New Years resolutions 2014

It is that time of year again where we all look to setting goals for our writing and the year to come.  Having looked back at the resolutions I set myself at the beginning of 2013, I am feeling pretty good about my achievements for last year.  Here are the resolutions I set for 2013:

1)  Get my final edit for Thorde: The Keeper of the Trysk done for 1 February 2013
2)  Get Quantum Worlds to first draft by April 2013
3)  Enter more writing competitions and try to get an agent (involves getting more brave)
4)  Write more (sound familiar anyone?)
5)  Lose weight (involves joining my friend on a diet, exercising more and cutting down on drink)
6)  Do more walking (I love it when I do it, the weather conspires against me)
7)  Go to the theatre, movies and read more
8)  Organise more family treats (like camping, trips to London etc.)

There was only one resolution that I did not achieve and I think this is because I gave myself too much of a mountain to climb and that was to get QW to first draft.  I did get my final edit (three in total, though it is resting at the moment and out with a couple of beta readers before a final tweak and then I am biting the bullet and sending it off to some agents, gulp) of Thorde completed though which is a real achievement.  I entered more writing competitions (nine in total) but did not take steps to get an agent (my bravery has not appeared yet, but I am working on it).  I did write more, 112,704 new words in total, which includes eleven new pieces and an almost finished first draft of a new novella (currently at 40,790 thanks to NaNoWriMo).  I did lose the weight using my plan, though I suspect some of it may have crept back on over Christmas (I will be back to my regime once the mountain of chocolate and cheese has been devoured).  I got into a wonderful regime of walking for an hour two or three times a week and this will be reintroduced as I enjoyed it (fingers crossed for better weather) and was excellent for working through plots in my head.  I did go to the movies, theatre, read more and organised more family treats which we all enjoyed together, so this resolution will also be staying.

I also had a few successes in that I had some lovely feedback on my writing from competitions that I did not win, I got a couple of new clients for my writing and social networking skills and have been thrilled by how many followers I have for my blog now.  I am getting regular hits every day from over ten countries and feedback from comments I receive on my blog and on LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook and Twitter.  I attended various writers festivals (Harrogate, Huddersfield, Leeds, Morley, Brighouse to name but a few) and quite a few writing workshops and author events (these are very good for making contacts).  I have also made more writer friendships both on and off-line and gained new members for Cleckheaton Writers Group.  All in all a very good year.

So in the spirit of now knowing that last year my resolutions really worked for me (with a couple of bravery issues aside), I hereby commit to my resolutions for 2014:

1)  Send Thorde off to agents
2)  Get at least one more WIP to first draft by the end of the year
3)  Keep up the good work with entering competitions regularly
4)  Aim to write more than 115k words for 2014
5)  Get back into the walking/healthy eating regime
6)  Continue to book in trips to the theatre and movies
7)  Read more, including genres I wouldn't normally try
8)  Keep organising more family treats

I would love to hear about any resolutions that my followers have made/kept to and I wish you all a happy, healthy and productive 2014.