My 2023 Goals
I’m writing this in August, so keep that in mind. I’ve got some big goals to fulfill in four short months. My main goal and priority is getting the Grand Mesa Men series published. I'd honestly be thrilled to have this series out by January 2024 so that's what I'm aiming for. The Grand Mesa Men series has been a long time coming. I am so in love with Jesse and his sons and the female leads in this series are some of my favorite women I’ve ever written.
I recently hired someone to help with my social media and that's been going great! I love that her posts are consistent because I've always struggled with sticking to a posting schedule. I also love that she's focusing more on the marketing part so when I do post I can focus on fun/lifestyle things. I've had the goal of growing my social media for a long time. I'd love to hit 1,000 followers on Instagram.
Another big goal I have that won’t happen until 2024 is to attend a conference. Ideally, I would love to go to Readers Take Denver. I want to do a writing conference as well but I’ve fantasized about Readers Take Denver for about two years. I was supposed to go to the Seattle Writing Workshop in 2020, but it was changed to a virtual event due to Covid. I would love to still take that trip. Me and my mom had planned to go together and it’s still something I hope to do. I’ve never been to Seattle and neither has my mom and I think it would be such a fun trip. Unfortunately for me, the next Writing Workshop will be in summer of 2024 or 2025 and it’ll be in Maine. Don’t get me wrong, I would jump on the opportunity to go to Maine as well, but Seattle still needs to happen sometime. They are doing a virtual one in September of 2023, but my husband and I have a RZR trip planned so I’ll be way out of wifi range.
Non-writing goals are all about health. I’m trying to walk everyday and make better choices with food. This is forever a goal, haha. I go through spells where I do amazing and feel great and then I’ll fall off of that for a while. For me it’s more about having energy and feeling good than anything else. I also want to model healthy habits for my kids.
Another goal I have that is both personal and writing related is to be more mindful of how I’m spending my time. This is partially because I want to be more productive but also because I want to spend my time doing things that matter. I did some leadership training this year and was shocked to find out that even working a 40 hour week job and sleeping 8 hours per night, you still have 72 hours of time in your week. That is crazy to me. I have always been the I don’t have time person. This put into perspective that I do have time, it's just a matter of what I’m spending that time on. I’ve been doing this for a couple of months now and it’s made me much happier. I see an actual difference in my mood because I’m doing more of what I want and “wasting” a lot less time. When I wasn’t paying attention to where my time went, I couldn’t tell you how I spent 72 hours…television, books, staring off into space…but I’m realizing now that knowing is so much better. I choose to spend my time cooking with kids, watching them play outside, or taking them to an event. I choose to write. I go out and take photos. I finish my work for the animal shelter a lot quicker. I clean my house faster as well. I can’t explain why it’s working for me, but it is. I think it has to do with being mindful of everything I do throughout the day and actively taking accountability for where my time is going.
I would love to hear what your goals are as we bring 2023 to a close. Let me know at shalanabattles@gmail.com
