New Year—New Expectations, Part 2: My 2022 Plans

Happy New Year, Everyone!

The number sequence 2-0-2-2 has crept its way into calendars, clocks, minds, blog posts, and more. The future has become the present, and we were swept up in it. On December 31st, in part 1 of this 2-part series, I talked about how to fulfill your resolutions. Today I’m going to share with you some of my plans and goals for this year. Even though these aren’t technically resolutions, I’m still going to try to practice what I ‘preached’ about a few days ago.

Even though I know not everything turns out the way I want it, I have several expectations, hopes, and goals for this year, and today I will share several. By the way, some of these concern you, my reader, particularly concerning the future of this blog! As well as upcoming writing-related opportunities and sneak-peaks.

In 2022, I want to. . .

Writing.

• Participate in Crazy Writing Week, 2022—January 4-11. Crazy Writing Week, or CWW, is an online event where hundreds of writers gather to write like crazy! It is totally free. Two teams compete against each other to write the most words and/or spend the most time on some writing-related activity. It’s a great motivation booster!  (And if you want to participate but not compete, you can join the neutral team. 😉) It used to be three times a year, but now it’s just one time. So this is your only chance for the whole year! Though it starts on the 4th, CWW opens up on the 3rd—TODAY—for people to get acquainted with the community, get hyped up, etc. I’ll be there, and I hope you will too! 😀
• Finish up the first draft of Beyond the Wolf. I’m so close to finishing the first draft of my book Beyond the Wolf (BtW)! I hope to complete it before January 15—halfway through the month; though, of course, it could end up being 80,000 words or something instead of my goal of 70K. 😑 My goodness, I’ll be so relieved once I’m done with that draft! I’ve been working at it hard for so long. 😅
• Begin (and then finish) Heirs of Guinn. In preparation for the next writing project after BtW, I’ve started outlining a novella project temporarily called Heirs of Guinn (HoG—man, me and my funny Work-in-Progress acronyms)! I’m much more confident in the plot and characters of this story than I was and am of BtW, so in the future I may perhaps write some HoG sneak peaks—what it’s about, snippets, character interviews, topics like that. I’m excited and I hope you are too!
• Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo. Camp NaNoWriMo—National Novel Writing Month—is the more laidback version of the actual NaNoWriMo in November. From what I understand, it’s in July and instead of writing a minimum of 50K words in a month, it’s whatever you want it to be. Most commonly, 20K words. It’d be my first time participating.

Blogging.

• Reach 100 subscribers (and 150+ by the end of the year). Guys, the RKW is literally so close to 100 subscribers!!! As of now, when I’m writing this, this blog only needs 3 more followers to reach 100. I’m definitely elated about this news! Now I’m trying to decide what to do to celebrate. As a subscriber of mine, feel free to share some ideas of what you want me to organize/do! 😄
• Write more book reviews. I was given several books for Christmas, and I’m excited to jump back in and start reading more again, as well as do a few book reviews! As I begin publishing reviews, you may notice that most of them will vary in quality and style, as I continue to polish and refine my book-reviewing skills (if I had any to start with). 😎 So if I start getting more ‘picky’ compared to older reviews, it’s because I’m learning to get better at seeing more pros and cons of a book. Future book review possibilities include, but are not limited to: Dehali, Tartarus Chronicles book #2 by Keith A. Robinson (find review of #1 here), The Bruised Dream by Alabama Rose, Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger, and *waves hand around* Some Wayne Thomas Batson book (I’m undecided as to which series to read next).
• Make more posts based on Christian and Biblical morals and beliefs. I have so many drafts in this area of my posts, and I’m finding it hard to stick to one topic for a post and write about that. I have lots of ideas and everything going through my head, and it’s difficult to put them to the paper efficiently, concisely, and truthfully. But I’ll try. 🙂

Reading.

• Read More. I’ll try to read some of the books listed earlier, as well as others. Reading is fundamental to writing, so what kind of writer would I be if I didn’t read more often?

Faith.

• Lead a child to Christ. What do I mean by this? Every summer I participate in a training called Christian Youth in Action, or CYIA. It’s an 11 day intense training where youth learn to teach the gospel effectively to children through 5 day clubs. Now, you can learn more about this when I write about it in the summer so I won’t explain anymore. But many of my fellow youth have led children to believe Christ. I’ve never done that. Now, this is something out of my control and I suppose what’s most important for me is to try to reach these kids and what’s most important overall is for them to come to Christ, no matter who leads them.
• Read the Bible every day. I could have done much better with this in 2021. I hardly read (chronologically) on the weekends, and I’ve missed several days several times. My bible is very, very thick—the thickest book I have—, and with my lack of consistency in other years, I’ve been chronologically reading this holy beautiful book for multiple years. I can’t remember exactly when I started, but it was a while ago. I’ve picked up how much I read every day, and I just finished Ephesians.
• ‘Pray without ceasing.’ This is tough for me to pray so often. Many times I’ve forgotten to pray when I finished a passage in my Bible. I do need to pray more. And not just about things I want and need, but to thank and praise Jesus. He definitely deserves more than all the praise I can possibly give Him.

Regular Life.

• Begin learning how to drive. I turn 16 this year, so requesting my dad begin to teach me as well as organize the lessons will be something I need to get myself to do.
• Begin learning an instrument. My dad wants me to start learning guitar, but taking the initiative to have my mom or someone else teach me and then actually practicing is something that’ll take motivation accountability. I do also want to try out drumming/using a cajón. I know if I try I can do it but it really is hard for me to start up something new and keep it going.

---

And those are most of my plans, goals, and hopes for this new year, 2022.

What are some of your goals and plans for 2022? Are you excited for this new year? Scared? Nervous? I’d love to hear your thoughts too! 🙂

With God’s help,

Daniel Amador