Friday, January 07, 2011

New Year's Goals and Resolutions

Recently I started a discussion on one of my local writing group's yahoogroup about our writing goals and resolutions. You see, stating those goals and resolutions in a public forum makes them feel more real in our minds and makes us feel more accountable. And that means we are that much more likely to actually meet those goals and fulfill those resolutions. How to I differentiate a goal from a resolution. To me, a goal is a work target, while a resolution is a promise to make a change in behavior.

So, to make me even MORE accountable, I'm going to restate my goals and resolutions here. My writing goals are to:

1) promote two releases (Deadly Currents in March and the paperback/e-book versions of A Real Basket Case in November),
2) edit two manuscripts (Wicked Eddies, book 2 in the RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series, and the 3rd book in the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series), and
3) write the 3rd book in the RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series.

My writing-related resolution is to spend more time on writing and editing this year and less on promotion and networking. This is going to be tough, because opportunities are there for an author to spend an infinite amount of time promoting and networking. My hope is that after a few years of doing this, I can be smarter about it and select only those opportunities that have the most payback potential.

My non-writing-related resolution is to shed a few pounds. I'd like to get those holiday pounds off, plus a few more. We'll see how that goes!

So, spill, folks. What about you? What do you plan to accomplish in the year? What are you going to change or improve on? Do you have any specific goals or resolutions related to writing or reading Let me (and the rest of my blog readers) know!

4 comments:

T. L. Cooper said...

I refuse to do resolutions, especially at New Years. I believe they are doomed for failure because of the mind set we tend to have about them. Any resolution one is going to stick to is just as valid in August as in January. I do make vows to change behavior, but I try to always find ways to make them goals. For example, I want to be more grateful and positive minded this year, so I set a goal to post something for which I'm grateful as my first FB status every single morning this year.
I want to complete the rough draft of the book I've been writing for way too long, so I set a goal - publicly - to finish it by January 30th. This goes toward my resolution of writing every day.
So, that's my take on goals and resolutions.
Best of luck with yours. Keep us informed how they turn out!!
I'll be cheering for you!

Beth Groundwater said...

Hi TL,
I'll be rooting for you to finish your rough draft by the end of the month. Keep me posted!

Ricky Bush said...

Plans are to finish my WIP before my debut novel, RIVER BOTTOM BLUES debuts this summer and then it'll be promote, promote, etc...Query,query, etc...

Beth Groundwater said...

Ricky,
You are SOOO smart to finish a manuscript before you start promoting your first book. Many authors end up scrambling to meet deadlines on their second books because they don't realize how much of their time gets sucked up in promotion.