I Can See Clearly Now That I Have 2020 Vision

A new year, a new attempt with this whole writing thing. I rang in the new year with sheer perfection: I was in bed by 10pm and I was sick as a dog. I'm completely convinced that my cough is from hell itself. Deep and torturous. I wish I was kidding. Before get on with the new, let's take a look at what you've missed (because I neglected to blog about it) in 2019.

1) We got out of debt. That's right, if you haven't heard, $98,000 paid off in one year and 10 days. We both worked two full time jobs, we sold just about everything, and ate a lot of very, very cheap eggs. We accomplished this on May 15, 2019. We continued with our second jobs until the end of June.

2) At the beginning of July, both Steve and I decided we wanted to take our jobs and turn them into careers so we both started independently studying. Steve focused on Real Estate and I focused on getting my CPC (certified professional coder) license. Three long months later, in October, we both sat for our exams and passed. As of yesterday Steve is officially a full time realtor with Keller Williams here in Franklin, Tennessee. I am looking to move up in the company that I have been with for the past five years. I am hoping to make my transition no later than March 2020.

View of London from Greenwich Park 10 November 2019

3) We cash flowed a three week vacation to England and Scotland. If you know me, you know it has been my DREAM to not only travel, but specifically to travel to the United Kingdom. I have two pen pals that I've been writing (or facebooking) for six years. We toured London, Bath, Oxford, York, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. I met both my friends. I had an amazing time traveling the country. If I have time later, I will go more into detail about all the fun that was had, what I loved, what I didn't, and my overall impression of my very first vacation (that didn't involve visiting family) of my adult life.

Steve and I, "The Circus", Bath, England 12 November 2019

4) The last massive thing that I accomplished has to do with reading. As you know, in 2018 I joined Good Reads (thanks Alice!) and made a goal of reading 24 books. To some that may not seem like a lot; however, for me, and my reading habits of prior years, it was massive. At the end of 2018, even with taking a four month reading hiatus, I managed to read 65 books. Even though I was excited, I absolutely thought that was a fluke. There's no way I can repeat that. Even so, I got bold and set my goal for 2019 to 52 books. That's one book a week, and that scared me! It scared me, and then lit a fire under me. Despite working two jobs, studying for my CPC exam, and traveling Europe for nearly a month, I managed to finish off 2019 with not only reaching my goal, but exceeding it. And my friends, I exceeded it by A LOT. Instead of 52 books, I managed to finish 146. Yes, you saw that right, I read one hundred and forty six books in 2019. I had always had a lofty dream of reading 100 books in a year someday, but didn't think I could ever do it. I cannot say that any longer.

Crazy hard exam 70% + to pass.

That pretty much brings us to current day. It's 9:30pm on January 01, 2020. I've set my goals for 2020 and here they are:

1) Read 100 books.

2) Write 100 book reviews on this blog. They're not going to go into a ton of detail regarding plot and story, but I will definitely share my impressions and how I ranked the book. I can be a bit persnickety, so just be warned, and remember, it's okay to disagree. We can both be right (and wrong) at the same time.

3) Write my novel's manuscript. Something you may not know about me. I've written and published a book of poetry. I've written (by hand mind you) two very long novels. One got lost over the years and the other was burned in a wood stove in a fit of anger one dark dark day in Rhododendron, Oregon. I've got some great guidelines and planning tools available to me to brainstorm and outline for a couple of months and then I have work count goals of 10,000 monthly from March through October. November I will participate in NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month) which will be 50,000 words. December I will focus on research regarding getting an agent, an editor, and a publisher.

4) I always like to have some health and fitness goals set up, and this year is no different. I started 75 hard today. You should look it up. One day down, seventy-four to go. :)

5) Plant flowers. This concept is about positive self talk. I have struggled with self-hate for most of my life and it has really damaged me both physically and mentally. It's not going to be a perfect method, because breaking a 30 year habit doesn't happen over night, but the concept of "planting flowers" is how I will work to change. Every morning I will only say positive things about myself. If I cannot think of anything, I will say "I like myself" until I start believing it. We only have one guaranteed life, and I don't want to waste it being miserable. The self-hate (weeds) will grow anyway, so I will be actively planting flowers. I hope to not only do this with myself, but also to those I interact with this coming year.

Something that has really struck me recently is that when you have goals in your head, you're only accountable to yourself, and you are less likely to accomplish them. I've written them in my 2020 planner, I've spoken them to my friends, and I am posting them here. Funny enough, I've never been more excited to change my life than right now. And remember, you don't need to wait for the new year to change either. It's just an easy marker and I was near it when I started to get serious about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

This "short" message has gone on longer than I expected, so I will wrap things up now. I would love to hear your resolutions/goals. I would love to hear about the best (and worst) books your read in 2019. I would also love to hear what you are most excited about for this coming year.

Current reads as of today:

I am reading the Black Jewels Trilogy as a buddy read with my friend Alice for our Badassery Book Club (BBC). This club was founded in 2018. It has two members. I actually started reading this one a couple of days ago. I'm about halfway through book one and am absolutely fascinated. There are elements of fantasy used here that I never knew existed. I need to know what happens next, and fast!






Better than Before is my self development book I am reading in association with the 75 hard challenge. I'm barely 10 pages into this book; however, the way Gretchen Rubin looks at habits is right up my alley!



I am listening to this audio book during my walking adventures. This was on my to be read list last year but I didn't get to it. I'm less than 10% in and absolutely love Ms. Obama's story telling. I am fascinated.