This year, instead of setting goals for the whole year and then checking up on them periodically, I decided to set goals quarter-by-quarter. When God upended my plans for the year, that proved to have been a good decision. It’s now time to see how I stand in reference to my goals for the fourth quarter; to get a full picture of the year, you can see the first-, second-, and third-quarter reviews.

After reviewing my previous goals, I’ll explain my next set of goals going forward. As I’ll explain in more detail below, in 2020 I plan to adjust and check my goals on a monthly basis.

Fourth Quarter Goal Results

Here are the goals I tentatively set for the past few months at the beginning of October. As usual, by “objective” I meant a long-term, broad goal that I wanted to reach (often one merely mentioned as a reminder to myself in future goal-setting), while by “goal” I meant a long-term goal against which my progress can be measured, that I thought I could meet in the time interval I was planning out, and I used the phrase “stretch goal” to mean a goal (in that sense) which I was doubtful I could accomplish in that period, but still felt was worth mentioning.

For the last three quarters, more areas than usual were left with merely “objectives” because I left nearly all of my books and papers behind when I moved here for this training program; I’ve omitted those objectives that are so impeded from this progress-checking review, but I’ll repeat them before I list my January goals below.

As I prepared these goals, I was aware that I had been placed with a client and would be starting full-time work as soon as my paperwork went through, but I was also aware that a great deal of personal-task work for the fourth quarter could not be postponed (e.g. Thanksgiving blog post, Christmas presents, etc.)

Uncluttering

Objective: Clear out, without a “mass discard-unread,” my “digital backlog.”

Goal: Bring the backlog of items in my blog reader down from its current count of over 51,700 (and rising) down to 51,000.

No progress here.

Reduce the virtual pile of unread writing-related downloaded ebooks (and articles) to 300.

Done; it looks to me like the current count is 238. But since the task in my task tracker talks about unread, untriaged, and unsorted ebooks, what matters is that the count in the “unsorted” directory (that I moved everything into to start with) is down under 100.

Development

My goals here are tentative, conditioned on whether my employer claims any ownership in code I write outside working hours.

Since it turns out my employer does claim such ownership in my contract, all of these projects have been postponed for two years or longer.

Goal: Get my package for Scottish Country Dance ball programs, and the more-user-friendly editing program, to a state I consider sufficiently complete (mostly resolving all of the issues listed here and here, but also improving code quality and writing documentation)
Goal: For the e-commerce project I’ve decided to undertake, implement the first three “features” in the task tracker.
Goal: For the “task monger” project I’m undertaking (primarily for my own use, so I don’t have to fiddle with rearranging lines in a spreadsheet in future months!), implement the basic features in the command-line/pipe interface.

Poetry Book

Objective: Have Dreams and Prayers ready for publication.

Goal: Design a satisfactory cover. (I won’t invalidate this if, on advice of more graphic-design-inclined friends, I decide to make changes later.)
Goal: Write all necessary prose sections for Dreams and Prayers.

I made some progress on each of these, but not enough to meet either goal.

Shine Cycle

Objective: Finish a presentable draft of The Invasion.

Goal: Get at least eight scenes into my new draft of The Invasion.

I got a couple of paragraphs into the second scene, but no further.

Misc Writing and Blogging

Objective: Either finish or discard all “essay ideas,” fragmentary poems, and the like that are cluttering up my files.

Goal: Finish the second entry in my planned series on , on using it for poetry.

No progress here.

Goal: In my series of blank-verse Psalm settings, get through at least Psalm 20 (The last one I’ve finished as of this writing is still Psalm 17.)

Nor here.

Goal: Post, or schedule, at least three posts in my “Hymns” series.

I exactly met this.

Goal: Write (in content intended for this blog) a review of at least one “recently” read book.

I managed three.

Objective: Maintain my “presence” on this blog.

Goal: Write at least two “miscellaneous” blog posts, other than goal-checking, the “Hymns” series, and “year-end” posts.

None.

Goal: Write my usual Thanksgiving post reflecting on how God has blessed me.

Done.

Goal: Write my usual (liturgical-)year-end summary of the last year’s posts.

Done.

