I saw laidbacknewbie post a blog with her 2021 Bucketlist and thought it would be nice to make a blog about my goals as well. If you also want to make a blog stating your goals for the year, whether they are aff related or not, feel free. I think it's fun to reflect on what we have, what we want, and how we're going to get there from where we currently are. 

I have a few but they are pretty large so it'll take me all or most of the year to complete them. 

1. Write band series

My last blog I posted the first two chapters of an original novel I'm working on. Since then, I've loosely outlined that entire book chapter by chapter and wrote the first 150ish words of each chapter. When I write, I love setting goals. But I get easily overwhelmed by them because I'm scared to disappoint myself, so I end up not even trying. So to avoid the "write 2k, write 10k" type of goals, I instead created this new way (or new to me) of writing a story. This series is inspired by the band 5sos (5 seconds of summer) because I've gotten back into their music, remembered my crush on the bass player, and decided to use those feelings to write an original novel since I want to become a successful self-published author and want to focus more on "sellable" stuff over fanfic. (I still like fanfic don't worry). But, the thing I came up with is to listen to a playlist of their music, and write on each chapter only for the duration of one song, then go to the next chapter and write for the duration of the next song that plays. I kinda came up with this one day a few years ago when I was outlining a xiumin fanfic. I listened to my music on shuffle and wrote the beginning of new chapters of the story each time a new song played. It's pretty fun and makes the writing process less daunting. One because I'm just writing like 100-200 words each song, but if I listen to 20 songs, that adds up to 2000-4000 words. And, I get to work on all of the chapters rather than spending a lot of time writing them in order and hoping I don't get stuck or bored of the story. It personally helps me stay motivated and less scared of writing a whole novel. If you haven't noticed by the stories I've posted over the last year, I'm really into drabbles/micro fiction/writing in 100-500 word sprints/bursts. So if you think this concept is interesting and want to try it or a variation of it, feel free, and tell me how it goes. I'd be interested in seeing if this works for anyone else. 

Nonetheless, this story is about the bassist of a band that has a total of four members. So my goal is to write a book about each member and their love story. I have the bassist and the love interest for the drummer is already in the first book so I have those two planned out. I just have to come up with the idea for the lead singer & guitarist's love stories. 

My goal is to finish writing this first book by the very end of this month or very beginning of feb, like the 1st at the latest. And have it available for preorder, with the novel going live on Feb. 9th. I was hoping to release the novels two weeks apart, but that seems a little too ambitious, so Imma aim for three weeks instead (I'm a crackhead, I know lol. But it's my first series so I'm trying my best but I also want to learn a lot so I can grow more and produce better stuff as time goes on). So that release schedule looks like :

Bass player story, currently titled "Playing the Rockstar" (Chance & Belle's story) = Feb. 9th

Lead Singer story, currently untitled (Beau & Ashlyn's story) = Feb. 23rd

Guitarist story, currently untitled (I might change the male's name, but rn he is called Mars. Mars & Hazel's story) = March 16th

Drummer story, currently untitled (Again, might change the male's name, but he is currently Axel. Axel & Serena's story) = April 6th

Ideally, I'll create the rest of the titles, blurbs (story description), and covers soon that way I can put them all up for preorder at the same time. (On amazon you can put a book up for preorder but wait until like seven or three days or something before the launch date to actually upload the manuscript.) So if someone likes the first book once it's out, they can go ahead and preorder the second book. Or the rest of the books if they're feeling spicy. 

2. Post Daily on TikTok

This is double-headed goal. I really like TikTok and have been wanting to post videos on there just for fun for the longest. But some of the writing/author groups I'm in have recently started talking about TikTok and how joining and posting has helped them sell books. So it just seems perfect for me to join and post the stuff I want (probably just dances and maybe playing the ukulele once I'm not as shy about singing...or just playing the ukulele in general. As well as random trends and stuff that looks fun to do.) and every once in a while promote my books. I've seen people talk about an 80/20 rule, I haven't looked into what that means, but it sounds like maybe 80% of your content should just be fun/useful stuff and then 20% can be promotional. This would mean 1 out of 5 videos should/can be promo, which I think is fair and smart. That way followers don't feel like your just trying to shove your books down their throat and that you actually post stuff they can become a fan of yours for. 

3. Write another romance series, probably fairytale retelling

After I finish publishing this band series, I obviously want to write more books lol. So right now I'm thinking I could do a fairytale retelling series. Like beauty and the beast, cinderella, snow white? There are a booty ton of cute fairytales so that would be fun and have somewhat endless potential lol. I'm not married to this idea just yet, because I want to wait and see how I feel after I finish this band series. Because at that time I could be totally set on writing something else. But I do enjoy this concept and am keeping it in the back of my mind in case I have no other ideas I'm more invested in writing. 

4. Quit my job 

I don't like my job. It's boring, it's night shift, and I don't really make a lot of money. My dream/goal is to figure out this self-publishing stuff and turn it into my career. But I'm going to keep my job for now because it is very easy and I don't want to not have an income. I'm financially stable but by no means well off, so I don't want to go broke because I have no money coming in. 

5. Make 100k on books

This is the ambitious goal lol. But, I think if I work hard, it's not impossible. Will I be mad if I don't hit it? Hell no. But I just want to have an ambitious yet somewhat realistic goal so I have something to look forward to and make me feel like what I'm working towards actually means something.

6. Bring back Open Writing Club 

A few years ago I created this thread where I would post a story prompt and whoever wanted to participate would write a one-shot inspired by that prompt. We would have a week for everyone to write their story. Then the next week, everyone would read each other's stories and leave a helpful comment on them. I did two rounds of it and just abandoned it lmao. But, I think it was really fun and helpful and created a nice little positive community, so I want to bring it back. Plus it helps anyone who wants feedback on their stories receive some feedback, so I think it's very nice. Here is the link, I have posted the prompt for round 3 :). https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1332669/ 

7. Bring back Daily Writing Warm-Ups

Again, a few years ago I created a thread where every day I would post a prompt and on this one, people would writing a quick drabble/short story inspired by it in the comments. Then I would copy and paste their story onto the chapter for that prompt. It was super fun and quick and sweet and I guess I deleted that thread, which I really regret and wish I didn't. But, I made a new thread, so it's okay I guess. Here is the thread if you would like to participate! https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1471698/

So those are my goals for the year! I kept it simple that way I can really focus on what's important. Do I want to learn more languages and travel and party and do a bunch of other ? Yes. But half of that stuff isn't even doable right now cause 'rona is still an issue. So I think if I spend this year working hard to create the job I want and also have fun online, that will set me up for success to be able to have more luxurious goals in the future. 

I hope your year has been going well so far. Mine has been kinda stale but also I've been growing, so it's not too bad. Don't be shy about posting a blog with your goals for the year either! Hope you have a nice day/night :)