Writing goals for the year… I’m sure you’re looking at the title of this post and then glancing back at your calendar thinking “But… it’s May. Shouldn’t you have figured out your writing goals by now? That’s a January thing!”
Well, I’m here to tell you that you can set your goals for the year whenever you want! Especially with this whole pandemic going on and people staying at home all of the time, time and days have no meaning anymore. Besides, what better time than now to do some goal resetting, right?
Right.
Besides, since I’m new to this whole “my book is actually going to be published” thing and am still figuring out the ropes, I haven’t had much of an idea of the sort of timelines and goals I should be giving myself with my writing. I’m starting to get a little better vision of how things go, which makes me much more comfortable to figure out what I want to do.
Even beyond that, I think having goals is helpful right now. I need things I can obtain and accomplish so when I look back at this time spent I can say “I did that!” I definitely have a lot of relaxing time too, and if you’re in a place where you don’t feel like you can be motivated and do ALL THE THINGS that’s okay too! But, I want to go for it.
Look at me all ready to crush those goals, sitting naturally at my desk for the camera. I even put on lipstick for the first time in about a month. #pandemiclife
Top Priority: Edit The Night’s Chosen and Prep it for Publishing!
This should be a no-brainer. Everything is going to come second to this. I want my debut novel (and any novel I publish for that matter) to be the absolute best it can be. Yes, I want to accomplish other things too, but if they need to be set aside for me to revise and edit The Night’s Chosen, so be it. It’s also the goal I’m most excited and scared for. The pressure is on now!
Next Up: Knock Out the Synopsis’ for The Next Book (or two)
A majority of the time your second book is sold on synopsis. Since The Night’s Chosen in my head is the first in a potential series, I want to have a rough outline and synopsis done for the sequel - maybe even the rest of the series! That way when the time comes, I can have it ready to go to pitch it to my editor instead of rushing to do it at the last minute.
Then: Write a Freebie for my Newsletter Subscribers
Yup! This has been on my list for a looooooong time. I want to be able to give away a downloadable short story or novella for my newsletter subscribers. If you’re already subscribed, I’d send it to you early. Then all new subscribers would get it when they sign up. The problem? I can never decide what I want to write about! All of my ideas end up becoming bigger and would do well as full length books instead of something shorter. But, it will happen. This goal is always in the back of my mind and I want to have it for you all as a thank you for all your support.
After That: Write More Short Stories
This is a skill I’ve wanted to hone for a long time. I started to awhile back with my flash fiction pieces, but then I fell off the wagon. (Probably around the time I stopped blogging in general. ::facepalm:: I want to do this for a few reasons. 1) So I can post more of my fiction writing to this blog and share it with you all! 2) A great way for me to get my writing out there in the world is to submit to magazines and anthologies and for those you need shorter pieces. 3) It’s just a good skill to have in my author tool belt.
And Another Thing: Keep Up With my Blog and Social Media
This blog has been on the back burner for far too long, and I want to keep up with it again. Only one post a week, but keep it active and up to date. I want this site to be the “main hub” for anyone to go to when it comes to my writing and what I’m up to.
AND ANOTHER: Keep Learning About Writing
This is a goal I’m continually doing because I need to keep learning about my craft and honing it so I get better. I want my first book to be amazing, but I don’t want to stop there. I want each book I write to be better and better.
But I’ve noticed how lax I’ve been. For example: I listen to the podcast Writing Excuses every single week and I love it. These writers are so knowledgeable and have such a wealth of wisdom to share! I love soaking it all in, even though the episodes are only 15-20 (sometimes longer) minutes long. The thing is… I never do the homework. Ever. It’s terrible! My editor had me take a class a couple weeks ago and I thought a lot of the concepts I already knew, but when I started to do the exercises and homework I realized that I could know all the information about metaphors and poetic language that I wanted - but if I didn’t actually practice writing them I was never going to get better. So, I want to keep up with taking classes, reading books, and watching videos about writing while actually doing the practice items the instructors give.
Finally: Think of More Novel Ideas!
I have a few of these floating around in my head and my journals have little notes and thoughts jotted down in them. But I’m getting excited to dig deeper into them and see if there’s anything more I can make of them. As much as I love The Night’s Chosen and the world I’ve created with it, I want my author career to go past it whether it’s a stand-alone book or a full series. There are more characters and worlds to create and I want to explore them!
Okay… looking at all of these feels like a lot. But, the idea isn’t to do all of them at once. This is for the whole year. When I get my notes back from my editor, I’m going to only be focusing on that until it’s done. After I turn in that round of revisions, I’ll look back at my list and pick another goal to focus on for a bit.
We’ll see how well I actually do, but for now I’m super motivated and ready to go!
Anyone else have goals they want to accomplish this year?