Life and Miscellaneous

Objective: Keep up with what I have promised, or am otherwise morally bound, to write. (“Be prompt in keeping up with correspondence.”)

Goal: In my critique pass through Peter’s Angel, get through Page 270. (As of this writing, I’m on page 236.)

No progress here. (Sorry, Aubrey!)

Goal: Respond to each letter or email that needs a response within two weeks.

I suspect I didn’t meet this.

Goal: Write keeping-in-touch emails to my short list of particular correspondents on their birthdays and anniversaries and the most important holidays. There are two birthdays this quarter, and the obvious high holiday.

Done for the holiday, and one of the birthdays, but didn’t manage the other birthday.

Goal: Finish typesetting the Tartan & Thistle Ball program at least several weeks before the event.

Done, though some last-minute revisions were required.

Goal: Buy, wrap, where needed write covering letters for, and send Christmas presents to the recipients I’ve planned for.

Done—much later than I would have liked because I put off buying presents until I’d moved, and put off starting the covering letters until I’d wrapped the presents, but most even arrived before the day.

Objective: Keep track of my finances

Goal: Assess my finances for this past year and set my budget for next year in general and January in specific.

As of this writing I haven’t done this, but it’s at the top of my list.

Objective: Revive my spiritual life. (Which, like everything else, does not depend on me … but if I don’t state goals I’ll fall yet further behind.)

Goal: (Re)read at least through the first three quarters of each of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

I’m as far behind as ever.

Objective: Keep up with my goals.

Goal: At the end of the quarter, assess my performance in light of these goals and set new ones for next year.

Hereby done.

2019 Summary

While I tracked and reviewed my goals on a quarter-by-quarter basis, not with reference to any year-long stated plans, here’s a very brief summary of the year as a whole for me.

The top-line “objective” that was entirely out of my control, namely entering gainful employment, finally happened, throwing all my plans into disarray.

All progress on physical “uncluttering” ceased, as I had to move five hundred miles away and left the vast majority of my papers behind. What’s more, the count of items in my blog reader has kept rising and rising. On the other hand, I did catch up on listening to downloaded sermons, and did get through the old flat file of bookmark links.

My “development” goals stalled with the move and the reduced free time, and are now on deliberate hiatus until any code I write in my spare time is no longer contractually automatically transferred to my employer.

Of the two projects that I had set out as my “big projects for the year,” hoping to either finish and have ready for release (Dreams and Prayers) or be most of the way to finishing (The Invasion), neither progressed much at all. I finally wrote the first scene of The Invasion this fall, and got some work done on the cover and front matter of Dreams and Prayers over the summer, but that was about it. I also had “very mixed success” keeping up with correspondence.

While I didn’t reach my goals for the “Hymns” series, nor my (still not posted) “review of ‘recent’ books” post, consistently … I did manage some progress on each.

Finally, I’m even farther behind on my Bible reading than ever, I think, though I started the year well.

Restatement of Objectives

With the recent changes in my life, some of the objectives (i.e. long-term non-granular goals) have had to be put off. This past year I’ve tended to leave them in amidst my goals, then omit them when reviewing my goals, but for this post I decided to list them all up front, then repeat only those relevant to specific goals I set.

Uncluttering

These first four objectives depend on access to my books and papers. I hope to get back home briefly and bring some of my papers back with me, but I won’t set goals based on these objectives until I have actually done so.

Objective: Get rid of as much paper clutter as possible without throwing away any information that I will later wish I had kept.
Objective: Reduce my book collection to those I want to keep, and preferably a size I have shelf space for.
Objective: Get all notes I made in the margins of my Bible, which I recently replaced, into a more accessible format.
Objective: Ensure that my collection of magazine and journal issues doesn’t contain any I don’t affirmatively want to keep.

This objective, on the other hand is not blocked by anything except lack of time.

Objective: Clear out, without a “mass discard-unread,” my “digital backlog.”

Development

These objectives, except perhaps the first, will all have to wait until I am no longer under a contract that claims ownership of code I write in my spare time.

Objective: Release “version 1.0” of my package for Scottish Country Dance ball programs, and its more-user-friendly editing program.
Objective: Develop the e-commerce project I have in mind to a “1.0” standard release.
Objective: Develop my “task monger” project to a “1.0” standard release for all interfaces I am able to test.

