.

From February to August, I worked on this monstrous project because, let me tell you, totally rewriting a NaNo novel is not for the faint of heart. Or at least one of my NaNo novels. They are disasters and a half. XD And I’m going to be real, it was HARD. I had made the decision to take on this major rewriting project before I knew 2020 was going to turn out, well, the way it did. I had so many days of just absolutely despising my writing, and questioning everything, and suffering a severe lack of creativity or drive. Some days every single word had to be dragged out of my cold, dead brain bit by painful bit.

And yet… Some days it was a light in my life. The characters in this story are so dear to me, and it was a true joy at last returning to them, not to mention so satisfying watching their messy story transform into something much more cohesive and polished.

Do I regret taking on this project this year? No, not at all. It was HARD, but I learned so much through it. And, at the end, I had a full novel totally rewritten.

NOW. It still needs a whole other major pass. That was just the first round of edits. It’s got a looong ways to go, but having that first major bit done feels amazing.

Submit flash fiction and articles to magazines

Achieved: Eh…not really? 

Moment of truth: I’ve been saying for years now that I’m going to get serious about submitting things to magazines and whatnot to kind of up my “writers resume” as it were. Being able to mention in query letters that you’ve been published in multiple things definitely helps! Buuuut every year I get so caught up in my big projects (like major rewrites, etc., etc.), researching places to submit things, not to mention actually writing things to submit, just…never happens??? And I mean, I guess it’s good I spend a lot of time on my big projects BUT STILL. I really need to do this more.

I did write one flash fiction piece for GoHavok.com. But yep. That is literally the only thing toward this goal I did.

Maybe one year… Eheh.

Reach 1k followers on Instagram

Achieved: Nope

I suspected from the start I wouldn’t quite reach this lofty goal, so it’s no great surprise or disappointment. And ACTUALLY. I’m exceedingly happy with how much my IG account has grown!

I started the year with 400-something followers, I do believe, and I’m currently sitting at 740+. So just the fact that I did grow a fair amount is more than an accomplishment. Plus I’ve seen a lot more interaction on my posts and such over the past few months. And I’d prefer a few interactive followers that I can genuinely connect with over a ton of random non-responsive people any day.

Now, I know for a fact I could have worked harder toward this goal. But, ya know, 2020… Every bit of creative outlet was an effort for me this year. I think we all get a free pass this year for anything we couldn’t put as much energy into as we had originally planned.

Stretch and exercise regularly

Achieved: Shockingly, yes!

Keeping up a fairly regular exercise routine is on my list of goals every single year, annnnd usually by around March said goal starts fading away. But THIS YEAR. I actually kept up with it! Now, there were plentyyyy of days, and even a week here and there where no exercising happened. BUT I always got back to it. And here we are in December and I still make time almost every evening to do some stretches and exercises. I don’t even know who I am anymore.

Although it did help a ton that I dragged my sister into the routine with me. Nothing like ol’ accountability and being able to do something together to kick one into gear!

And I guess being home all day every day has certainly motivated me to find ways to move around some. Here’s hoping I will actually keep this up!

Accurate interpretation of me exercising. I said I’m exercising. Not exercising well.

Read, read, read

Achieved: Yes!

Even though reading is basically my favorite activity in the world, for some reason I don’t always make time for it like I should??? Other things constantly take precedence. But these past couple of years I’ve been making an extra effort to make time for reading, and it has paid off! I’ve read a lot more books this year and last year than I had the previous years. I mean, compared to some people, reading about 50 books a year is probably pathetic, but that’s quite good for me these days!

I would definitely say I did quite good making time for a lot of reading this year. It didn’t hurt that it was one of my best reading years EVER! SO MANY GOOD BOOKS. (Of which I talked about last week if you missed it.)

Participate in NaNoWriMo

Achieved: YES.

And it was a euphoric 25 days of writing a nearly 110k word novel and one of the biggest highlights of my entire year and knocked me out of my creative slump!

Buuut being as how I’ve spent basically the last two months talking about nothing else, I’ll spare you guys from rambling about it more.

Be at Peace

Achieved: By the grace of God, yes.

Each year I choose a word to really focus on for the full year, usually through much prayer. This year one word really struck me: PEACE.

And wow.

I had no idea, absolutely no clue how much I would need that word this year when I first chose it. But God knew. He knew the many trials and hardships coming, and He knew I’d need that constant reminder that HE IS THERE. Through it all, He is still sovereign. He is the ultimate comforter. And even through the greatest storms, we can find peace through Him.

This word came back to me a dozen times over this year. As I let the stress get to me, I remembered: Be at peace. As I feared for the future, I remembered: Be at peace. As so many unknowns hit me, as a new rejection letter came in, as exhaustion pulled me down and down and down, the word would return. Peace.

The hardships and stress this year have come by the bucket loads, and not just because of COVID. It’s just been one thing after the other. There have been so many hard things and changes I’ve had to accept, still having to accept. But God is here, and He holds my future. And there is no greater peace than that knowing.

It’s still a struggle, and I still have moments of questioning everything and fearing what my future holds. But I always come back to the word God gave me: Peace. Through Him I know everything will be okay. Just the fact that He put this word on my heart way before I had any idea what this year would entail fills my heart to overflowing. Because He knew exactly what I would need.

This year has definitely been a year to learn to calm my soul and trust in God, and it’s still a work in progress, always, but I have felt so much growth through the trials.

And there we have it. My goals from the year. Despite the insanity and the hardships, I achieved a lot I set out to do, and for that I am so grateful.

Sometimes I joke that I wish we could just pretend 2020 never happened. But honestly? I have seen God’s amazing blessings and workmanships in such abundance, I have grown and learned so much about myself, and God has shown me peace time and time again. And all of that? It is priceless.

No, 2020 wasn’t the best year by a long shot. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a year full of God’s grace and blessings. And that is what I hope to remember and hold on to.

HIATUS NOTICE

Welp. Gonna be honest: I’m tired. I definitely think it’s time for me to step back and take a good, long breath. I feel a strange sense of having too many things crammed in my head and yet totally dry. I don’t even know. I have felt so drained and dry through far too much of the year, and then NaNo somehow both exhausted me and filled me right back up.

There is a lot to reflect on, lots of things to pray about and plans to make. And so I think I’m going to step back for a little bit.

I’m going to take a hiatus for all the rest of December and all of January as well. I hope to just rest for this month, and then use January to really, truly think on my 2021 plans and decide where I want to go with everything. (And if you think to pray for me as I make some decisions, that would mean the absolute world to me. <3)

BUT. I promise I’ll be back! Hopefully by February I shall return with plenty of more posts to come and new plans in place.

Thank you all so much for always being here and supporting me and cheering me on and just being such a light in my life. I’ve made some of the dearest friends in the world through this little blog, and it has especially been a blessing to me through a hard and lonely year.

I love you all so much!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

LET’S TALK!

Tell me, friends, how was your 2020, truly? Do you have anything I can pray for you about as we step into a new year? What were some of your highlights from this year? And what are you looking forward to come 2021? I’d love to hear about it!