New Decade, New Plan: First Results · 3:48am Dec 31st, 2020
Blog Number 122: Prototypical Year Edition
Since it's unlikely I'll have a burst of writing activity on New Year's Eve, I might as well check to see how my own goals for this decade are holding up so far.
Actually, pretty well... for someone who changed their goals partway.
There was some stuff I couldn't break. What? What do you expect me to do about it now?
A little background first:
New Decade, New Plan in February was where I decided, given my performance in the 2010s, to roll up my sleeves and set some goals for the 2020s, to be reviewed yearly. The idea was to strike a balance between having too much ambition (i.e. setting myself up to fail) and giving myself something to strive for (i.e. making sure I could feel proud of - instead of underwhelmed by - what I created).
Revision to "New Decade, New Plan" in July was where I revised my prior goals in light of the overall progress I was making. Mostly, it involved scaling the targets down because the first half of this year was a slow burn, and wouldn't you know it, I slowed to a crawl in July and was all over the place for a while until I suddenly went off like a rocket in November, which pretty much got me closer to the stars overnight. Still, it was a clear anomaly, so just as well I made those revisions.
And now, here we are. December. Right on the cusp of kissing 2020 goodbye, some of us whilst hurriedly putting on our coats and running out the door.
Got the 2020 lineup here. Let's see how well Impossible Numbers' goals held up, shall we?
To put it bluntly, it's just as well I revised those goals, because if I was still operating with the original February ones, I'd have failed... two big ones out of seven. The first one, because I published fewer than 26 fics, and the third one, because I published no novels this year. In fact, I cut the third one from the revised list because it seemed too onerous a requirement.
Still, that ain't terrible. I'll be using the July targets to judge, but it's impressive to note I still would have gotten five of the seven February goals.
OK, for real this time. Point-by-point checking.
1. Minimum of 12 fics per year, excluding anthologies and other borderline cases to be identified as and when they become apparent.
Got 16, none of which are disqualified by those criteria, so that's a [✔].
2. Minimum of 365k words per year, or 1k a day average, or roughly 30k per month average. To keep this from being too draconian, the count will include unpublished material. Published material should make up the majority, however.
Just as well I specified unpublished material. Published comes to 189,051, which is OK but has been more impressively surpassed before. Current personal record is 385,327 in 2018, though that goes down to 254,968 once you exclude non-completed fics, and 242,661 once you exclude anthologies. I see room for future improvement.
Anyway, back to the present. Total, including unpublished, comes to 377,765 words, mostly thanks to November's massive boost. So... [✔].
3. Incomplete fics will no longer be posted without a completed story behind them. Trying to write and publish it as I go along has never succeeded.
Nearly broke this rule a couple of times out of impatient deadline desperation - Mothering, Someday was a toughie in that regard - but I'm glad to say I ultimately did not.
Looking at the total, there's not a single incomplete fic among them, so you know what that means: [✔].
4. At least 3 fics onto Equestria Daily per year (allows for a 50% failure rate, assuming each submission takes two months to process; no point being overambitious in a situation where I have limited control).
I may have to revise this one next year: the waits between submission and pre-reader feedback have noticeably lengthened, and it's not a good idea to keep myself beholden to a goal that's outside my control.
Checking over my tag-identified works on Equestria Daily, that yields 6 fics successfully submitted in 2020. [✔].
5. Any fic rejected by Equestria Daily does not get a second chance. Unless changes are minor and/or I feel motivated enough to make major ones. Personal discretion is advised, but I'm mostly erring on the side of being strict.
Well, duh. [✔].
6. All fics should be upvote-dominant within a week of publication. Any fic with a downvote percentage greater than 50% will be removed.
And another [✔] for good measure.
That done, now for a bit of reflection on the results, mixed in with a re-evaluation of some points mentioned in the previous blog posts.
Firstly, since this turned out so well, I don't see any immediate need to change my goals for 2021.
Secondly, it is a shame I had to walk back my more ambitious goals from February: not being able to produce 26 fics still leaves me feeling I've a long way to go before reclaiming my prime from the 2017-2018 years. Never mind: rivalling 2016, the start of the increase, is nothing to feel bad about. If anything, it's a promising sign, and a clear improvement over last year's performance (it's even an improvement over 2016, once you discount 2016's incomplete fic and then compare word counts and story counts to 2020).
Contrary to a possibility I mentioned in July, haven't expanded to non-pony and original fiction yet. That might be something to look into, further down the road.
Still having a chiefly positive experience on this site, so I feel confident continuing as I am.
My biggest regret is not producing a novel this year. Despite my debut pony novel in 2018, that year was soured by other issues, so I couldn't enjoy the experience as much as I wanted. After that, I'd hoped writing a second would not only help me reclaim that triumph, but really get the novelist ball rolling. Alas, two years without a novel is disheartening, and if there's one improvement I'd like to make over 2020, it's that. To be kind to myself, I won't make it a compulsory requirement; forcing myself to do it would be more dangerously unhealthy than allowing myself some writerly leeway. All the same, I do feel a bit bad about the failure.
Still toying with the option of disabling the upvote-downvote system, as I don't see them as useful (and, in the case of downvotes, they're just begging to be removed from polite society). So far, people have been mostly positive and constructive. If that's so, then as long as some positivity is coming out of it, I'll leave it be. For now.
Lastly, I don't think I'll be reviving my statistics subsections from way back, but I may dedicate a future blog post to playing catch-up. I think it's been over a year, at the very least. We've plenty to catch up on! Reviews, new followers, specific Equestria Daily successes, the works.
That's all for now. Impossible Numbers, out.
I’ve taken the impression that you had a big year, but it’s cool to see that detailed out like this. Congratulations on hitting the vast majority of your goals, while continuing to find the experience positive!
As for me, I’m just glad I got one fic out in 2020, even if it was on the final day.
I’m hoping that external circumstances in 2021 will calm down at some point. One can’t let oneself live entirety the mercy of external circumstances, but boy howdy would it be great for those to have less of an influence for a bit.
5426481
Thanks! A big year, perhaps, but I'm aiming to make bigger ones.
And congrats on getting a fic out. Any fic's a triumph, especially in a year as obstacle-ridden as 2020.