Welcome to 2018… It seems I forgot to do my author update in December, which I am sure is understandable given how chaotic the holiday season is.

Safe to say, Christmas went well. Not much news on that front. I didn’t manage to write anything at all in December. I spent a fair bit of time at work and if I wasn’t there I annoyed the living daylights out of Boo. Things have been going well though.

The New Year was awesome though. The second day of the New Year I got a new tattoo (another magpie but in lace) which is on my Instagram if anyone was that interested. That was painful but it was worth it, it has been healing really well. The other news? I have given myself weekly writing targets to try to get more organised and on tract. So hopefully the work I do this year will be a hundred times better.

 

The latest binge watching on Netflix? I started watching Grimm which is a bit addictive but not one that I can watch late at night. Late night viewing is reserved for watching the Gilmore Girls…

So Guitar has been so very little progress but I am learning Fix a Heart by Demi Lovato  which is another one of those must work on my timing and changes types of songs.

Nothing changes here in terms of throwing plugs in for my amazon books on my author page…

May luck and adventure be on your side!

ARA xxx

Well it is 2018 and with that comes some goals to achieve this year.

So obviously wanting to do nanowrimo hasn’t changed. I want to try it at least once even if I never want to do it again. So The Diary of Elliot Parker at the moment remains, unfinished, but hopefully that wont be for long. There is a lot to do on The Big Project front.

No I can’t drive, I may not be able to learn this year, but if I can I will. A west end show, it has to be done, last year’s was brilliant. Of course wanting to finish one of the big tattoos will be on the list. Of course, I want this site to grow too, but I will try to keep learning guitar. I want to actually be able to have a decent time to write over the course of a week.

Some things aren’t changing obviously.

I still need to finish knitting the cable jumper from hell… a little cross stitch is fun so I am sure I will do something. I want 2018 to be very positively focused, and getting things done ahead of time will really help me feel better about the goals so trying to get most of the organizing for Christmas done in advanced will really help me feel secure in that.

I would love to be able to fit in the blue dress I brought a couple of years ago, I haven’t worn it once yet so I want a chance to. I want to begin the next big project for here this year, but it is going to take a lot of time I just hope I can fit it in. There is a lot to do this year and only 12 months to do it in.

24/7 Goals:

1. Do Nanowrimo
2. Write The Diary of Elliot Parker (4)
3. Draft up book 2 of The Big Project
4. Re-edit book 1 of The Big Project
5. Edit book 2 of The Big Project
6. Learn to drive
7. See a West End show
8. Complete at least one of the tattoos
9. Improve on last year’s site views
10. Keep learning guitar
11. Create and keep a manageable writing schedule
12. Look for/find an agent for The Big Project
13. Finish the cable knit jumper
14. Start and finish a cross stitch project
15. Win the lotto jackpot
16. Keep growing hair out
17. Keep doing daily positive aspects
18. Complete at least one minor savings goal
19. Have Christmas wrapped up before October 31^st
20. Read around 12 books at least over the year for fun…
21. Be more time efficient, come up with a better schedule.
22. Fit into the blue dress again and go somewhere to celebrate it
23. Begin writing the next big project for the site
24. Enjoy 2018 as much as possible, be happy at every chance!!!!

So… This is the very last ever 2017 project… While there were some goals I couldn’t complete there were some that I did, and I am very proud for trying.

So for the final month of 2017 I can officially say yes I did complete goal number 8, I searched for a long time for some agents for The Big Project, while I wasn’t exactly successful I know that I am working on making it a project that I am extremely proud of. So yes it is back to the work shop for this project for a little more tweaking over the next 12 months, but I am proud of the book as it is, I know that it can only get better. I can’t wait to see the transformation and to have that perfect agent and publisher lined up for it.

Number 10, learning guitar, well safe to say I have continued to learn guitar over 2017 and I know I can only get better. So there goes another tick on that long list.

Number 17, looking for the positives more often. While it hasn’t always been the easiest task to achieve, I am proud to say I am consistently making great improvements in looking for the positives. I am going to tick that off, but I am going to keep working on that one for as long as humanly possible.

And finally goal 22 to grow my hair out, so other than a good trim to get rid of split ends, I have managed to grow my hair out, it currently at least brushes my shoulders, which is great. So while it isn’t below the shoulder yet, it is at least on its way in that direction.

So yes, I have managed to complete 11 of my 24 goals which absolutely smashes the aim of seven and I am incredibly happy that I managed to get that far. I want to do the 24-7 goals again next year, it was sort of hard work in a good way…

The 24-7 goals:

1- Write The Diary of Elliot Parker Part 2

2- Do NANOWRIMO

3- Write The Diary of Elliot Parker Part 3?

4- Write the first book of the big project

5- Finish spine tattoo

6- Finish magpie tattoo

7- Finish musical rib tattoo

8- Look for an agent/publisher for the “big” project

9- Learn to drive

10- Learn guitar

11- Finish knitting the cable knit jumper

12- Finish knitting the blankets

13- Improve views on here

14- See a west end show

15- Try and succeed at least three times on the 21 day habit swap

16- Win the lotto jackpot

17- Look for the positives more often

18- Meditate regularly

19- Keep making emotional progress

20- Keep hope and loose more doubt

21- Make posts for here in advanced, consider adding pictures, try to avoid leaving it to the last minute

22- Try to grow my hair long- aim for below the shoulder this year.

23- Become even more open-minded

24- Discover my own special brand of writers magic,

Habit swapping:

Break- Stop apologizing for myself so often. I do it a lot, it is something that really bothers me, mainly because I apologise for things that are completely not my fault and nothing to do with me. I am sick of apologizing for my own existence.

Make- Eat at least one piece of fruit a day. It is supposed to be healthy right?

Make- Write/plot at least an hour each day even on rest days. I have to start getting stricter on myself.

Make- Create and stick to a writing schedule. I have to start being more organised.

Break- Stop being hard on myself, speak kinder words to myself instead. That pretty much explains itself.

Make- A daily list of 3 positive things that I like about my day. Because sometimes it is easy to forget that there were brief sunshine moments.

Make- A daily list of 3 things that I like about myself, physical, non-physical. Because, it can be hard to show yourself some love.

Make- A little notebook of positive aspects, a once a day entry of 10 things that are positive. Literally a list of positive aspects about people, places, things; maybe one day I will post it on here.

That’s it, the final curtain on the 2017 project.