With the first week of 2023 gone, I am making a bit belated post about my goals and wishes for 2023. I tend to be a poor judge of my capabilities, so this will be quite a loose set of goals I’ll try to keep realistic but not exactly easy.

Writing

When it comes to my writing goals, the main focus will be on continuing the work on book two. The optimistic goal would be to finish it by the year’s end, but I’ve long learned that there are many things beyond my control (such as the availability of beta readers or more pressing matters in my life). However, getting it pretty close to release should be possible, if nothing more. Likewise, I’d probably want to have the cover designed by the year’s end even if the book itself isn’t finished yet.

And, with the work on book two leading toward the finish line, getting back to editing book three should also take some of my time.

Related to writing, I’d like to give drawing a bit more time so I can better visualize the characters. I’m thinking about some way to help me progress but nothing too specific yet.

Hiking

2022 ended up exceeding expectations – my goal was 750km, but I ended up at almost 1100km. I’ve proven that endurance isn’t an issue, but given the lockdowns in COVID-affected years had cut off my access to Slovakian mountains, which are of higher difficulty. With things calming down, I should have more options to enjoy these harder trails again, and it’ll be interesting to see how my body adjusts from longer but easier hikes to having many shorter but harder trails in the mix.

And, since the weather is unpredictable, I won’t be raising the goal much. 800-850km would be nice, getting somewhere around 1000 again would be great.

Reading

When it comes to reading, I’m keeping my goal from 2022 at 20 books, though I’d probably prefer to be around 2 books per month (thus 24/year). My problem is more about reading regularly – I tend to have bursts followed by long breaks, so getting into some routine would be nice.

Personal

When it comes to other things… moving out went relatively well, though there are some minor unfinished things I’d want to wrap up this year. I’ll probably give the so-far experience of living on my own a separate post sooner or later.

In late 2022, I’ve been exercising a bit on and off, realizing that while my lower body gets a lot of action from hiking, the upper part is mostly slacking, and while I don’t want to look “buff” in any way, keeping my whole body in shape would be beneficial and probably help with the fact that my sedentary job sometimes makes me feel stiff. As with reading, developing some simple routine would probably work the best.

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Well, as you can see, my goals are quite simple – though how simple they’ll be to fulfill is another question. I hope that 2023 will be a good year for me – and for you as well.