Writing Goals and Objectives 2014 (2nd in series)

 

I hope that amid all your parties and shopping, you took the time to do a little math over the past week, and I hope you thought seriously about your goals and objectives as a writer for the New Year. It is important that we not make a list of New Year Resolutions that we jolly well know will be ignored by January 15^th.

Whether you freelance, self-publish, traditionally publish, or are still in the wanna-be stages of writing, it is vital to your future that you focus on what will help you grow and develop as a writer. Not only do we have to write, we must market our work, network, and manage our time to have a chance at being successful. There are no guarantees, of course, but, come on folks, if we don’t give it our best, what’s the point?

                We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent.                 Because this is our life.          Steve Jobs

Writing is a lot like cooking. Without a recipe, it’s guesswork at best. You kinda, sorta know that basil and tomato taste good together, but how much of each do your use to create a spectacular spaghetti sauce?  How many hours or words a day does it take to create a plot?

Does a cake need eggs? How many? How many characters are too many in sci-fi or literary fiction? You get the idea. Take the really big ideas you identified this past week—the ones you want more than anything {your heart’s desire}.

I have five books in various stages of completion. Is it plausible that I will finish and publish them all in 2014?  Sure it is, if I want shoddy unedited work, subplots left dangling, and more “to be” verbs than the law allows. That’s not my heart’s desire. I want my work to be recognized for its excellence, so I’ve chosen as my goal to focus on the first book of my trilogy. My objectives are measurable:

1.   Complete adding notes and revisions. 2/28/14

2.  Take the entire book through a panel of beta readers and while that’s going on,

3.  Revisit agents and publishers of interest, draft query and synopsis templates. 3/31/14

4.  Review feedback from readers and make changes as appropriate. 4/15/14

5.  Begin queries. 4/1/14 {yes, I know what day that is.}

I also have goals for my freelance business that include a new website, expanding my writing classes and summer camps, and a strong marketing plan to pursue more B2B clients. I won’t bore you with the timeline for those. I have some educational goals and other freelance writing goals, some of which are continuations from 2013.

In summary:  (1)  decide what you want to accomplish with your writing {think plot}

                         (2)  decide what is doable in the next 12 months {think chapters}

                         (3)  break the doables into a list to follow {think scenes}

                         (4)  put a deadline on the doables {think climax}

                         (5)  check them off as your finish them {think denouement}

Next Sunday, we will look more indepth at how to schedule what you need to do and how to work your way through the list. We will also talk a bit about networking and investing resources for the greater good of your writing career {even if it’s not your day job.}

 Mahala

The Hinges of Hades

Tracy here.

When the local weather people issue a heat advisory warning in Mobile, you know it's hot! Yesterday, my outdoor thermometer read 104.1°--in the shade. With the heat index (think hot AND humid!), we're running about 110-115° in these parts. And, yes, as a Yankee* who grew up in the Green Mountains of Vermont, I ALWAYS complain about the heat. But there is a writing connection to this latest bout of grumbling.

During this heat wave, with my flipflops melted onto the pavement, my hair frizzed like Little Orphan Annie's, and sweat pooled around my feet (and I'm talking inside with the AC blasting), I'm trying to imagine snowmen and mittens and ice skating on the pond while I come up with a Christmas story submission for Excalibur's anthology (see cj's post below for more info). Instead, I keep having visions of Santa, eyebrows singed and his red suit smudged with the ashes, in this case not from a chimney but from the flames of the Inferno of the Damned. Actually, the story's shaping up into a great horror tale, but the anthology is not called Halloween is a Season! 2009.

Even cranked down to Ice Age temperatures, my old decrepit AC system is barely managing to cool the house off to the mid 80s. (But I LOVE you AC—please don't break down on me now!)


So, for now, I'm going to work on my current WIP, a mystery I call FM. My old WIP, the still-unfinished-after-so-many-years Young Adult novel PI is still close by. I jot down a note or 2 every now and then. But I'm hoping that the structure of a genre novel will help me actually complete an entire novel. Then, with that confidence tucked in my pocket, I can go back and finish the YA book that keeps getting away from me. (I have written at least 10 different ways to get my protag from his home to the island where the actual story takes place, but then I can't seem to figure out exactly what to do with him. Or more likely, there are too many things I'm trying to incorporate and can't seem to manage writing any of them.)

Can you work on more than one project at a time?
I didn't think I could, but I'm going to try.

My writing goals for this week: write 15 new pages on the mystery WIP and figure out which of the 5 Christmas stories floating in my head to write.

Good writing!

Tracy

*We New Englanders don't like to refer to ourselves as Yankees, but not for the reason some may think. As Red Sox fans, we are loathe to associate ourselves in any way with that team in the Big Apple who stole the Babe (and Johnny Damon).