Rearview Mirror: January 2011

Earlier this year, I set several goals for myself that I want to accomplish before the year is out.  Previously, I would routinely set goals and then hope to accomplish them.  Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn’t.  But what I didn’t do is follow up periodically to see if I was making any progress.  That changes this year.

Here is a list of the goals I have set for myself along with notes on the progress, if any, I made on the goal during January.  The majority of the goals were detailed in my Making Plans for 2011 post from earlier this year.  I’ve added a few goals to the list since then as well.

Write a Novel — I completed the first three chapters of a new mystery novel.  The book takes place in Florida and is baseball-oriented.  That’s all I can say for now.

Continue With Plans to Race in The Rolex 24 at Daytona — This year is all about getting seat time.  I attended the first race of the year at Roebling Road and was behind the wheel for about three hours of the seven hour race on Saturday.  Unfortunately, I got sick on Sunday and couldn’t compete.  My next race is scheduled for February 12 & 13 at Eagle Canyon Raceway in Decatur, TX.

Learn to Play Guitar — I had my first lesson in January.

Learn to Play Piano — No progress to report

Kayak the Length of the St. John’s River — While making preliminary plans in January, I learned that the person that was going to help me with logistics is going to be out of the country at the time I was planning on making my assualt on the St. Johns.  That could really pose a problem.  I may need to push my plans back to closer to the end of the year.  I’m still working on it.

Circumnavigate Wisconsin by Bicycle or Foot — No progress to report.

Start the Adoption Process — We have had a couple of family meetings concerning this, but no real progress has been made.

Apply for an MFA in Creative Writing — Done.  I submitted the application in January.

Launch Short Story Website — I purchased the WordPress theme I will be using for the site and my website designer is customizing it for me right now.  I hope to have this completed by the end of March 2011.

Launch Other Internet Businesses — Although I can’t be too specific, I have made some headway on this goal.  I should have some good news in the next few months.

Read the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century — I purchased James Joyce’s “A Portrait of an Artist  As Young Man” (#3 on the list), but have not started reading it yet.

That’s it for this month.  More progress to come!