Creative Writing Goals for 2017

I’ve set a lot of creative writing goals over the years. Sometimes it works to motivate me. In 2016, I did achieve quite a few of the goals.

Sometimes it does the exact opposite. I missed some categories of my goal because I didn’t form them right. Even if I wrote them in the whole SMART framework (specific, measurable, assignable, realistic, and time-bound), I didn’t construct them properly.

Source

What pleased me with about my 2016 goals list was that I had them separated into categories. With that, I balanced the goals well. But I didn’t unite my goals with a focus for the year. Every goal seemed a little separate and didn’t intertwine. If I worked on one goal, I was sacrificing progress on another. The goals diverged from each other and were competitive with each other for my attention and focus. To get further in one goal, I had to ignore or sacrifice another.

So this year, I am focusing my creative writing goals.

To create my theme this year, I focused on my biggest regret of last year: my lack of creation.

This year, 2017, I will create. My goals are to:

Create art and write
Create assets from my existing and ongoing work
Create conversations about things I am passionate about
Create a solid understanding for areas my writing will grow into
Create balance so that I don’t let unnecessary things crowd out my precious writing time
And, finally, create memories with my now 3-person family.

That is the broad gist of my goal. But let’s go into some specifics that I have to accomplish this year:

Writing
Crash and Burn

Crash and Burn has gone well for an entire year! We really are on the verge of growth with it. After having a baby, drowning at work pre-rush after taking a month off, and frenzying over the holiday break, I need to get momentum back behind it.

Goal for 2017: Write at least 6 chapters of Crash and Burn, starting with Chapter 5 (DO YOU SEE HOW BEHIND I AM?! CHAPTER 4 IS BEING UPLOADED RIGHT NOW!)

Short story for Sirens

The Sirens Conference Benefit Anthology is happening again. Last year’s Queens & Courtesans was really great. I did a lot of things I didn’t think I would or could have time or skills for: writing, formatting, proofing, planning, and organizing/scrambling. Before Ryan arrived in November, Jessica Corra (former Inkette and editor of these benefit anthologies) hammered out a timeline for the next Sirens benefit anthology, Witches & Warriors.

Goal for 2017: Participate in the anthology with a story. Submission window is February 1- April 30, 2017.

Personal Writing

Last year, I deliberately left out personal writing projects from my goals. This year’s theme of Create really is in response to the fact that I needed to do that last year but I knew I did not have the time, and the spoons, to work on it. This year I want my personal writing to be a priority and take off in 2018.

Goal for 2017:

Develop a consistent writing schedule. It doesn’t have to be every day, but I do need something more than, “My deadline is in two days. Better get those words out now.”
Plot, write, and edit the first instalment of my spacepunk story and plot the next two.
Draft and write a version of my cyberpunk story I might potentially shop to agents/publishers.
Draft and write some of my original story idea rework that hasn’t left me alone lately.

Conversations

I have a lot of conversations I want to bring to the writing world, either here at Anxiety Ink or at my personal blog KateLarking.com. My personal blog needs a redesign. It needs to be a hub for my work so people can find me.

Goal for 2017:

Get that KateLarking.com redesign done!
Continue my New Mom Writer series here at Anxiety Ink.
Start out my Confessions of a Book Buyer series at KateLarking.com

Learning

For learning, I am going to do research for the genres I am ready to write in. So, it’s a little bit of market research, yeah, but it’s also to focus my reading game.

Goal for 2017:

Read 5 cyberpunk/RPGLit/VR/space adventure books
Read book on comic writing (I own it and have been looking at it…)
Read text on interactive storytelling creation (a joint project in the future with Crash and Burn artist Finn Lucullan is in the cards)
Stretch goal: complete the Sirens 2017 reading challenge.
Balance

For balance this year, I have to manage my commitments. I have taken a step back from various associations I worked with, because I needed more time for the end of the year. From now on, I have to be very careful about what I take on, as much as I want to be helpful and make an impact in my community.

Goal for 2017:

Attend 2 conferences this year
Sell at 4 markets/expos/festivals
Make time for writing sessions

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