December results/ January goals & 2008 Financial Resolution

Alright, I've been slacking as I have been off the majority of this week for a much needed New year's vacation but, here is an update on my goals.

Goals for the end of December:

1. Send novel manuscript to 10 book agents and/or publishers - SUCCESS - I able to submit query letters to 10 books agents. Two of which asked for additional info and/or to re-send the query based on their guidelines. Now if only I can focus and get that done.
   
2. Apply to 20 jobs (part-time or full-time) - SUCCESS - on New year's eve I ended up applying to the last 2 jobs to make the 20 complete. I actually heard back from one promising opportunity within my company this week but, I guess I need to remain vigilant until the interviews start to occur on a regular basis.
   
3. Raise net worth to $8,500 or better - SUCCESS - I did accomplish this goal despite all of the holiday expenses. However, when calculating my car value for this past month it went UP rather than going DOWN like depreciating assets are supposed to. So that's kind of suspect. Even if it did go down the $50 or so it's been averaging in monthly depreciation I would have still hit the goal but it just seems strange is all I'm saying.
   

Overall I think the less is more approach for monthly financial goals is working and I believe I will stick with it. Now for January's goals:

Goals by the end of January 2008 -

1. Apply to 20 full-time jobs (using cover letters)
   
2. Save $1500 in Me & fiance's joint (wedding expenses) savings account
3. Re-send query to two books agents, send query letter to 10 new agents

As far as New year's Resolutions - I personally love to make them and have a horrible time remembering them.

I think last year's was to 'get out of debt' and as of today - I have achieved that goal. As of New year's it was a goal that I achieved earlier in the year and then realized it wasn't quite achieved - Now I really just need to focus on things other than debt because I think by focusing on 'being debt-free' It has inadvertently brought me back to an indebted status. OK I'm going way off on a tangent now. That being said - My 2008 New year's Resolution is to:

• Double my income
  

That's right - double my income period - it's that simple. How will I accomplish this - of course that's the tricky part. My current income stands at the mid 30's - in order to double it I will need to bring my income up to the high 60's or low 70's by the end of 2008.

Some possible strategies for achieving this daunting goal are:

1. Get a new, less stressful, better paying job
   
2. Publish and sell copies of my novel
3. Do some freelance writing
   
4. Invest $ into high-return accounts
5. start a part-time business
6. Buy more assets
7. Sell artwork
   
8. Create artwork for friend's children's book and get this book published

These are just some of the ideas that pop into my head but, I might have to use all of these ideas and then some in order to achieve my Resolution. Luckily this Internet thing is pretty easy to access and look back at.