Looking back at resolutions from 2019- success or failure?

Well here we are at the end of another year. I kind of feel like I’ve sleepwalked towards 2020, cos OOF this last month has been a toughie- sorry I’ve not been as active on here as I’d have liked! Hope to rectify that in the New Year! And speaking of changes… it’s time to reflect on my resolutions. I won’t say this has been the easiest or most exciting year for me, but it’s been better in a lot of ways than many of the years that have gone before and there’s a few things I’m really happy about – SO I’LL TAKE IT! Let’s see how I did with my resolutions…

Bookish:

10 More Books from My Challenging list

I did pretty well with this, reading 7/10, even though I just wasn’t feeling some of the tougher books on this list this year.

10 Non-Fiction Reads

15/10 – Knocked this one out of the park! Here’s some of the highlights…

5 Rereads

5/5 – There were a lot of books I hoped to reread for fun and that didn’t happen- but I still managed to complete this goal.

5 Poetry Collections

4/5 – nearly made it! Well, that’s if you’re not considering how most of these aren’t poetry collections, but I reckon it counts cos they were all in verse. Plus, I did read a lot of individual poems this year.

Non Bookish:

Compile notebooks

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Soo my last goal was to type up the wolfy notebook… of course I’ve filled up another one since then… Okay I’m always managing to fill up notebooks. This is a never-ending task lol. 5/5

Complete another language on Duolingo

5/5 midway through the year

(as I mentioned in my mid year’s resolutions I pressed pause on any language learning midway through the year)

THE DREADED EDITING

I finished everything I wanted to do around August, so 30/30, but I will say my writing habits got *weird* after I finished the BIG PROJECT. I did do a bit of tinkering in October, then tried working on something else (big fail), fell into a killer writing slump, had a bizarre surge with a new(ish) project towards the end of the year… only to fall off the wagon with that too. Regardless, this was definitely a win!

Score: 66/70 94%

A

Definitely better than my C from last year!

And for extra credit…

Art- start painting again and finish sketchbook

I’ve been working on drawings a lot more this year and I even started an Instagram for it- though I’ve been using various sketchbooks, so it’s not easy to tell if I’ve done this or not. Definitely counting this as a win too.

Yoga challenge x2

Ah this was a late addition I couldn’t complete in time. I managed to squeeze in one yoga challenge, but not two. This is something I’ll have to work on next year!

And that concludes my wrap up! Pretty happy with how that went! How have you done with your resolutions this year? Let me know in the comments! And a ***Happy New Year*** to you all!

Mid Year Resolutions for 2019!

 

Hello all! It’s time to check up on my resolutions for the year *DUN DUN DUNNNN*. I’ve never done this on my blog before, though I’m a big fan of mid year resolutions in general, but I figure this was better than doing my usual mad-dash-to-the-end panicked check up around November. So, let’s see how I’m getting on with it now, shall we?  

Bookish:

10 More Books from My Challenging list

Ermm yeah, this isn’t going that well. I have only managed 4. Frankly, this is cos I haven’t had much luck with the ones I have picked up. The first of the year was Atlas Shrugged… and we all know how that one turned out for me. Then there was Maps of Meaning, which contained interesting ideas, but the writing style was flawed (I recommend sticking to the lecture series for this one). Finally, I tried Vanity Fair, which was superbly written, however I didn’t connect to because the characters are AWFUL people. So yeah, excuses aside, I have a long way to go with this goal. Lastly, I recently finished Faust, which sadly ended up being a plodding “poetic” translation and I preferred Marlowe’s version. 

Updated goal: 6 to go!

10 Non-Fiction Reads

Well, I can say I’m on track for this one- I’ve managed 5 so far this year- most of which have been good. The highlight of these was definitely the Man in the White Sharkskin Suit– a random find that was super emotional and well worth the read (review to come). I’d better not be complacent though- there’s still 5 to go…

Updated goal: 5 more non-fic

5 Rereads

I’ve knocked this one out of the park! I’d actually like to try and read more, but we’ll see. 

COMPLETED!

5 Poetry Collections

Oh wow, I suck. I have completely failed this. To be fair, I’ve been reading a lot more poetry- but collections? I’ve managed just the one:

I’m also counting Faust again, because I had to get through 350 pages of verse!

Updated goal: 3 more to go!

