At the start of 2024, I set some goals for myself. How’d I do? Let’s check!
Pictured: Report card from Clueless
- Goal: Watch 365 feature films
- Result: I watched 279 feature films
I’m not sure I’ll ever hit 365 features in a year ever again, though I might try one more time. The pandemic was just different. My brain was different. My kids were younger and I was more isolated and weirder. Actually, scratch that, weirdness has probably increased.
- Goal: Publish at least 200 reviews, lists, or essays
- Result: I published 117 reviews, lists, and essays
I fell pretty far short, unfortunately. I had several gaps of a week or longer without a new review. But I’m not going to beat myself up. I don’t want to burn out on movies, and I published 50+ podcast episodes, too. The silver lining here is that those 117 posts were on average much longer and, I hope, commensurately more thoughtful, than in past years. I published nearly 150,000 words on this site in 2024, not including guest posts.
- Goal: Revamp the Review Index
- Result: I revamped the Review Index
There you go! It bled into 2025 but I did most of the work in 2024.
- Goal: Make fewer mistakes
- Result: Gradual improvements, maybe?
I’ve been writing a little bit slower and, I think, published fewer mistakes in 2024. A big improvement came in the fall when, at the advice of an author friend, I started using a writing tool called ProWritingAid to catch broken grammar, misspellings, and awkward phrasing. It’s like Microsoft Word’s spelling and grammar checkers on ‘roids.
- Goal: Try something new
- Result: I tried a few small things, but not as much as I hoped
Despite my vagueness when I wrote this goal, I had a few specific ideas in mind, and they didn’t really pan out, both for reasons in my control and out of my control. (How’s that for vague?) But I did try a few small things, and they went pretty well. First, I set the goal early in the year of binging the filmographies of some directors with movies that came out in 2024, including some smaller-name directors I likely never would have sought out otherwise, and I found that to be illuminating. I may try it again in 2025. Second, I roped in another guest writer in JV. Third, I reached out to someone whose Letterboxd reviews I enjoy and started trading emails with him. His name is Mitch and he lives in Georgia and he’s a cool guy. First friend I’ve made directly through Letterboxd.
Looking at the last two, I’m thinking that maybe these goals should be a little more specific. A little more SMART.
Overall, in my personal and movie life (deliberately setting aside the world at large), 2024 was a very solid year. I’m looking forward to 2025; I’ll post my goals for the upcoming year here soon.
Dan is the founder and head critic of The Goods. Follow Dan on Letterboxd. Join the Discord for updates and discussion.