The end is nigh, folks! 2021 is coming, and who the hell knows what it’s got in store, but I’m going to try to be ready for whatever it is. We’re at the end of another year, which means my blog looks like literally every other person’s right now–so many wrap-ups, top ten reads, and plans for next year. In January, I set a bunch of goals that I probably accomplished about halfway, and not even because of the state of the world, just because my brain went off the tracks and had a field day. As always, I do quarterly check-ins in April & September, and now we’re here, at the end of it all.

This is even more appropriate, given we’re about to dive headlong into a full Tolkien month, WHAT THAT’S A SPOILER.

fitness

Erin took some new professional photos for me, and they are absolutely gorgeous. Eagle legs has become one of my favorite headstand variations, and I’m so glad she captured this one for me.

My 2020 goal was to accomplish both a forearm stand & a handstand away from the wall, and though I’ve made some great progress on both, I haven’t really totally found either of them away from the wall. I can hold a forearm stand for half a second sometimes, but it’s still a work in progress, and you know what? Someone reminded me the other day that it took them five years just to accomplish a handstand, never mind dropping into a scorpion backbend, and I remembered that it also took me five years to get comfortable in a headstand before I started trying anything else, so. Ya girl is actually right on track to make these two inversions something badass to show off in a couple years. For now, I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made.

reading

I’m using this picture, specifically, to shame myself.

1. Read 100 books.
2. Catch up on all currently published Shadowhunters books.
3. Finish all outstanding series from 2019.
4. Read one classic OR nonfiction per month.
5. Review LOTR & Book of Lost Tales.
6. Read all 2019 books before the end of the year. As of this post, that’s 72 books!
7. Stick to my monthly TBRs!

WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR ME TO READ THE THINGS I WANT TO!

1. DONE! I dropped this down to 75 at some point, but I’m finishing out the year at 122 books read.
2. Seriously, I don’t get it. I love Shadowhunters. It seems insane to me that I still haven’t finished everything. Ugh. Anyway, I’ve started TDA, and I’m hoping to get TEC for Christmas, but I haven’t even kind of looked at Chain of Gold yet.
3. Uhhhh? Wow, haha, I just glanced back at my September check-in, and I started this the same way. I have absolutely no idea where I stand with this, and it’s not going to be a goal next year, let me just say that, because I’ve changed how I approach my reading in the most no-stress way ever, so I’m not keeping track anymore, but I’m pretty sure I finished none of the series I “had” to in September.
4. This definitely fell by the wayside, and I really want to do better on it next year.
5. WHY AM I LIKE THIS. Tudo bem, for a bit, I’d only read FOTR, but I went hard and read both TT & ROTK in December, so I only failed on half of this, and I’m planning on reading both volumes of Lost Tales for Tolkien month next month, so fingers crossed.
6. I am no longer tracking this! It created a lot of unnecessary stress for me, and I hated it. I don’t want the thing I love most to be something that I stress about, so I’ve since deleted all my lists that keep track of when I bought books, and I’m just reading what I want to when I want to.
7. I think I did pretty good! January: 3/5. February: 4/5. March: 4/7. April: 3/3. May: 3/5. June: 9/17. July: 5/5. August: 4/5. September: 4/5. October: 8/9. November: 3/5. December: 6/10. All of the December books were previous monthly TBRs that I didn’t read, too, so I’d say this one was a rousing success!

writing

1. Edit sister witches 1 & 2 into final drafts.
2. Write the first draft of sister witches 3, which will complete the trilogy.
3. Write the first draft of vampire detective.
4. Write the first draft (FINALLY) of Mason.

These goals are hilarious because I mostly just laughed myself straight away from all of them, but I still accomplished a lot this year, so I’m not mad.

1. HALFWAY DONE! SW1 has been edited into a final draft, and though there are some more changes I’d like to make, I’m happy with it, and I’m currently querying it. Chelsea finished reading SW2 for me, and it is–daunting, to say the least. My goal for next year will not be revision, necessarily, but rewriting, OI.
2. DONE! I’m so happy this trilogy is done, and I’m so pleased with the ending.
3. I wrote a novella? It was a start, particularly because it helped me figure out what the shape of this story should actually be, and I’m thinking/hoping this will be a 2021 book.
4. I think I’m just not going to make this a goal anymore and let it comes when it’s ready.

Despite the fact that I failed half of my goals, I wrote an entirely unexpected duology this year, so though I didn’t write Andrew or Mason, I did write two books, so I’m on track as usual.

blogging

1. An actual schedule! I’d like to post three times a week (Mon, Tues, Wed), which is what I’ve kind of been trying to do this year with only about half success.
2. Discussions. I love reading other people’s discussion posts, and again, January should help get me into the groove for this. (Don’t worry, all my January hints will be revealed in a few days.)
3. Book reviews! These, uh, will honestly mostly be Tolkien posts, but eventually, I’d like to get into the habit of long-reviewing other books outside of the Middle-earth universe.

I’m not sure if I’ll carry this section over into next year? I’ve finally established a routine for myself with the blog, and it doesn’t feel like there’s a ton that I need to actively work on.

1. Indeed! I’m now posting every week, three times a week, with the occasional Thursday tag and wrap-ups on Fridays. I’m scheduling out in advance, too, so I usually have at least two weeks to a month of posts ready.
2. Done! I’ve written so many discussion posts that I had a moment, a few weeks ago, of just blank staring into the future post-January with no idea what I’m going to discuss, but I’ll figure it out.
3. And another success! Whether it’s books or movies, I’ve written a lot of reviews this year. January: The Hobbit & J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography. March: These Witches Don’t Burn. April: every David Mitchell book & King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. May: The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien & Ravenspire series. June: Beowulf. July: Lost in Space, The Old Guard, All Souls trilogy. August: The Fellowship of the Ring. October: House of Furies, As Above, So Below, every Joe Hill book. December: The Two Towers & The Return of the King.

The amount of times I’ve asked my cats to live forever is astonishing. Alas, they’re not sure they can weather being around me for that long. Grace is still trying to crawl inside my skin because she can’t get close enough to snuggle, and Lily has taken to falling asleep in my arms while I’m writing, so we’re basically codependent anymore, and we don’t know what to do when one of us is not within shouting distance.

If you set goals for 2020, how did they go?