A Summary of 2010…How Was It For You?

Was this year everything you hoped it would be? Last week, we discussed the upcoming New Year and some potential New Year's resolution ideas, but what about this year? I'm not sure about you all but if I were to really evaluate how this year went as far as writing goes, I'd say I've done fairly mediocre. For that reason, I'm working on planning out 2011 and setting realistic but challenging goals.

Not to say that 2010 was a waste. Quite the opposite. While I did not do as much writing as I hoped I would and I did not send out much in the way of queries, I still learned a great deal. I had the opportunity to attend Nationals which was a huge learning experience, I started a second book and started the querying process on my first novel. I realized my first novel needs a bit of an overhaul. I've thought long and hard about what I want from writing and how I plan to get it. So you can pretty much chalk up 2010 to an exploratory year; a lot of thought, a lot of learning and some action with not a whole lot of purpose.

Don't get me wrong. The learning process isn't over; I'm not sure it ever will be. But for 2011, I want a better organized year. I want to be sure I am reaching my goals and driving myself in a direction for the long term.

I don't believe it is ever too early to start laying out you writing career. In fact, it is better to start that as early as possible otherwise you can fall into a black hole and lose who you are writing for. Sure we write for an audience, we write to tell a story and entertain, but we also write for ourselves. If you aren't passionate about what you are writing, do you really think you can do it justice? Answer honestly.

All right, some homework. List out your 2010, the good and the bad.  How do you feel you did?

Filed under: Toni Kelly, What inspires you?, Writer's Life