Here we are at the beginning of a brand-new year ~ ushering in a plethora of fresh and exciting opportunities. Although we can start anew any day of the year, there’s something special about January.
It’s not really a new beginning ~ January is dead-center winter where I come from, but its preparing for it, as winter blankets an earth awaiting renewal … kind of like us.
Gratefully, we can seek renewal ourselves! Renewal of relationships long neglected; renewal of healthy goals dropped by the wayside; renewal of faith and hope; renewal of the things in our lives that bring us peace; renewal of striving to overcome; and renewal of knowledge and ability ~ for a writer, that means acquiring greater writing and marketing skills by vigilant study and then firm application.
But how does one do that? It’s pretty easy to think of a goal or two we’d like to accomplish this year, but if a goal is not written down, measurable, have a beginning and ending date, and realistic – chances are it’ll not make it to February.
Here’s how I am going to accomplish one of my writing goals for 2013.
I wrote Sons of Elderberry at least five years ago, but have not finished revising it – the third to the last step before I send it to my editor. It’s caused me a lot of frustration, because my writing has evolved over these past years, and now I have to go through this wonderful story and tighten, tighten, tighten! But it must be done – and this is how I am going to do it:
I will revise a minimum of ten pages a day Monday through Saturday by forgoing television, movies, internet, and reading until the ten pages are done for that day starting on Wednesday, January 9, 2013. That pulls me through its revision at 70 single-spaced pages a week. Sons of Elderberry is 96,305 words and 197 single-spaced pages long. At that rate, I will be finished revising by January 31, 2013.
Written down. Measurable. Beginning and ending date. Realistic.
Okay – now what happens if I cannot accomplish this the way I have it set? Then as I evaluate my daily progress, I will recalculate and reset my original goal until I fall into a reasonable and realistic pattern that will lead me to my goal.
And then? I’ll send it off to my beta readers and wait for them to return it to me; recalculate and reset my goal to revise from their input; and then finally send the finished product to my editor! I’m excited to get going on this and attribute the process of goal setting to it’s final dusting off and ultimate publication.
So, this year – 2013 -what are your goals?
