Writing 101 – Day 20 – The Future

Oh my, I don’t know how I feel at the end of Writing 101! I suppose I am feeling exactly how I felt when I was graduating from university. A mixture of “Thank God, I won’t fall back on assignments any more!”, and, “OMG, what now? Does this mean I have to restart thinking about my own topics to write about?” and part, “I can’t believe I won’t be seeing familiar faces anymore! How will we manage to stay in touch when life gets in the way?” as well as, “I learned so much and I can’t wait to join another course again!” Emotions are just running back and forth, jumping up and down, fighting like cats and dogs and giggling together like little children in my mind.

Of course, the real test comes when you don’t have daily prompts and challenges and when you just have to write on your own. That really terrifies me but it excites me as well. Planning and goal setting is key; two skills that I’ve said time and again that I need to work on BIG TIME!

So what does the remainder of 2015 look like for me?

Starting this month till the end of December, I plan to:

1. Do lots of blogging and scheduling for most of the posts that have been in my mind and in my notebook since forever, which I did not want to tackle. This includes scheduling posts for the NaBloPoMo which I intend to take part in this November.
2. Get some fall-cleaning done in preparation for Diwali which coincidentally falls on my birthday this year! So that means lots of de-cluttering (my new best friend!), cleaning and organizing! Looking forward to it at the same time procrastinating on it!
3. Tackle some little tasks, errands and some shopping which I’ve been putting off for weeks! (Yeah, procrastination seems to love me!)
4. Go back to my old freelance full-time job from mid-October. I wasn’t planning on doing this but it’s a great opportunity and it also means everything is going to get super busy although I will be working mostly from home till mid-November and then work from the office till end of December.
5. Keep my fitness routine going but change the timing to first thing in the mornings so I don’t have to worry about it at the end of the day (mostly because my will-power and stamina are the weakest in the evenings after work).
6. Start thinking about my new pet project which will give me a lot of creative satisfaction and allow me to learn so many new skills. I won’t be able to get it off the ground yet (I need to read and learn a lot!) but to plan it, I need to ponder over it seriously.
7. Ease back into the 2015 Reading Challenge. I am ashamed to say I have been ignoring this challenge which ironically was the reason why I started blogging seriously in January! Realistically, I know I won’t be able to finish the challenge but I want to try and finish as many books as I comfortably can by the end of this year.
8. Make my very own planner for the first time! I’ve never used a planner properly before (to-do lists are as far as I reluctantly go!) but I’ve been so inspired to make one of my own and get it printed and spiral bound! Hope this goes well !
9. Make plans to visit a mountainous region in India next year! Any suggestions? 🙂
10. Review my 2015 goals and see where I succeeded and where I went wrong and make a better plan for 2016 with revised goals.

Coincidentally, halfway through drafting this post and while taking a lunch break, I picked up the weekend magazine that comes with our newspaper every Friday and checked my weekly horoscope (I don’t know if I always believe in it, but sometimes it uncannily senses my thoughts!) and this is what was written:

You may wish to learn more and could consider returning to an educational course that interests you. Planning personal matters takes priority this week. You will feel happy and a little impulsive, believing nothing can go wrong. A balance between detail and positive thinking will make you a winner.

Is that eerily correct or what? Anyway, all signs are leading to planning, so that’s what I shall do !

What are some of your goals for the remainder of this year? Leave me a comment below and let me know your planning technique. Would love to hear from you!

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