Friday, December 31, 2010

2011 Goals and Resolutions

2011 Goals and Resolutions

2011_goalsYep, it’s that time again to give myself ample opportunity to look back in one year’s time and beat myself up for completely missing my goals. So, in the spirit of knowing that I’ll most likely fail, I present my 2011 Goals and Resolutions.

To clarify a couple things: Goals are what I’m committing to. Resolutions is what I’m going to strive for. And note, by the time I publish this post, these may have gone out the window. I reserve the right to change them at any time.

Resolutions

Writing-related

  • Read 25 novels
  • Read 6 writing books
  • Publish 52 blog posts (I’ve written 100+ the last couple years so…)
  • Blogfests: Host one, participate in 12
  • Plan a 2nd draft of Dead Air.
  • Plan a revision of Dawn’s Rise
    The last two aren’t goals because I’m seriously questioning the marketability of these vs the amount of effort needed to fix them. But if I need a couple week “break” I might consider working on them
  • Keep participating in critique groups

Personal

  • Lose 20 lbs & stick with exercise plan, tendonitis willing
  • Watch way less TV
  • Take a family vacation
  • Keep on top of bills
  • Get the truck serviced
  • Avoid time-wasting distractions (like iPhone apps)

Goals


Writing Goals (To be completed by EOY)

  1. Publish Steam Palace (or exhaust all means).
    By “publish” I mean at least have someone express interest (have an offer).
  2. Acquire a literary agent.
    #1 is not necessarily contingent on this one.
  3. Complete the first draft of at least one of these:
    • The Immortals
      (I have 80K words already but I got stuck…need to outline whole novel and restart)
    • Girl World
      (I might write this as a script instead of a novel)
    • Steam Palace 2
      (I have the basic concept, need an outline)
  4. Completely new NaNoWriMo novel (unless contracted for paying work)
    This is in addition to goal #3 so my overall goal is 2 first drafts in 2011, one before and one during NaNo.
  5. Participate in 3 writing conferences and/or
    Participate in 3 writing workshops
  6. Create an “author web site” for myself

Writing Skill Goals

  • Deeper characters and POV
  • Faster revisions
  • Better villains (higher stakes, increased conflict)
  • More emotional content, more connection with the characters
  • Improve my critique skills (make people anticipate instead of dread my feedback)
  • “Stay Away From Toxic Relationships.” Oh wait…those make the best character conflicts. Nevermind.

There, is that enough? Pretty much all I really want to accomplish is Goal #1. Everything else would be nice but if I don’t publish Steam Palace (or have a lit agent I feel confident with) then I’m really going to have to reevaluate. And that’s not going to wait ‘til next December.

13 comments:

  1. And intense list there!! But a very, very useful one if you stick to it - and lets face it, us writers love a challenge *grin* Mine this year will be to get book two written and published, I can't believe book one is finally up!! Best New Years ever!

    The Arrival,available on Amazon NOW!
    www.damselinadirtydress.com
    www.thebirthrighttrilogy.com

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  2. Wow. I'm exhausted just reading your list, lol. I have to admit, though, mine looks similar, just not as detailed.

    Happy 2011! that rebel, Olivia

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  3. Wow... That is quite the list of goals. I just did mine and they'll be up tomorrow and it got kind of long too. I like how yours is organized, very clean and easy to follow. Nicely done. Here's to hoping we can make it next year and to knowing we will give it our best shot. *raises an empty glass*

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  4. @Nicole: Sounds like it was a great year!

    @Olivia: It's a lot but I'm ambitious. :)

    @Dawn: I'll take a look. *raises a full glass and empties it*

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  5. Excellent goals all around! Best of luck with your plans Andrew.

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  6. Wow you're fast! I was just about to leave a comment, thanking you for the nice post about blogfests, and I see you've already commented! :D D'oh another birthday blogfest! My luck! Who is the other blogger? I checked your list, and I didn't see that one.

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  7. @Matt: Thanks! You too!

    @Liz: Check out Tessa's blogfest.

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  8. Wow sounds like you've got great plans! I have yet to make my resolutions/sort out my goals for 2011, that's how disorganized I am.

    *sigh*

    Oh!

    And thanks for mentioning my Birthday Blogfest just now!

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  9. Best of luck with all your resolutions and goals!

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  10. Great lists. I love the distinctions between Resolutions and Goals. Cool concept.

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  11. Great list! I really should write mine in a blog post too.

    I'm interested by your goal to improve your critique skills... how does one go about such a thing? Do you have any specific plans or tips? :) I'd like to help some NaNo friends with revising their work, but I'm worried my critiques might be unhelpful.

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  12. @Tessa: No prob.

    @Steph: Thanks!

    @Okie: I looking back and seeing how I did but I try not to take it too seriously.

    @Maz: It's a difficult thing to do. I could (and have) write a whole blog post on it.
    Basically start with the big picture and work down to the details. Some people get caught up with the small stuff like line edits because those are easy to find. What's harder is figuring out whether the story works and where it doesn't (and why).

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  13. Thanks! I've been meaning to have a poke around your archives, I'll have a look :)

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