The Endgame of Annual Goals

For the last couple of years, I have tried my best to finish all the things I wanted to go for the year in the month of October. There are two reasons for this. The first, I suppose, is that I have never been a big fan of the month of October, so I should spend it doing all the things that I've always liked doing. And I think the other reason is that, at least in the last couple of years, I've participated in NaNoWriMo.

When spending the month of November in the mayhem of writing a single novel, as NaNoWriMo suggests, it's prudent to clear everything off the desk. In this way if everything is done before NaNoWriMo begins, then it should not be too difficult to complete the 50,000 novel in a calendar month. The three times I've participated in these creative challenges I've been able to do it because I have not had other distractions.

If I had decided to write a novel, ten short stories and 100 poems in a given year, there is no way I'd be able to write all of that in one month, the month of October. And I would hope I'd have started the whole process in January. Whatever is left of the annual goals by the first of October, I know I really have 90 days left in the year. I guess I'm saying that whatever the yearly goals are, a sprint in October will get one of two things done: perhaps total completion, or at least it will get a fair portion done and the momentum to carry on through the end of the year.

When goals are made, they must be made on a specific timeline. As working along the timeline, there has to be the planned endgame. What's yours?

My zine, The Last Instance

My zine, Subhuman

Impossible Goals

It was many years ago, about a year after I finished college at good old Metro State, that I found myself far from home and far from myself. Perhaps not far from myself but certainly far from whom I thought I wanted to be. I was in a coffeehouse in Northwest Portland on a cool rainy day in February. At the time I was a suit and all I wanted to be was a Bohemian. The coffee tasted dark and burnt and afternoon rich.

I was not where I was supposed to be. I was supposed to be some miles off in one of three small towns southwest of Portland. I was still wearing my suit and tie at the time of this story. I was just in a quiet nook of the coffeehouse leaning over my notebook.

In my years working the “real” job, I learned a few things. I learned about budgeting my time and setting goals. These are skills that I think everyone should know, should employ and should perfect. Balancing my time, at least in this scenario meant that I needed to split my time between the long term tasks set against the small easily attainable parts. And the goals? Well, many of them were set for me. I had to perform or would not have work.

A Call to Arms, 2018

I'm not going to lie, it takes all I have to get through the summers in Colorado. There are few things I like about the summers anyway. I like warm nights. Yeah, that's about it, I like warm nights. I'm afraid I have to put all of my energy into getting through the summer.

In a few ways, this last summer was different. I did a TELF/TESOL/TESL certification course in June, which was pretty cool. I participated in two creative challenges: Camp NaNoWriMo and SoFoBoMo which took my mind off of things like the heat and the crowds and the jackassery I deal with at work.

But traditionally speaking, I get nothing done in the summer accept sweat and booze and a shady places to hide.

However, the autumn is, at least generally speaking, a prolific time for me. I don't really know why. It could be a “for every season” sort of thing. It is a time of doing, who knows?