Happy New Year!

A new year is a good time to evaluate your current goals and set new ones. I tend to think of the year as beginning in August since I am a teacher, but I’m a big fan of goal setting so when it comes to setting goals for 2017, I’m in.

So welcome, 2017, it’s going to be an amazing year! This year, my focus is on my writing. Last year, I took the leap and started telling people that I was spending free time working on writing projects. I’d kept that a secret for years, afraid that I wasn’t good enough. That I wasn’t a “real” writer. By sharing what I was doing with my family and friends, I started to view myself as a writer. I joined a critique group in April and started sharing what I wrote with strangers. Those strangers are now my friends and they have supported me through finishing two manuscripts. As somebody with a hard drive full of abandoned work, that was a huge accomplishment.

This year is going to be an even more amazing writing year for me. I am publishing my first book in a few weeks and working on a third manuscript. By the end of the school year, I will have the first three books in my first series written – and published.

To help reach all of my goals this year, I set deadlines for myself. As an indie author, I don’t have deadlines unless I create them. To accomplish what I want to, I need deadlines. I printed out blank calendars (Google Calendars are pretty great) and spread them out on a table. I then added deadlines for first, second, and third drafts for the books I plan to write in the next six months. I even added in when I’ll need to schedule in my editor. She’ll be getting an e-mail from me this week to set up the dates. That gives me an extra push on my deadlines as she’ll be expecting me. My covers are already booked with my designer. So it’s all on me now to write the words.

With a full time job and a family, it is a challenge to find time for everything. Something has to give. For me, it’s TV and long distance runs. I intend to get back into running but I won’t train for anything longer than a 10k. I just don’t have the time.

So where do the half-million words come in? To accomplish everything on my list, I have to write. A lot. I’ve set a goal of writing a minimum of 10,000 words each week. On good weeks, I hope to hit closer to 15,000 words. The 10,000 mark is the “you can’t go to sleep until you reach that word count” goal. That is about 5-6 hours of writing time per week – I can do that.  I encourage you to set a goal that is just a little out of reach. Something that feels attainable but pushes you outside your comfort zone to reach it.

And, here’s where I apologize in advance to my husband. I foresee a lot of evenings where I’m attached to my keyboard ahead this year. Thank goodness he’s a fan of my work. Find what works for you and make it happen. Happy 2017!

Do you have writing related goals for 2017? I’d love to hear them!