2014 Writing Goals. Post your goals for the next year.

Actually finish something. I haven't really written anything other than paperwork and work-related stuff for over 2 years. Would love to get back into it and actually sub some stuff around.

Here's my update for the first quarter of 2014:

eqb said:

1. Edit my "coda" story for my River of Souls trilogy.

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Done. I'm now considering whether to write three or four more stories and make a code collection. But that's on the backburner for now.

2. Handle copyedits and galley review for my alt-history novel by the given deadlines.

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Copyedits just showed up this week. I'll have them done by the deadline. Galley pages are scheduled for June.

3. Write the first three chapters for a new novel and get the submission packet to my agent by May 1st.

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Done. But, er, not the novel I first planned to write. I wrote 7K for that original idea and wasn't happy with the result. Then I got tackled by a completely different idea, wrote three chapters and the synopsis, and sent those off to my agent this week.

4. Make one thorough editing pass through my fourth River of Souls novel by September 1st.

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All kinds of complicated reasons, but I've decided to postpone this goal until next year.

So the new goals are:

1) Review copyedits by the deadline, April 29th.

2) Review galley pages by the deadline, June 20th.

3) Write four promised guest blog posts by September 1st.

4) Finish the new novel and have it submission ready by the end of the year.

Ooh, goals! I always aim too high, but I'm going to aim too high again, because of all that about aiming for the moon and ending up among the stars...

1) The biggie - to get an agent or a small pub deal for HIS & Y0URS & NEVER MINE

2) To finish (well, I have to start it first) a new ms

That's it - but if I complete just one of those I will be very very happy

Very late to the thread but...

Finish (have ready to query) Scrubbing Grandma.
Complete first drafts of Clara's Wedding and SSHSFS.

1) Finish first draft.


I'm new at this so I'm not sure if I'm aiming high or low with that one.

A few things new writers might want to take into account:

1) Choose goals you have control over. You can't control getting an agent, but you can control when and how many agents you query.

2) Be specific. Say you want to finish a draft by X date, or you want to research and query N agents by that date.

1. Have six books edited and ready to self publish by the end of the year.

2. Have my epic fantasy novel finished and with a strong willed editor.

3. Work on word count. This right here is my personal writing demon.

4. Write a synopsis without breaking into tears and resorting to strong drink to get through it.

I'll do a quarterly update too. I copied and pasted my January post from this thread. I'll cross of the things that have been completed.


Story goals:

1. Be brave enough to share something at my writer's circle.
2. Be brave enough to share something in the fantasy section of Share Your Work. (I know, I'm a wimp.)
3. Complete the first draft of my One Thousand Ghosts story.
4. Then find a reliable beta (or two) for the One Thousand Ghosts story.
5. Become a beta reader for others on AW!

Poetry Goals:

1. Transpose my poetry into lyrics for my band. (They asked me to do this! Ah!)
2. Start researching how to go about publishing poetry. Eventually submit poetry for pub.
3. Start researching poetry contests. Eventually submit poetry for a contest.
4. Experiment with happy poems, you depressing, malfunctioning, emo.
5. Bake delicious lava cake

That WIP is coming along much slower than I imagined. I wanted to finish before June, but unless I quit my day job and write 8 hours a day I doubt I'll make it. Still, I'll keep trudging along. Better slower than never.

My goals for this year are to:

Continue querying agents with my completed manuscript
Finish the first draft of my newly outlined story
Write at least 500 words a day
Update blog at least once a week
Learn to be patient! Good things come to those who wait (supposedly).

Good job to everyone who is sticking with their goals!

Finish my WIP, polish it, and then get an agent.

-Finish WIP by August

-Complete two rounds of edits by December

-Compile a list of potential agents and draft workable query/elevator pitch/etc. by the new year


There, that doesn't look so scary.

This is such a good idea; I need to make more short- and long-term goals with my writing.

For 2014, I'll say:
- Finish editing/rewriting Draft 3 of my current WIP (Book 1). Forward it onward to 2 or 3 beta readers for editing and comments.
- Write Draft 1 of Book 2, and, if ambitious, Book 3.
- Finish Draft 1 of a different WIP, in different genre.

Captcha said:

Finish the revisions I'm working on now and get them to my agent.

Then, 520K new words written.

Of this, four novels in my home genre, plus a self-pubbed series in that genre (with shorts, novellas, or whatever else strikes my fancy).

Respond to demand from publishers - what can my agent sell? When she sells it, write more of it!

Go back to the YA series and write a second book.

Go back to the UF novel and finish it.

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Update: Hmmmm...

Revisions done and sent long ago. Just about on-track for the word count goal, and I'm confident I can catch up when the weather turns bad and there's nothing else to do.

But the rest of it has been more or less eaten by the "respond to demand from publishers" aspect. Which is good, career wise, but reminds me AGAIN about the risks of setting goals. Only one novel completed in my home genre, and I'm going to have to work to keep my name alive there while I experiment with other genres.

It's all fun, but it's not all according to plan. Oh well.

amergina said:

Well, as normal, my year didn't quite go as planned.

That romance turned into a two book sale to Berkley. The first came out in August.

I spent a good part of the year revising book 1 and writing book 2 (which I just turned in).

I also wrote a 14K short that I sold to Riptide Publishing. I also wrote a 10K fantasy short for the SFF section's story swap.

I *still* need to revise that poor fantasy. I've started on that again.

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That's funny - my plans were ALSO disrupted by a two-book deal with Berkley and a sale to Riptide! Those publishers are apparently forces of chaos (bless them!)

Fruitbat said:

Ooh, wonderful thread! I love New Year's Resolutions.

The one year I reached lots of big goals, I read my list over every morning so it stayed on my mind. I just heard someone else say he breaks his goals down into a couple hundred mini-goals and sticks them on the mirror, then takes them off as they're done. I plan to copy cat.

Writing goals:

Finish my two nonfiction book rough drafts.

Either get a good jump on my second 100 credits with flash fiction or a novel in stories or both if they work together.

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Personal problems kinda knocked off my creative side for 2014, but I did round up my published flash stories and re-publish them as a book. And, I just re-did one of the nonfiction book rough drafts, which should be out (most likely self-published) early in 2015.

Anna Spargo-Ryan said:

Finish a draft. Preferably the one I'm currently working on, but not necessarily.

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I did! If only I could finish this subsequent draft.

Enter the Vogel's.

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I was ineligible on account of selling the book! (The Vogel's are for unpublished manuscripts.) So that's better, I think.

Write something--of any length, for any purpose--that I really love.

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This (some trigger warnings)

Submit at least one piece of poetry to a mag.

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I sent a few! None of them were accepted though. I'm a terrible poet.