Continuing on with our belated New Goals post 😉

I hope the beginning of your 2023 has been a blessing to you and those you love!  

If you missed the 2022 Wrap-Up post, it’s almost like a Part I, so go check it out! They are independent of each other, but they also go hand in hand. 

If y’all know me, you know I’m all about living on purpose for purpose, doing things with intentionality and a plan. That means taking the time–even if a month late!–to assess how I’ve done, what I need to change and adjust moving forward, and setting new goals to keep pursuing what I’ve been called to do. With that said, let’s jump right in to some 2023 goals!

Reading Goals

I’m an avid Goodreads user, as you know. I always set up the yearly Reading Challenge.

My 2023 goal is to read 60 books, but I’m currently on track to surpass that this year. Though the year is young and I have a lot of travel scheduled, so we’ll see. It may all even out in the end.

Since I’ve begun setting reading goals intentionally, I’ve read a minimum of 50 books a year (since at least 2013; I didn’t count before that, so I have no idea!). 

Last year I read 63 books, though my original goal was 50, so it was a good year!

Of the 60 books I want to hit for 2023, I of course am renewing my annual goal of reading 12 non-fiction books (at least 3 of which should be devotionals). I also want to try to read at least 1 writing book again this year. I’d set a goal to finish the Villain’s Ever After series last year and just barely missed it, but I finished those up last week. And this year I’d like to finally make time to catch up on the Keeper of the Lost Cities books. I know I’ve said that in the past, but this year I have a plan! And let’s be honest, that usually makes a huge difference!

The biggest update for my 2023 reading goals is actually that my friend, Cassie, and I have challenged one another to a special Reading Challenge in which we are making a goal to read books that we own this year. It’s not as crazy as it sounds–I promise! And it grew from a personal challenge to something we’re actually hosting on Instagram for others to join. With prizes and cool graphics and everything! But more on that next week 😉

So, those are just a few of my reading goals for the year! What about you guys? What are your 2023 reading goals?

GraceBought Goals

GraceBought turned five this month! Wow. That’s mind-blowing to think about. I can’t believe it’s been going for this long. This has been such a fun experience and it’s a joy to interact with you guys <3 Thanks for hanging around in my little corner of the world.

I’ll be continuing the weekly book reviews and monthly WWWednesdays. Those are a fun part of my month and a great way to recap what I’ve been reading. I love hearing what you guys are reading, too! And I may also do something with that Reading Challenge to log my journey. We’ll see 🙂

Last year I’d thought about starting to do some platforming for the novella I wrote last year, but I got edits back last month and am still working on those, and as it turns out, I’m thinking I may need to expand the novella into a novel. That said, I’m tinkering with the idea of updating the blog into more of an author website or perhaps just starting an email list for now. I’m not sure the timeline on that, but I am taking steps to learn more about what those steps look like. So, stay tuned for updates and how that may affect GraceBought.

Writing Goals

Last year was full of conferences, drafting a new project, and lots of life in between.

This year, I’ll be focusing on revisions rather than working on a new project. I have edits back for one project, Shards & Shadows, that I’m working on implementing now. This was the novella I drafted last year that I’m likely going to expand into a novel. I’ll resubmit the fleshed out manuscript in the summer to another editor for a second developmental edit and then based on her feedback potentially go to line edits from there. I’m also planning to speak with a publisher this summer to see if they would be interested in the project. My original plan was to self-publish the book, but after hearing several professionals at conferences last year recommend that I speak to a specific publisher to hear his opinion, I’m going to do that before moving forward.

For the novel I wrote in 2021, MSF, I am getting my first round of edits back next month for that. I’d like to begin the next draft on that later on this year, but since SGH has summer deadlines, that will be my primary focus for the time being. MSF is a much larger, longer, and rougher project, so it will need much more work than SGH currently needs.

Ideally, I’d love to start thinking through concepts for my next novel–and honestly, I’ve been toying with the idea of going back to Lenora to restructure and redraft it. But I also want to be cognizant of not putting too many expectations on myself while I’m still learning the best way to wrangle this revision process.

My travel schedule this year is pretty packed. There’s one month I don’t have travel planned for the year! I’m excited about these trips, but I also want to prepare for the toll it will take on me so that I’m being intentional about resting fully and regularly.

I’ll be attending at least 3 homeschool conferences for work to interact with young writers who may be interested in either the Young Writers Workshop or the Author Conservatory. I’ll be in St. Charles, MO with S.D. Smith’s team in March and then with his team again that month in Greeneville, SC. Then in May I’ll be in Pigeon Forge, TN with Tricia Goyer for Teach Them Diligently. And I’m considering attending a personal development conference in Nashville in April, too, but we’ll see if I can swing that in my schedule and finances.

For writing, I will be attending at least four conferences, the Story Embers Virtual Summit in April, the Write to Publish conference in June, Realm Makers in July, and the Student-Organized Young Writers Workshop conference in August. I’ll actually be speaking at the YDubs one, which I’m super excited about!

If you’ll be attending any of these, I’d love to hear from you! Maybe we can connect–wouldn’t that be so cool! Or if you’ve attended any of these events in the past, I’d also love to hear about your experience 🙂

Personal Goals

My life is mostly reading, writing, work, and church with some cooking, crocheting, and travel thrown in. I’ve been pouring a lot of energy into writing and work over the last few years, and though I do intend to continue at a steady pace with those things, I’m also looking to maintain healthy boundaries and remember to rest intentionally.

I’ve been struggling a little with burnout and boundaries, but I’m also working intentionally to shore those up and maintain a healthy routine in my daily life.

I’ll continue saving toward a house that I hope to one day be able to purchase and move into, and I’ll continue serving my church music ministry because that brings me joy and I value service. Play my trumpet and worshiping through music is part of who God made me to be and I don’t want to neglect that. I’ll also still be prioritizing meeting with my weekly Bible study group so that I’m growing in the word and prioritizing fellowship.

I haven’t really been writing many letters recently, but perhaps that is something I could try to make more time for as I seek more rest. I’ve been working away at crocheting baby blankets for the 4-5 expecting mamas I know, and due to an old wrist injury that is slower going than I would like. It makes writing by hand difficult, too. So, I have to be careful how many handwritten and crocheting activities I take on at once.

As for traveling, I’ve already told you guys I’ll be all over the place with different conferences, for work and professional and personal development. But I’ll be visiting family next month to see my grandparents and then my brother and his family. I’ll also be spending a week with a friend, who’s basically a little sister to me. My aunt has invited me to spend a week at the Grand Canyon as her family travels there this summer, and the Grand Canyon is on my bucket list. I’d like to be able to go, but I may not be able to make it due to health and financial reasons. I’ll know closer to the date, but here’s to hoping it works out! And of course, I’ll still be traveling to visit my college group for our annual Christmas tradition and meet with my old church friends there.

~*~

Alright, enough about me! What are some of your 2023 goals? Share below and let me know!

Here’s to another year with GraceBought! It is my sincerest hope that you can find something here that makes you smile and encourages or helps you, whether through a post of my crazy, random thoughts, a book review, or something else! Thanks so much for walking with me through this and may your 2023 be the best year yet!

Love always,
Coralie