hopeful1. Finish four books.
In 2012, I want (and in some cases, need) to finish four books. Midnight Blue-Light Special, The Chimes at Midnight, an undisclosed YA project, and an undisclosed Mira Grant project. (Please don't ask me to disclose them. You'll just get looked at with profound sadness.) Basically, it's about half a million words of fiction by the end of the calendar year. I can do it, although it helps if I look at it in slightly smaller chunks. They're less terrifying.
2. Re-print Stars Fall Home.
I'm going to do a Kickstarter to pay for re-printing my first studio album, Stars Fall Home. Looking at my deadlines and responsibilities for the first quarter of the year, I'm estimating somewhere around March for the announcement. That also gives me time to put together incentives for higher support levels, although "I will be really, really grateful" features fairly heavily.
3. Move to Snohomish.
Is this possible? I don't know. But the house I've wanted for the past eight years is about to be within my grasp, if I can just convince the bank that I can handle the mortgage. And yeah, adding "buying a house" and "leaving the state" to my four-book year is a little bit insane...but I want it. I want to never have to move again. It's literally the house I've based my house hunting off since the first time I saw it. I love it so much. It needs to be mine.
4. Finish the current "Velveteen vs." cycle.
I don't know that I'll ever finish the Velveteen stories, because her world is infinitely flexible and insane, but there's a certain big event that everything is building toward, and I'd like to get there. I think that getting there would be awesome.
5. Record Terror from the Alintangy Wood.
So yeah, I'm going back into the studio, this time for the followup to Red Roses and Dead Things. It's me and Jeff again, and while we're having to juggle to make everything work, I think it's going to be awesome. Planned songs include "Pumpkin Patch," "Zombie Wedding," "Time Travel Girl," and "Ozone in October." It's going to be a blast.
Got any big goals for 2012?
November 14 2011, 17:47:19 UTC 5 years ago
So, to get better on track, I want to continue saving monthly so that a car disaster (of which I usually have many) will not run my savings back to $0.
Professional Goal: To plan and execute some kind of program at work. Super extra bonus is it is grant-funded.
Fun Goal: To work on a radio drama with my very good friends, and actually produce and release it as a podcast.
November 14 2011, 18:12:24 UTC 5 years ago
Recommendation! Mint for budget stuff (best tool I've found; they're browser and app present, owned by Quicken). SmartyPig for savings (FDIC insured). You set different goals (emergency fund, car stuff, vacation), how much you want by when, and it helps you easily save when you didn't think you could! In conjunction with Mint I've used SP to save a rather alarming amount of money that I didn't realize I had because it was disappearing to nebulous crap I no longer miss. If you aren't sure Mint or an envelope system will help, or aren't sure if you can set yourself on the right track without external help first, I may be able to help you (am not selling services). Am a budget fiend.
Good luck either way!