2021 goals, focus words, and the King of Hygge

As we round out February, I wanted to send a little note to your inbox. (It’s been a while after all!)

The first week of January I created a really cool page in my bullet journal for my goals for the year and the quarter, and then I finally filled it out in mid-February (how’s that for being very enneagram 7/enfp of me?).

I decided to set quarterly goals instead of yearly (I probably got this idea from Tsh at some point.😉) So here they are, with Q1 starting in February and going through end of March-ish:

• send 10+ new queries or sign with an agent (gotta dream big, amiright?)

• finish at least 75% of my current WIP

• read a few books from my shelves

• send thank you cards

• get in a good movement (I wouldn’t go so far as to say workout) routine

It’s going pretty well so far. I feel like these are manageable and I’m making progress on them all as of now. Yay!

What I did work on in early January was some word focus. I’m not quite sure this is a “word of the year” thing (I never seem to follow through with that idea), but the words I’ve been really connecting with in 2021 are these:

meraki: this is a Greek word meaning “the soul, love, or creativity put into something; the essence of yourself you put into your work.”

hygge: the Danish word referring to concepts such as coziness, togetherness, warmth, and light

friluftsliv: a Norwegian word that literally translates to “open-air-living”

I should probably write a whole newsletter on meraki; as for hygge and friluftsliv, these are concepts I’ve been embracing this whole winter and they have really helped me turn around my negative attitude toward this season. Despite living in one of the most mild-winter climates around, I still tend to complain and hate on winter a lot. I’m a summer girl at heart, but hygge and friluftsliv have really helped me embrace this season.

We’ve been having our community group outside around the bonfire (for social distancing) since the fall, and that has really anchored those two words for me. We’ve been surprised at how much we’ve grown to love that tradition and these concepts.

We’ve also recently dubbed Scully the King of Hygge. We have a lot to learn from him still. 😄

The only real writing update is that I entered Voyage YA Literary Journal’s First Chapters contest, and my entry was long-listed. So I didn’t win anything but it’s nice to have been in the running. I’m back to working on that story now and I really love it.

Recent reading obsessions: I finished the Cursebreakers series and loved it, am 2/3 finished The Raven Cycle and super into that. New-to-me favorite reading podcast is Strong Sense of Place. I’ve requested books from almost every episode I’ve listened to, I just love the concept of it, and it’s fulfilling a bit of a travel void in me. I’ve even listened to a couple episodes with David on a road trip, which was fun.

I’d love to hear if you have any word(s) of the year and whether you set goals quarterly, yearly, etc? You can leave a comment below (and if you have Animal Crossing tips, I’m all ears).

xo,

nicole ✨