Non Bookish:

Compile notebooks

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I’ve managed to do a lot of this. In fact, I did all the ones I thought I had… then finished another notebook, which I’m gonna save for the second half of the year. I’ll calculate that as 4/5.

Updated goal: type up wolfy notebook

Complete another language on Duolingo

Soooo this one is weird, cos I did go through all the lessons in the first few months of the year- and what have I learnt: nada 😉 Okay maybe I learnt something, but I don’t remember it now. I do think I’d benefit from trying to do some grammar practice- but I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to do this- until I have time to reassess, I’m gonna give myself 5/5 and say…

TENTATIVELY COMPLETED

I do feel like I might be letting this guy down though…

THE DREADED EDITING

I have done so much of this! I’ve edited books 2 and 3 of my #OverlyAmbitiousWIP and am nearly finished with 1. The problem with editing, though, is that it’s not the most straightforward of processes. I have a lot more edits for the second and third books now. Still, they’re pretty straightforward and I have high hopes for finishing this on target (if not before!). I’ve calculated this as 25/30 in terms of how far I am.

Updated goal: nearly there!

Which means I’m 71% done and my current grade is…

C-

Not fabulous, but I have time to rectify that.

And for extra credit…

I’ve decided to add a few new goals to the roster:

Art- start painting again and finish sketchbook

I’ve been working on drawings a lot more this year and I kinda want to start an Instagram for it (but I’m super nervous and not sure about it). I do want to start doing more painting (beyond Watercolours).

Yoga challenge x2

Thanks to my sister dragging inviting me to disco yoga earlier in the year, I’ve actually started doing yoga (it surprised me as much as it probably does you 😉 ) I’ve been doing it a few times a week and managed one 30 day yoga challenge. So, quite simply, this is to do another two of those challenges. I think there’s enough time before the end of the year to get this done… hopefully… wish me luck!

And that’s it for now! I have made a note of some tentative goals I might add later in the year, but you won’t have to hear about them till I have my *freakout* at the end of the year 😉 I want to know if any of you have goals this year? How have you been getting on with them? Let me know in the comments!

Bookish (and Some Non Bookish) Resolutions for 2019

It’s that time of the year again! You know the drill- I’m gonna say a bunch of resolutions I plan to do this year and then spend the whole year not doing them 😉

Bookish:

10 More Books from My Challenging list

I considered making this less because I didn’t manage to read 10 in 2018, but then I thought, where’s the fun in that? I figured it would be more of a challenge this way 😉

10 Non-Fiction Reads

Again, I didn’t make it to 10 non fic reads in 2018, but I figure I have a whole year to try and hit this goal!

5 Rereads

Because I had so much fun doing this last year! I have some really fun books lined up for this one!

5 Poetry Collections

Cos, why didn’t I read any last year? It’s gotta be the first year where I didn’t even pick up *one* collection- FOR SHAME!

Non Bookish:

Compile notebooks

Another old ‘un but a good ‘un. Not only does the weird part of my brain that likes organising get a kick out of it, but it’ll make my life so much easier in the long run if I do this annually. There aren’t that many for me to go through this year, so it shouldn’t be too bad.

Complete another language on Duolingo

This is probably the most challenging one on the list and I could easily fail this due to lack of time… but no pain, no gain, right? I have previously completed two languages on there, yet the only way I ever seem motivated to go back and practice is if I’m learning a new language at the same time. I actually enjoy doing this (even if I’m still far from fluent in the ones I’ve tried 😉 ) so why not? Plus, Duo keeps sending me messages saying it misses me:

I probably shouldn’t pay attention, because it’s a bit like a needy ex at this point, but I MISS WHAT WE HAD TOO 😉

THE DREADED EDITING

Okay, you got me, I’m exaggerating for comic effect 😉 I not-so-secretly actually like editing. HOWEVER, I’ve never undertaken *so much* editing at once. In fact, I’m a little scared about reading my last WIP (it’s not in good shape!!) I have so much to do in this regard, that I figure all the remaining points can be for this one!

And that’s all I’m doing this year! I decided to have some self-control and not add a bunch of resolutions I don’t plan on doing. Maybe I’ll add more goals as the year goes on instead of taking them off the list!

What do you think of my resolutions this year? Do you have any resolutions you plan not to do? Let me know in the comments!