This I know for sure...

For most people, January is a time for looking back on the previous year and setting goals for the new year. Looking at back at 2016, I took a hard look at the steps I took to accomplish my goals.

I examined what worked and what didn’t. If I'm honest, I'm not sure if the steps I planned on taking would have worked or not because I definitely feel that last year I veered off my planned path, got so lost that I hadn't a hope in hell of accomplishing what I set out to do in those early bright, shiny days of January 2016.

Yes, I suppose I could blame having surgery and a much harder recovery than expected for a small part of not reaching a single goal that I set last year, but it sounds like a cop out even to me. I think, no, I know that I let other people take me off my goal path. They may not even have known that's what they were doing because I let their drama and moods become my drama and moods which sucked any creative spark I might have had right out of me.

This year, I'm determined not to let that happen again. Some people just aren't happy unless they're making everyone around them miserable. I know that. I'm not going to let those people take me off the path leading to goal accomplishment this year.

I've set three major goals for 2017 that I'm going to work very hard at meeting. The first is leaving people to wallow in their drama and moods on their own. The second is to have two completed books ready for submission. The third is to submit at least one of those books for publication to both agents and editors. To consider this last goal met, I have to either have sold a book or have at least 25 rejections.

Do you set yearly goals? How did you do on your 2016 goals? Better than I did, I hope.