So ... goals

Yeah, goals. I decided this year I was going to get stuff done - really get stuff done. I started to break my goals down by month and post it out on the blog. I have writing goals of course (and they're the highest priority), but there are other things I want to learn and do on the road to publication. I don't want to suddenly find myself on the brink of being published (oh, man!) and have no idea about social networking or marketing or how publishing actually works or contract terms or any number of a hundred areas I should be familiar with as an author. So, I couple writing goals with other things I think are important about the business of writing. I figured if I put these goals in writing, I'd feel more accountable. Plus, there would be others (i.e. YOU) who would see them and perhaps I'd feel more accountable because of that. I have to say it does seem to be working. I'm reminded of my goals whenever I see/update my blog. It forces me to plan out my month ahead of time so that I can really accomplish all of them. It propels me to set goals which stretch me, but which are totally doable. In fact, I'm thinking I might need to be more aggressive. It gives me something concrete and productive to flip over to if I need a break from writing or if it just aint happening for some reason. I can do something different for awhile and I’ll still be working towards my ‘big picture’ plan.

Last month, I had a goal to find out more about guest blogging. I’ve really enjoyed my blogging experience so far and would love to contribute to another blog as well. Looking into that was fascinating and people are so helpful and supportive. I’ve proceeded with the mantra ‘you don’t get what you don’t ask for’ and it seemed to work. I don’t have a regular gig (yet!), but I’m going to be featured on another blog! Sarah Simas has a wonderful blog http://thelovestrucknovice.blogspot.com/ called The Lovestruck Novice and I’m going to be A Novice to Watch on April 12! I’m so excited!!

I also had mentioned launching a new feature on my blog. I wanted to make my blog not just more interesting, but really useful to those you have bothered to stop by. I wanted it to be of value. I thought about the things I’ve struggled with on this journey. I wrote down the things I always wanted to know about being published. The idea for my new feature was born from that! I’m being vague I know, but I want to finalize some remaining details before I announce it officially, but it will start THIS MONTH! Stay tuned….