At the beginning of last year I wrote a post about how it seems like everyone has an inexplicably strong set of feelings about New Year’s Resolutions. Not much has changed since. Some decry Resolutions as an act of futility (they mostly are). Others rebut that people who never try to change rarely do (also true).
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What’s Workin’
I also included a note about the kinds of posts I planned to write. Turns out that posts about raising a toddler and/or Fatherhood were still the most popular. Lots of other people have enjoyed Mental Floss style posts about things I’m researching. So, I plan to keep those posts coming, perhaps with a bit more regularity. Because while I put some thought into the kinds of things I wanted to write, I didn’t actually write them all that often.
Blog Goals for 2015
- Write one post per week. This is pretty lazy by blogging standards, but still achievable and a better than my 1.5 posts per month average in 2014.
- Expand the scope. I plan to write more about things that I’m passionate about, perhaps things that are a touch controversial. Things like America Did Not Win the Space Race, por ejemplo.
- More on tall ships. As I ramp up research on the Famous Worldwide Tea Races, I will post more of the things I discover. I expect there aren’t a ton of people on earth deeply interested in this topic, but perhaps those who are will find something useful here.
- Share the love. As a natural born introvert, I tend to stick to my well-trodden ways, shut up in my hobbit hovel. I growl and throw stones at strangers. This year I’d like to make an effort to reach out to other writers with similar interests, hopefully building a kind of symbiotic community of like-minded people.
- A new name? I tried “The Pickled Cucumber” for a few months last year and it just didn’t fit. I might toy with a few other iterations to get away from using my own name like some self-aggrandizing schmuck. Also, a new look for the site seems in order.
There you go. Those are my blogish goals for 2015. Will I achieve them all? Most likely not. I do think that something is gained by the effort though.
I want to read more.
I’m a big fan of Goodreads. Last year I officially read 40 books. This year I’d like to get to 50, maybe more. Because I wasn’t an English major I feel like a lot of my reading has been playing catch-up with classic works other people reference all the time. But I’d like some variety too, mix in a little more nonfiction. Some funny stuff. Add a little roughage to my literary diet. I also have an enormous stack of books about the Great Tea Races that I plan on dispatching in the next few months.
I want to write more.
I plan to speed up my fiction writing this year. I generally stick to a thousand words per day as it is, but I’d like to be a little more religious about it, as well as upping the daily count to 1100. This way I get a freebie every tenth day.
I hope to finish a short story anthology by the end of the year. I’d also like to sell an indie screenplay or two. I have a completed novel that needs some editing love, and a few short stories I’d like to get in some magazines and/or reviews. That’s about it for me. Modest goals mostly.
Please have a very happy new year.
Have strong thoughts or feelings about any of this? What are your goals for 2015? Please leave a comment. Thanks.
About Joshua Rigsby
Joshua Rigsby runs an independent bookstore in a small Georgia town. His writing has been featured on Thrillist, Atlas Obscura, Southern California Public Radio, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Atlantic.
