Set Your Writing Goals

This is the time of year when we make New Year's resolutions. For writers, it's time to set new goals for the coming year. I suggest separating out your actual writing goals from your business goals. The former deals with these questions: What writing projects do you plan to tackle and in what order? Will you complete a proposal, finish a book, or write a synopsis? Next come your business goals. Which projects do you plan to submit and to whom? Will you enter any contests? When and how will you start promoting your next release? What markets are you targeting?

Some of these may need adjustment as the year goes on. Here is a tally of how I did in 2010:

WRITING GOALS

Revise Warrior Prince. (DONE)

Write proposal for second book in Concierge mystery series. (DONE)

Write Warrior Rogue. (DONE)

Revise Yacht Club mystery proposal. (DONE)

Write synopsis for Silver Serenade sequel.

BUSINESS GOALS

Set up online file storage: Mozy or Carbonite. (DONE)                   

Download Dropbox to share files among my computers. (DONE)

Design and order bookmarks for Silver Serenade. (DONE)

Schedule interviews and blog tour for Silver Serenade. (DONE)

Find a home for Shear Murder. (DONE)

Start a Twitter account. (DONE)

Index Blog Posts. (DONE)

E-book conversion for Circle of Light, Moonlight Rhapsody, and Starlight Child. (DONE)

E-Book conversion for Keeper of the Rings.

The goals that I did not accomplish go on my list for 2011 along with new ones I've added. Again, you should prioritize each item so you go down the list in order. Make your goals attainable and be specific. Also be realistic in your expectations.

My new business goals will include promotion for Shear Murder, due out in January 2012. I'd also like to try something I haven't done before, such as a chat or a podcast. My writing goals will include doing a synopsis for Warrior Lord, the third book in my paranormal trilogy. And I am still working on updating Keeper of the Rings to make it available for ebook formats. So far I have four writing goals and seven business goals for 2011.

How did you do in 2010, and what do you have planned for 2011?