At the beginning of this year, I checked in on last year’s goals (ha!) and set new ones. I’d intended to make a post checking on them every other month, but as that obviously didn’t happen on schedule, I figured at the end of the first quarter was better than at the end of the trimester or (as happened in 2020) at the end of the year. Here’s how I’m doing so far this year on the goals I identified for the first couple of months, and some specific goals I’ll aim for over the next few months.

First Quarter ProgressMisc Writing and Blogging

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

I managed a post for Ash Wednesday, but not my birthday. I have some ideas for Good Friday and Eastertide, but we’ll see.

General Goal: (In a change to my past pattern …) Write a goal-checking post at the end of the liturgical year, and a blog retrospective at the end of the civil year.

Not yet applicable, of course.

Correspondence and Life-Maintenance

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

I’m doing better on this objective overall than either last year or the year before, and in fact any year in recent memory, but I’ve still let a few messages slip by.

General Goal: Note down when each letter or email needing a response arrived.

I haven’t actually done this, but with the exception of a few emails I don’t think I’ve let things go long enough that the timeliness of replies has slipped from my mind.

Goal: Finish and send all my “after-Christmas” letters by mid-January

Check!

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

With the exception of an email or two that I’ve let drop without the reply I’d intended, I think I’ve for once succeeded here, by God’s grace. Certainly I’ve written letters far more promptly than any year in the last decade!

General Goal: Write any “birthday poems” at least a month in advance of the “deadline”

This wasn’t originally in the “first months” section specific, because the first one I had in mind is “due” in May, but for a change it’s already written. It can certainly use some revision, but it’s complete in form, in my opinion not bad, and not too repetitive from previous years’ poems—so it’s a poem I wouldn’t blush to present to the addressee, but I’m hoping to polish it up a bit before May.

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

Similarly, this wasn’t in the “first months” section in January because I wasn’t planning to do much until March. I’ve bought presents for the three upcoming birthdays, wrapped two of them, and written the covering letter for one and started the letter for another; the one that is most imminent is all packed up and ready to send, but I’m waiting until a little closer to the date to do so.

General Goal: Write to at least each of my “particular correspondents” on my list, six or perhaps seven, on Christmas and Easter.

Neither Christmas nor Easter has happened yet, but I’ve started planning out what I will write on Easter, to save time on the day.

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 to mark the two such events in the next couple of months.

I think I got emails, at least, to the people highest on my list, and almost certainly the two I had in mind for the first two months. And I have one long-ish letter written for an almost-imminent birthday, and one well started for one a few weeks later.

Objective: Finish my long-overdue critique of Peter’s Angel.General Goal: Get at least through page 320.

Nothing yet. But with my backlog of outgoing Christmas and (my-)birthday correspondence cleared, I intend to get back to this Real Soon Now.

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.

I’ve been doing this informally, more or less, but not with the sort of formality I’d hoped.

Goal: Set up regular “sustaining” gifts in accordance with my budget for the year.

Done, except that with some recent bumps to income I have a very little left in the “charity” budget and a bit more in the “patronage” budget not yet allocated to specific recipients (and thus not actually spent). But even if that continues all year it won’t be a really significant amount to give away come December.

Objective: Keep up with Bible reading.Goal: Catch and keep up with the “CBC Reads the Word”

I think I’m closer to caught up than I was at the time, but I’m still months behind.

Objective: Keep up with, and regularly assess progress on, my goals.Goal: At the end of February, assess my recent performance on my goals and make note of what I hope to accomplish through April.

As I mentioned, I intended to do so last month, but didn’t get to it until now. But this is an improvement over last year!

Uncluttering

Objective: Get rid of as much paper clutter as possible without throwing away any information that I will later wish I had kept.Goal: Shred all mail (etc.) kept for that purpose

I did shred everything in that pile, except some expired credit cards and such and some mailing labels, and except for some mail that arrived in the last week I’ve kept up with this goal.

Goal: Triage and, if possible, deal with at least one “packet” brought from home.

Haven’t gotten to this yet.

Objective: Clear out, without a “mass discard-unread,” my “digital backlog.”Goal: Clear out my blog reader ASAP, and set up the next one.

Despite the high urgency of this one, I haven’t gotten to it at all.

