Resolution Progress
We're nearing the end of August already. At the beginning of 2024, I had 2 simple New Year's resolutions. How am I doing? Did I keep them, or stop after a week, like most people?
Resolutions
Well first of all, what were my New Year's resolutions for 2024? They were based on reading and writing, something I used to love doing (for fun!) but hard-stopped after going off to college. I remember reading a book per week (or in a few weeks) back in middle school. And I'm talking thick books too, like several hundred pages each. It's really sad that I stopped, and ever since then, I couldn't manage to get myself to pick up a book for fun.
- Write 1 article per week (average) on this website, or 52 total
- Read 2 books (at least 100 pages each)
Progress
It's nearing the end of week 35 of 2024, meaning that we are about 67% of the way through the year. As of now, I should have 35 articles written, and 1 book complete and to be about 33% of the way through my second book. Here are the stats.
Writing
To benchmark this one, all I need to do is count the number of articles on my website that were published since January 1, 2024. I currently have (exactly!) 35 articles written. It will be 36 including this one.
As you can see, I'm actually a little bit ahead of my goal for this resolution, but pretty much right on the nose. What about the other one?
Reading
I've started and finished one book since the beginning of this year; Lexicon by Max Barry, with 390 pages. This meets my criteria of a book over 100 pages. I did most of my reading while travelling, for example the flights or bullet train in Japan. It was a dark fantasy novel with the theme of words having more power than just their meaning. It was an excellent book, although a bit confusing at times, but was super interesting. Unfortunately, while I have read bits of other books, I have not started my "second book" that I plan to finish by the end of the year. That puts me at only one book out of my goal of 2. At this point in the year, I should have about 1.33 books completed to be on track.
I'm quite a bit behind on this one, but not terribly so. I still have 4 months to read just one book. Most motivated people can achieve this task in a weekend. This should be no sweat for me. I just need to pick a book, and buy or download it.
Next Year
I'm already formulating my plans for next year, in 2025. I'd very much like to continue my reading and writing. As for my reading, I want to slowly ramp it back up, so I'd like to read 3 books next year. Three whole books! I know, it's gonna be a toughie for me. But I think I can do it. Young me could easily do this.
For my writing, I want to continue writing articles for my website, but I think I'll take that off as an official resolution. My real goal is to publish some sort of work of writing. I have not completely fleshed this out, so I'm not sure what route I want to take. Some of my ideas include self-publishing an academic paper, or writing a short sci-fi novel and publish through Amazon. Either way, I think 2025 will be an exciting year for me, as long as I stay motivated.