Jaunts & Haunts: Resolutions and Blog Changes for 2020

Happy New Year’s Eve Folks!

Man, that clock is really ticking down isn’t it?

I hope you enjoy this last day of 2019 and get some time to reflect on your experiences.

As every year goes by, it’s nice to take a little pause and look back at all the positive things that have happened. This year I couldn’t be more grateful.

I published my first work of fiction this year, and am more than two-thirds of the way done with an entire novel while juggling life and everything that comes with it.

I’ve also met a lot of great people in the blogging and author community and have made some really great friends.

As this was my first year of blogging, there will undoubtedly be some changes happening in the very near future (as in 24 hours) that I want to make you aware of, as well as some fun personal resolutions of my own.

Let’s get into it!

Personal Resolutions

1.Do less, write more.

No, seriously! This year was a whirlwind (I’ve still got a bit of whiplash) with everything I’ve taken on.

Being a new blogger, it’s very easy to get caught up in things that veer you away from your intended focus, and I feel certain times of this year I fell prey to that.

So my first goal is to focus on my actual writing more. Spending more time in the evenings and weekends at my computer focusing on writing will be a priority of mine going forward.

2. Destress more, take more time for myself

See how this one ties into the first one? Pretty ingenious, huh?

Honestly, a big part of my stress has admittedly been my day job, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t keep myself more grounded and destressed, right?

I will be doing my best next year to do just that. I’ll be taking more time off work this year (especially around holidays of any sort) and keeping less busy on weekends so I can have more time to myself. I did some soul-searching on my recent week off around Christmastime, and that’s what I need right now. Some peace.

Obviously life still happens and there will be times when I’m overwhelmed, but I’m hoping that this shift will enhance my inner calm and keep me from throat-punching for one more year.

 

That’s it for my personal resolutions. Any more than two or three and it’ll feel too much like a job in itself. On to the blog changes!

 

Blog Changes

Not too much will change around here.

I want to maintain my focus on my writing and books, first and foremost. That means my book reviews, WWW Wednesday posts, and Weekly Progress Updates will be here to stay. Yay!

The main change that will be occurring is surrounding everything else.

As you know from my posts, I love my series and movies. However, there’s not enough time to go in depth on everything, so going forward, movie and series reviews will be shortened.

Ideally, I’d like to be able to write a post in less than ten minutes. I’ve already established some really great templates to use to help speed things up, but I still need to fix the structure a bit. Things may be a bit spotty at first, but I’m sure I’ll settle on a brief format that works for me and hopefully you too!

There may also be less seasonal and discussion posts depending on how much time I get to myself next year. I can’t be sure right now, but I need to take as much stress away from blogging as possible if I’m going to do this long term.

I hope you can understand where I’m coming from and respect my decisions on these changes. Thank for your support everyone!

That’s A Wrap!

Well that’s it for this post. I hope you enjoyed your time here in the last moments of 2019!

How about you? Do you have any resolutions for 2020? How about changes to your blog? Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to start a conversation!

Have a great day!

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7 Comments »

  1. Your resolutions sound good! My biggies:
    1. Write a better novel.
    2. Decide if my 2019 novel is good enough to keep revising or if it should be relegated to “practice novel” status.
    3. Improve my prose.

    • Oh, yours are really great too! Have you had some people/test audience take a test read and get their opinion? That may help you make a decision on your current novel.

      • You can do it!!

        My Goodreads reading goal is going to be 100 again. I want to actually complete Romanceopoly because I failed miserably at it this year. I’m going to be participating in a readalong if a series by an author I’ve never read before plus I have some challenges to help me get through my owned TBR. I will be sharing each challenge in the days to come.

      • Thanks!

        Oh wow, that’s quite the goal! I believe in you! That sounds super interesting. I’ll be keeping my eyes out for great recommendations from you. 🙂

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