Goal: Get my collection of ebooks that can most easily be read on my Kindle, which currently stands at 154 if I’m counting right, down to 125.

The books in last batch I transferred to my Kindle that I’ve read (enough of) haven’t been moved to the “read” section or deleted, so this should probably be two to five fewer, but the count currently stands at 136.

Poetry Book

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.

I haven’t given this more than a thought or two since January.

Shine Cycle

Objective: Finish a presentable draft of The Invasion.Goal: Write at least one new scene.

And I haven’t touched this either.

I note that recent events have wreaked unexpected havoc on the “future history” background of the story, so I may need to rework it before I can get to the story itself. We’ll see.

Misc Writing and Blogging

Objective: Finish my blog series on Goal: In the second entry in my planned series on , on using it for poetry, finish coverage of specific poetry libraries

I haven’t even looked at this so far this year.

Objective: Finish my series of verse Psalm settings.Goal: Finish my setting of Psalm 18.

I’ve barely looked at the piece of paper my current draft is on, but with recent days’ sense of inspiration some progress might come “soon.”

Objective: Maintain a pace of at least one “Hymns” series post per month until I run out of hymns I think merit inclusionGoal: Post or schedule at least four “Hymns” posts.

I think we’ve seen two in the past three months, and there aren’t any “scheduled” in this sense (meaning “will automatically appear at the specified time”), but I do have one in mind for a few weeks from now.

Objective: Review every book I read that I have not already reviewed.Goal: Write (in content intended for this blog) reviews of at least four recently-read books.Goal: Post at least one batch of such reviews.

No progress here.

Objective: Write my usual seasonal/holiday posts well in advance.Goal: Write posts marking my birthday and Ash Wednesday.

I managed a post for Ash Wednesday, but not my birthday.

Since this batch of goals was intended to cover only through February, it didn’t mention Holy Week or Easter. I have some ideas for Good Friday and Eastertide, but we’ll see what comes of them.

Next …Correspondence and Life-MaintenanceObjective: 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 arrives.Goal: Respond to each letter or email that needs a response within two weeks.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 to mark the seven such events (other than the holiday, and this is from a somewhat longer list …) in the next couple of monthsGoal: Write to at least each of my “particular correspondents” on my list, six or perhaps seven, on Easter.Goal: Wrap, write covering letters for, and send birthday presents to the recipients I’ve planned for.Objective: Finish my long-overdue critique of Peter’s Angel.General Goal: Get at least through page 320.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: Set up regular “sustaining” gifts in accordance with my now-increased budget for the year.Goal: Keep up with my regular gifts that I can’t as easily automateObjective: Keep up with Bible reading.Goal: Catch and keep up with the “CBC Reads the Word” and whatever comes after, if anything; if not, restart or resume Old Testament reading.Objective: Keep up with, and regularly assess progress on, my goals.Goal: At the end of May, assess my recent performance on my goals and make note of what I hope to accomplish through July.UnclutteringObjective: Get rid of as much paper clutter as possible without throwing away any information that I will later wish I had kept.Goal: Shred junk mail as it arrives.Goal: Triage and, if possible, deal with at least one “packet” brought from home.Objective: Clear out, without a “mass discard-unread,” my “digital backlog.”Goal: Clear out my blog reader ASAP, and set up the next one.Goal: Get my collection of ebooks that can most easily be read on my Kindle down to 110.Poetry Book

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.Shine CycleObjective: Finish a presentable draft of The Invasion.Goal: Develop an approach for revising the “future history” background.Goal: Write at least one new scene.Misc Writing and BloggingObjective: Finish my blog series on Goal: In the second entry in my planned series on , on using it for poetry, finish coverage of specific poetry librariesObjective: Finish my series of verse Psalm settings.Goal: Finish my setting of Psalm 18.Objective: Maintain a pace of at least one “Hymns” series post per month until I run out of hymns I think merit inclusionGoal: Post or schedule at least four “Hymns” posts.Objective: Review every book I read that I have not already reviewed.Goal: Write (in content intended for this blog) reviews of at least four recently-read books.Goal: Post at least one batch of such reviews.Objective: Write my usual seasonal/holiday posts well in advance.General Goal: Write posts marking at least one holiday in Holy Week and perhaps Pentecost.

That’s what I’m now generally aiming for. Now to see what God has planned …