Poetry Book

These tasks relate to my second poetry collection, Dreams and Prayers: Verses from a Wandering Mind, which has been in the works for a few years now.

Objective: Have Dreams and Prayers ready for publication.

Shine Cycle

Objective: Finish a presentable draft of The Invasion.
Objective: Have a biography, history, description, and “character logline” or “motivation summary” for every named character.
Objective: Create sufficiently-complete, sufficiently-detailed, maps of the worlds and areas with which the Shine Cycle is concerned.
Objective: Develop each race and culture that the Shine Cycle is concerned with sufficiently to portray it distinctly and excite potential readers’ interest.

Misc Writing and Blogging

Objective: Either finish or discard all “essay ideas,” fragmentary poems, and the like that are cluttering up my files.
Objective: Finish my blog series on
Objective: Finish my series of verse Psalm settings.
Objective: Maintain a pace of at least one “Hymns” series post per month until I run out of hymns I think merit inclusion
Objective: Review every book I read that I have not already reviewed.
Objective: Write regular blog posts beyond my series I schedule in advance and retrospectives.
Objective: Write my usual seasonal/holiday posts well in advance.
Objective: Regularly post substantive Shine Cycle-related content here, as an incentive to continued progress and to attract interested future readers.
Objective: Create blog posts using “worldbuilding” material created using the various “systems” and question sets.

Life and Miscellaneous

Objective: Keep up with what I have promised, or am otherwise morally bound, to write. (“Be prompt in keeping up with correspondence.”)
Objective: Finish my long-overdue critique of Peter’s Angel.
Objective: Write keeping-in-touch letters and emails to my short list of particular correspondents on their birthdays and anniversaries and the most important holidays.
Objective: Make and keep a budget for the year as a whole and each month in particular.
Objective: Keep up with Bible reading.
Objective: Keep up with, and each month check progress on, my goals.

2020 Goals

And now we come to my goals for the next year. Not that these are by any means set in stone, since my life will proceed by God’s will rather than mine, but I know from experience if I don’t try to follow some kind of plan I’ll end up with nothing done.

I’ve tried to break things down so I can see what’s to be done each month. This year I’m tracking my tasks in two-week “sprints” (after doing so week-by-week in 2018 and month-by-month in 2019), but I don’t want to have to write a blog post about things every two weeks.

Also, while I usually try to set goals a little beyond my estimate of what I’ll actually accomplish, I’m still finding my feet in this minimal-free-time situation, and if my free time is really as little as I fear just one task beyond the items I put in as constants (Bible reading, listening to sermons, Peter’s Angel critique) and things like birthdays and holidays has me overbooked in some months, so for once I’ve not gone beyond my “plan.”

Uncluttering

Objective: Clear out, without a “mass discard-unread,” my “digital backlog.”

Goal: Bring the backlog of items in my blog reader down from its current count of over 51,900 (and rising) down to the nearest round number: 51,750 in January, 51,500 in February, 51,250 in March, 51,000 in April, 50,750 in May, 50,500 in June, 50,250 in July, 50,000 in August, 49,750 in September, 49,500 in October, 49,250 in November, and 49,000 in December.
Reduce the virtual pile of unread, untriaged, unsorted writing-related downloaded ebooks (and articles) to 75 in January, 50 in February, and 25 in March.
Reduce the virtual pile of unread, untriaged, unsorted XML-related downloaded ebooks (and articles) to 25 by April.
Reduce the virtual pile of unread, untriaged, unsorted “Web”-related downloaded ebooks (and articles) to 50 by May, and 25 by June.
Reduce the virtual pile of “Strategic Primer related (strategy)” downloaded ebooks (and articles) to 75 by July, 50 by August, and 25 by September.
Reduce the virtual pile of “Strategic Primer related (tech)” downloaded ebooks (and articles) to 350 by October, 325 by November, and 300 by December.



Poetry Book

These tasks relate to my second poetry collection, Dreams and Prayers: Verses from a Wandering Mind, which has been in the works for a few years now.

Objective: Have Dreams and Prayers ready for publication.

