Goals and things

I've been thinking about goals lately, given that the year is almost up. I met the last of my goals for this year today (just under the wire) so it's time to think of new ones for next year.

This year I:

• Took the GRE
• Read the New Testament
• Read the Book of Mormon
• Submitted two manuscripts for publication (and am 100% banking on them being rejected)
• And maintained my daily streak on Duolingo for the entire year

I learned a neat trick about manuscript submissions though! So, pro tip: If you're doing an email submission and you want to be sure the publisher has read your email you can conveniently neglect to attach your proposal to the email. That way they'll email you back and say they'll be happy to review it (a good sign) but then ask if you forgot to attach it (a bad sign). 

That was an embarrassing email exchange (but I'm pretty sure it's something everyone has done). 

I haven't made my official goals yet, but I'm sure they'll include applying to grad school and making a few more manuscript submissions. Among other things.

I've been nervous about thinking about going back to school myself while trying to homeschool four children, but I think I'll automate things more next year. This year I've been coming up with curriculum myself, which is fun...but time consuming. Next year I'll be more structured and probably choose a curriculum that lists out each day's work for everyone. And it will be easier to do that starting out in the beginning of the year rather than in the middle of the year (at least, that's what I'm telling myself). So far the curriculums I've looked at are a lot less rigorous than I am; my children will probably appreciate that (and I'll probably challenge them a bit more). 

Beyond that I don't really know what goals to make (perhaps "find a way to coax my siblings into sharing their childhood memories with me," but that goal is really too dependent on other people to make a reality). We (Andrew and I) are feeling rather exhausted having just made it through 2018 and 2019 back to back (with the rest of the world, but—come on!—those years were particularly exhausting). Having been so intent on surviving I'm not sure what goals to make now that focus on thriving. 

But I/we will come up with some good things, I'm sure.