Yearly goals

The year is winding down and, if you are like me, you will be revisiting your yearly goals. Now, I'm not specifying just writing goals, because there is more to yearly goals than just writing down 'finish manuscript'.

My 2008 goals ran the gauntlet of writing manuscripts/synopses/queries, judging contests, reading books (craft books along with fiction novels), critiquing, eating healthy and exercising. I succeeded with some goals and 'failed' in others, namely the eating healthy and exercise goal. My bad. And I can vouch for the extra poundage that I need to lose. Must get serious about exercising since I don't want to expand my 'writer's ass'.

And I took a tangent that wasn't even on my January list--I wrote seven children's stories. Trust me, writing kid's books wasn't even on my radar. And I now have more starts of RS stories than ever, but I've taken another right-hand turn from romance and am concentrating on my urban fantasies.

I've kept my writing goals document on my initial document page so I will see it every time I open my current manuscript. I also kept track of the books I've read, typing in the name and author. This year, I think I'll also put the date that I finished the book. Most fiction novels I finish in a few days, while the writing craft books can take me months to get through.

I also update my calender daily. I started this when I was keeping track of my daily Tarot drawing, but I also put what I accomplished on a particular day. Whether it was a daily word count, or running errand, or how many days it took me to make candy or crochet an afghan, it helped keep me grounded as to why I did or didn't do something.

What have you accomplished this year? Probably more than you thought you did, but you need to find some method to keep track of it. Will I do the same thing next year regarding a list of yearly goals, and keeping a calendar?

You bet! Write on!