Goal: Write a satisfactory blurb for the back cover by the end of January.
Goal: Write the “Acknowledgements” section by the end of February.
Goal: Create a marketing plan by the end of April.
Goal: Finish designing (my first draft of) the cover by the end of May (minus text additions), and finish it completely by the end of June.
Goal: Take, or have taken, a suitable photograph of myself for the “author bio” by the end of June.
Goal: Collect a list of possible reviewers by the end of June.
Goal: Have the publication process ready for upload of the book itself (all the fields filled out online) by the end of October.



Shine Cycle

Objective: Finish a presentable draft of The Invasion.

Goal: Get at least three scene into my new draft of The Invasion by the end of January, five by the end of February, seven by the end of March, nine by the end of April, eleven by the end of May, thirteen by the end of June, sixteen by the end of July, eighteen by the end of August, twenty by the end of September, twenty-two by the end of October, twenty-four by the end of November, and twenty-seven by the end of the year.



Misc Writing and Blogging

Objective: Finish my blog series on

Goal: Finish the second entry in my planned series on , on using it for poetry, by the end of August.


Objective: Finish my series of verse Psalm settings.

Goal: In my series of blank-verse Psalm settings, finish my setting of Psalm 18 and write my setting of Psalm 19 by the end of January, Psalm 20 and 21 by the end of February, Psalm 22 by the end of April, Psalm 23 by the end of May, Psalms 24 and 25 by the end of June, Psalms 26-28 by the end of July, Psalm 29 by the end of August, Psalm 30 by the end of September, and Psalm 31 by the end of October


Objective: Maintain a pace of at least one “Hymns” series post per month until I run out of hymns I think merit inclusion

Goal: Post or schedule at least one post in my “Hymns” series each month this year.


Objective: Review every book I read that I have not already reviewed.

Goal: Write (in content intended for this blog) a review of at least two “recently” read books by the end of January, one more by the end of February, one more by the end of May, one more by the end of June, one more by the end of July, one more by the end of August, one more by the end of September, and one more by the end of October


Objective: Write my usual seasonal/holiday posts well in advance.

Goal: Write posts marking my birthday and the major ecclesiastical and quasi-ecclesiastical holidays (Ash Wednesday, at least one holiday in Holy Week, perhaps Pentecost, Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas)
Goal: Write my usual (liturgical-)year-end summary of the last year’s posts.



Life and Miscellaneous

Objective: Keep up with what I have promised, or am otherwise morally bound, to write. (“Be prompt in keeping up with correspondence.”)

Goal: Note down when each letter or email needing a response arrived.
Goal: Respond to each letter or email that needs a response within two weeks.
Goal: Write any “birthday poems” (one planned for May) at least a month in advance of the “deadline”


Objective: Finish my long-overdue critique of Peter’s Angel.

Goal: Be through page 248 by the end of January, page 256 by the end of February, page 264 by the end of March, page 272 by the end of April, page 280 by the end of May, page 288 by the end of June, page 300 by the end of July, page 308 by the end of August, page 312 by the end of September, page 320 by the end of October, 328 by the end of November, and finished before the end of the year.


Objective: Write keeping-in-touch letters and emails to my short list of particular correspondents on their birthdays and anniversaries and the most important holidays.

Goal: Write letters or emails on birthdays and anniversaries: one in January, one in March, two in April, three in May, two in June, one in July, one in August, one (“community birthday”) in September, one in October, and one in November.
Goal: Write to at least each of my “particular correspondents” on my list, six or perhaps seven, on Christmas and Easter.
Goal: Buy, wrap, where needed write covering letters for, and send Christmas presents to the recipients I’ve planned for.


Objective: Make and keep a budget for the year as a whole and each month in particular.

Goal: Check and update my budget for and after each month.
Goal: Finish typesetting the Tartan & Thistle Ball program at least several weeks before the event.


Objective: Keep up with Bible reading.

Goal: Keep up with the “CBC Reads the Word” (or whatever it’s called) plan, and a parallel track through the Old Testament, each month.


Objective: Keep up with, and each month check progress on, my goals.

Goal: Each month, assess my performance on my goals the past month and make note of what I hope to accomplish in the next month.

God alone knows what will come, but that’s my hopes for the near future.