It’s 2010. How did you do with your writing goals for 2009? Did you even have goals?
Many posts have been written about writing goals. One of my favorites is by Mary DeMuth on her “So You Want to be Published” blog here.
If you didn’t have goals for 2009, then set goals for 2010 and attempt to stick to them!
How’d I do you ask? I met the goals I had set for myself (complete the novel I was working on, pre-plot the other books in the series, write a new novel in another series). The one thing I wish I had done better is set smaller goals for myself. As Mary’s post recommends, set daily goals for yourself. I began doing that near the end of the year and it worked well. Another change I have made, for daily goals, is to outline today what I will work on tomorrow. I can sit for hours staring at my computer in the mornings unless I have an outline (a firm plan) to follow. With an outline, I can knock off those first 500 words — and that is the hardest part, starting! Therefore, part of each days goal THIS year will be to plan for the next work day before I call the day done.
About word count. James Scott Bell talks about the “nifty 350” and the “furious 500” in this article. All ten tips are wonderful advice for fiction writers.
Let me know how you met your goals in the comment section below!