12 Week Year Update - Q1 2024
NEWSPLANNING
At the tail end of last year I learned about the concept of the 12 Week Year. Basically, you divide the year up into 12 week chunks, and lay out your projects in such a way that they go inside those boxes. Maybe. I mean I am pretty sure that’s how it goes. I don’t know what you do with the leftover weeks. Ok, I didn’t really do any research, I just heard the cliff note summary and ran with it. As I do. So maybe 'learned' is a strong word.
Anyway, it’s a way of structuring you year so that you can:
Map out your goals for the year
Timebox your projects
This instantly appealed to me. I am bad about setting goals for a year without really mapping them out in any real way. Other than thinking “hey, I should try to have this out by Dragon Con.” So I sat down, and made a road map. As I made it, I sort of had the thought of “maybe I am being a little ambitious.” But I said fuck it, let’s ride.
I decided to set five goals for each 12 week chunk. These wouldn’t be the only things I do, I mean, I do a lot of stuff. But these would be the five big projects I wanted to accomplish in a given period. My goal categories are:
Writing - typically a book or long novella.
Business - something big that isn’t writing a new book.
Editing - some project that I am either in self edit mode, or sending off to the editor.
Other - some random goal related to Tales by Bob
Gaming - this is basically where I am ramping up my rpg game design.
So the first 12 weeks ended yesterday, Sunday March 24th. That means it’s time to do a recap of how it went!
Goal 1 (writing)- Create Your Way To Freedom
This was originally ‘write Crimson Horror 2,’ but that went to shit quickly. The LadyWife had surgery, pretty major (planned) surgery that threw me so out of whack that I essentially wrote no fiction for 10 of the 12 weeks. Absolutely not her fault. I just didn’t cope well with my best friend and better half being out of commission. It sorta messed with my head a little bit, and took me totally out of being in the headspace to write horror.
But I was able to write things that weren’t fiction. Lots of blog posts, a bunch of little guides, and most importantly, I was able to finish draft one of my self help guide to creatives trying to make it. Create Your Way to Freedom - How to Be a Success From Someone Who Isn’t will be coming out…soonish.
Goal 2 (business) - Standup Bearded Bard InkWorks
I did this! You can check it out HERE. But in case you missed it, this is the micropress that I started to publish my stuff. Long term, I will use it to publish other people's stuff as well, mostly in the indie rpg space (that is the plan at least). And I have a few anthology ideas in mind too. But for now, it’s stood up, and is sitting there ready to go when I need to use it. The only thing I haven’t done yet, because I don’t have to yet, is set up an official DBA with the state. But until I have actual money rolling in/out that isn’t just mine, it’s moot.
Goal 3 (editing) - Edit Southern Horror
I have a bunch of Southern Horror short stories. I need to take them, rework/edit the hell out of them. They were some of the earlier stuff I wrote, and while they have a lot of promise, I have done a lot of growing as an author since then. So the edits on these will be extensive, very extensive, just to get them good enough to send to the editor. Complicating this is the fact that I would rather pour bleach on my eyes than edit.
So yeah, I didn’t do this.
Goal 4 (other) - Start Audiobooks
This was an easy lift, because it required very little from me, while being huge for my overall brand. Suffice to say, John Solo is currently recording Bringing Home the Rain.
Goal 5 (gaming) - Seek Ye Zine
I have really been wanting to amp up my indie rpg game design. It’s one thing to whip up a bunch of silly one sheets. It’s another to take the most promising ideas and turning them into zines. Step one meant learning how to lay out a zine, which with the help of youtube and affinity publisher 2.0 I was able to accomplish. I then settled on my solo-journaling game Seek Ye Small Gods In Hidden Places to convert into a nice 28 page zine. It was a lot, but also, it went quick once I actually got rolling on it.
Anyway, I got an email from the printshop I am using (Mixam) that the 100 copies of it I ordered are complete, and will be shipping soon!
The Next 12 Weeks
So yeah, overall I am pretty happy with my initial 12 weeks! I was for sure a little too ambitious. But I am giving myself some grace for this, and the future 12 weeks. I will not achieve all my goals, but if I can do at least 3, I will count it a victory. I just have to keep reminding myself that I don’t do this full time (yet), and have to wedge these in around day jobs and family time.
So what are my goals for the next set of 12 weeks? Here they are:
Goal 1 (writing) Finish Crimson Horror 2
Goal 2 (business) New editions of my books laid out, covers refreshed.
Goal 3 (editing) Edit Southern Horror (maybe this time I’ll actually do some…)
Goal 4 (other) Marsh Bible (not for public consumption, this is for internal use)
Goal 5 (gaming) SEC Cults Zine
