So like I did last year, I decided to see how I’m doing with my New Year’s Resolutions halfway through the year …

Doing this now instead of in December means I still have time to get myself back on track, or recalibrate my goals to see how they’ve changed. It also lets me celebrate the little wins of things I HAVE managed to accomplish thus far.

So!

Goals I have accomplished/am accomplishing:

• Write 10 hours per week. In a fit of optimism earlier on in the year, I changed this goal to 12 hours per week! Life with an actual literary agent (though not yet hard deadlines) is different than writing for myself and I needed more time to work on all the things. I am a little behind due to a summer flu for both me and baby (the worst thing ever!) but I expect to be back on track in the next couple weeks.
• Finish editing my second YA contemporary. I did this! Then my agent said it needed work, so I’m sure I’ll be editing it again soon.
• Finish the YA fantasy/dystopia draft 1. Done!
• Finish the YA mystery draft 124,364,565,765. Done! And I’m sure I’ll be editing that again at some point, too (unless I finally decide to abandon it.)
• Do the literary thing I can’t talk about yet. I signed with my literary agent shortly after giving birth!
• 120 minutes cardio per week. I was generally getting this done while on maternity leave, and now that I’m back to work, I am clocking 2-3 miles of walking every day I go into the office just on my commute, so I don’t really feel the need to do more cardio on the weekends right now.
• While on maternity leave, get out of the apartment 3 times per week. I was generally pretty good at this.
• Stay on budget. Getting more challenging since I went back to work (eating out is just so much easier when you have less time) but I am still on budget!
• Maximize commuting time. I’m pretty good at reading and listening to good podcasts and not getting mad at the crowds most days.
• Maintain a community of excellent humans by texting one every day and seeing one every week. We’re doing pretty well at this!
• Limit booze to 7 drinks/week or fewer. Surprisingly easy. As a mother, I drink less than I used to. My tolerance has gone down, I’m breastfeeding, plus you really can’t take care of a baby while tipsy, so it’s not that hard to keep to one (or less than one) glass of wine.
• Get on a sleeping and feeding schedule with bébé. Done!
• Plan and go on a family trip. This is kind of cheating as we accepted an invite from my in-laws to travel with them to the Caribbean in the winter, so I didn’t have to do any planning. But we’re taking a trip, so yay. We also went to Cali in April for a wedding and while we didn’t do much beyond hang at the house we rented, we did travel, so we get points.
• Figure out anti-aging skincare routine. I finally did this, basing a lot of the products on this article and I think it’s working!
• Continue charitable donations. Done.

Goals I have come close to accomplishing:

• Stay involved in politics but don’t let depressing social media take over my life. Do this by limiting scrolling on my phone. I limited my social media time and have gotten decent at sticking to it most days. I have also generally refrained from jumping into comment threads. But I could always do better.
• 5 adulting/chore things per week. After going back to work I reduced this number to 3 things, and it’s much more manageable that way. The laundry can wait.
• Keep my apartment clean by cleaning and decluttering every day. “Every day” is a little ambitious, but my apartment is *usually* not a disaster zone.
• Write (positive) book reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, and Litsy. I’m not always the greatest at copying my review to Amazon as I don’t use it for reviews myself, but I’m working on it.
• Drink 10 glasses of water every day. Some days I make it, some days I don’t.
• Start a journal for my daughter and write in it once a month. I think I’m delinquent a month but I did start one and have been writing in it.

Goals I am still working on:

• Buy a house. We put a bid in on another house a month ago. Didn’t get it. The housing market is ROUGH. I just keep telling myself everything happens for a reason, the right one is out there, take your time, etcetera, etcetera
• Draft 2 new books. I have drafted half of one new book and about 10K words of 2 more. Spent the rest of my time on alll the other writerly things above. I hope to have more time for drafting once I’m done editing yet again.
• Cultivate my online brand more by posting more to social. I am tweeting more. But my Instagram has remained baby central and I have not revived my more writerly one. To work on.
• Read 52 books! According to Goodreads, I am 7 books behind schedule. Must read faster.
• Be a great mother. Not sure how to measure this, but suffice to say it is a thing I will be working on for the rest of my life.
• Get back to pre-pregnancy weight. 7 pounds to go…
• Frame wedding and travel photos and hang them on the wall. I framed some! But they are not yet hanging on the wall.
• Visit my sister in North Carolina. I would like to find time to do this in the fall.
• Stick to an anti-inflammatory diet during the week. The snack table at work makes this difficult.
• Post to this blog 4 times per month. I have been woefully bad at this.
• Work on posture with that posture harness thing + exercises from my massage therapist. Working on it.
• Journal for myself once per week. I was better at this while on leave.
• Be entirely present when spending quality time with my baby. I try.
• Take photos with my DSLR every week. I do this probably every month, not every week.
• Continue praying with intention. When I don’t fall asleep right away.
• Keep anxiety under control by noticing when I’m entering a spiral and consciously trying to stop it. I try. I don’t always succeed.

Goals I have put off:

• Start an email newsletter for this blog. I have not done this. I hope to figure it out soon.
• 180 minutes of yoga/strengthening per week. I REALLY need to get back into yoga. The problem is, as always, TIME.
• Something surprising (a museum, a park) every week. Not yet.
• Meal prep on Sundays. I do not do this. I should.
• Make photo albums of wedding, honeymoon, and years of life. To do.
• Find a local therapist who deals with postpartum. To do.
• Get a new TV console. To do.
• Get new glasses. To do.
• Do a yoga headstand without needing the wall. Must get back into yoga first.

Goals I decided to postpone indefinitely:

• Host a dinner party! Not in my little apartment made even more crowded with baby things. Maybe in my new house?
• Whiten teeth. No one can tell me if teeth whitening prescription stuff is safe while breastfeeding so I’m holding off on this for now.
• Revamp wardrobe once back to pre-pregnancy weight. Right now it’s all about that #nursingwardrobe so I’ll figure it out once I can wear my whole closet again.
• Visit friends and family in Seattle. Probably not this year. Next year?

New Goals

• See a physical therapist in particular to work on my pelvic floor. I don’t really want to spend the money, but I need help.

 So that’s how I’m doing. How about you?

Photo by Hannah Morgan on Unsplash