This year has had so many ups and downs! A lot of the things I had on my to-do list for 2020 goal-wise unfortunately didn’t work out, just because the pandemic sort of thwarted my ability to do things like save a lot of money, travel, etc. I did manage to accomplish A LOT that I didn’t even expect to at the start of the year, and I couldn’t be more proud of myself, so no sad feelings about the stuff I didn’t get to! I survived! That’s enough this year.
And 2021 is a brand new year right around the corner for goals, yay! So here’s some stuff I’m looking forward to doing next year:
🌈 Publish a novella.
I’m finishing the first draft of my current novella-in-progress right now, and have already pitched it to a publisher! They’re interested in seeing the finished thing, so I’ll be sending that their way soon. No guarantees on having them publish it, but if that worked out, it’d be amazing! Either way, I plan to release something longer than a short story next year, even if I have to publish it myself – with a hopeful collection of short stories I’ve never shared before in 2022!! But that’s a bit further, so let’s not let me get too ahead of myself, lmao.
🌈 Create more exclusive content for Patreon.
This one I’m super excited about ’cause I’ve already started working on a few exclusive things!! I have monthly coloring page printables I’ll be sharing with my Patrons, and I also started a Monthly Sticker Club! With the club, stickers will be made available for Patreon subscribers at that tier first (each person gets two!), and then will be in my shop in the months after. I’m also going to be making a few special exclusive embroidery patterns for folks to use, with instructions included!
🌈 Finish writing and illustrating my first children’s book.
I’ve been teasing sneak peeks for the last couple weeks about this one, and 2021 is the year I plan to fully commit and finish! It’s about a little girl named Rosie who loves books, plants, and painting! She’s gonna go on a little adventure with her handy paintbrush to a world populated by ghosts, and I’m so excited to bring her to life!!! I’ll share progress photos on Patreon along the way, and can’t wait to hear what people think of her adventure.
🌈 Work on my backlog.
I have so many things that I’m behind on – books, movies, video games, comics, ahhh! I know that 2020 probably would’ve been a better year for this since, you know, pandemic and everything, but who could plan for that?! So I’ll be planning it in 2021 – focusing on really diving deep into the unread books on my shelves, unbeaten games in my Steam library, and the unwatched movies in all my streaming queues! I’ll track my progress along as I go each month with a little “Backlog Completion” section of my monthly wrap-ups so I can see how I do!!
🌈 Review books & blog because I want to.
A huge source of stress for me this year came from the pressure I put on myself to keep up with different things – trends in the indie horror community, other reviewers (not competitively, but with book tags and buddy reads, etc), and so much more. I’ve also dealt with my fair share of rude af authors this year – one went so far as to change a shop review in my Etsy because they didn’t like a blog post I was sharing about etiquette! It’s been wild, and with that sort of response to something that is essentially a HOBBY that I do for free, I just can’t be bothered anymore.
I started reviewing books over a decade ago because I love talking about them with other people. Reviews are for readers. They aren’t for authors because authors have editors and beta readers and loads of other resources for getting feedback on their books. Might an author get some critical notes from a review that they didn’t receive otherwise? Sure! Does that mean reviews, at their core, are “for authors“? Nope. I’ve never once written a book review with the hopes that it might help an author – I’ve written my reviews to help other readers figure out if the book seems like something they would want to read or not. In fact, in 2021, I won’t even be tagging authors in my review blog shares anymore outside of ones I’m close to and very comfortable with because I’m tired of the pressure. I don’t get paid for this, so why stress myself out over it? The easy answer is that I shouldn’t, so I just… won’t. I’m shocked it took me all year to figure this out!
While a good amount of the authors I’ve worked with in the past have been kind and respectful and empathetic, the few bad apples have soured the bunch for me and I just need a break. I’ll still review books, but I’ll be doing it on my schedule, prioritizing only what I enjoy, and not what I feel is expected of me. I hope that 2021 will be very freeing for me reading-wise!
🌈 Keep my plants alive.
I’ve always had a really terrible black thumb that couldn’t even keep a cactus alive, but this year turned that all around for me! I have several wonderful plant babies right now that are thriving (as much as they can during winter, obv), and I’m so proud of their growth & so excited about my new hobby! Learning about and taking care of my plants has been such a fun part of 2020 for me, and the plant nursery is one of my favorite places now – I’m looking forward to expanding on that in the new year! Which also sort of brings me to my next goal…
🌈 Release another coloring & activity book.
I’ve got these planned already!!! A Final Girls themed coloring & activity book, AND a plant journal for plant lovers!! I’m so excited for both, but that plant journal especially ’cause I’ll definitely be using it myself for sure!
🌈 Donate things I don’t need anymore.
This is pretty self-explanatory, but I’d love to downsize some of the clutter I’ve accumulated. I moved across the country almost five years ago now, and a lot of the stuff I’ve moved with has stayed in boxes. I’d love to go through and get rid of everything I can – books, clothes, whatever! Maybe some spring cleaning is in order?
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Let's Get Galactic 
I’m always amazed by the amount you get done, so don’t be too hard on yourself next year and take a few breaks when you need them!
I love everything about this post Cassie. 2021 is going to be amazing!
❤ ❤ ❤ Amazing goals!! Wishing you a very happy and stress-free 2021!