Goals, Time to Step It Up A Notch

2009 is almost here and with the New Year brings new goals as well as reflections of last years goals. Time to think about what’s accomplished or what fork split the road when you least expected it to.

Last year I talked about what a goal is, you can click here if you’d like to read it. This year I’m thinking differently about goals. What do they do and how can making them affect the year ahead.

For me, goals are my roadmap, the direction I want to take with my writing career. Yes, I want an agent and to receive ‘The Call’ this year and I’m doing everything in my power to achieve that. But those aren’t really goals, since I can’t make them actually happen.

This year my goal is to finish two books. Plain and simple, right? Okay, not so much. In order to do that I need a plan. Write everyday, yes, every single day. Four months to write the first book and edit it, take a couple weeks break and then write the second book (same timeframe). Yep, stepping it up to two books, completed and edited. See, I'm figuring it's better to work like I'm already published with deadlines. Look out cp's, we're going to be busy. I have the best cp's in the world and they work just as hard.

We did this really cool thing at my TARA meeting this past year. We wrote on a post card three things we’d like to do and gave them to the wonderful June. Three months later those who participated, received the postcard in the mail. I was in a meeting and didn’t get to do it, but those that did raved or how cool it was to see what they’d done and how close they were to completing all three things.

So, if you’d like, email me three things you’d like to accomplish in the next three months, along with your address and I’ll send out the postcard to you.

Changing venues here:

More than likely you’ve listened to Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture. If not, then trust me its well worth the hour.

Here’s a small recap from his lecture.

When you’re doing poorly and no one is telling you, that’s a bad place to be. – Wow, if no one ever told us when something didn’t work in our writing, where would we be?

Experience is what you get, when you didn’t get what you wanted. – Think about this one. Maybe you didn’t final in ‘that’ contest, but you did gain experience whether it was thicker skin or learning how to make your work better.

Don’t bail: the best gold is at the bottom of the barrel of crap. – So how does, this relate? Never give up.

And two of my favorites:

Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want something. They’re not there to keep people who want it out, but to stop those don’t.

Be prepared: “Luck” is where preparation meets opportunity.

So what about you? Are you making goals for 09? Did your goals last year help you or did you forget to look back at them from time to time?

Writing Wishes and Plotting Dreams,
Vicki