Yesterday I was looking for the copy of Lisa Gardener's Conquering the Dreaded Synopsis from her Tricks of the Trade page on her site. Buried between that pile of papers and some feedback I'd printed off, I found my list of goals.
Typed December 9, 2004. For 2005.
It was eye opening, to be sure, and it reminded me of how fast the time goes by.
So, how did I do? Let's take a look:
- Edit Playing House and ready it for submission by June (2005)
Failed this one miserably. I had just finished my first draft of this novel in Decemeber of 2004 and was high on the feeling. I put it aside, and there it has been ever since. I was tripped up on how to set up the story and finally just gave up. I imagine I'll revisit it again, maybe even fairly soon because I think I have an idea of how to work the set up.- Market Playing House beginning in July
See above.- Work on another novel
Did this. In fact, not only did I finish Camilla in 2005, I also finished a novel for NaNoWriMo.- Write a short story every month and have them in continual submission.
I did this for a while, but got more caught up in my novels. I did have one short accepted for online publication in November of 2005.- Join RWA
Did this.- Write 2500 new words a week.
Don't know for sure if I did this, but considering I finished two first drafts of novels, I'm guessing I must have
I started out this year with monthly goals stapled to my calendar, as well as weekly goals, trying to break things down in to easy to manage bites. Somewhere along the line, that stopped. That's sad. Because I think that you can get where you're going if you don't know where that is.
I realize that it's only September (almost October), but for me it's goal setting time again.
How about you? Do you set goals for yourself? If so, are they annual, monthly, weekly or daily? Do you love or hate goal-setting?
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3 comments:
I try to, but have found over the years that I don't do a good job meeting them. I should really organize myself and start making them again.
Do you feel its worth getting a membership in RWA? Do you belong to the NH branch?
zgvsdkhp-zippers get very sharp despite keeping hasps polished
I used to make goals, but I frequently never actually met them. I didn't make any this year, though. I don't think I'm any less productive for it. :)
ulomcizw - umbrellas let old men clap in zippered walls
(That makes NO sense! ROFL!)
Well, I'm a goal-type personaity, so I make a lot of lists to keep me on track and am usually fairly good about keeping to them. If I'm in the middle of a work, I sketch out monthly what chapters I want to have drafted in any given week. Then at the end of the month I reassess and see where I am. I've tried to do year-long goals but those don't seem to work as well, I think because writing invariably ends up taking different directions. Chapters take longer, you're waiting on a response from a query, something happens in life that slows you down...
But if I didn't set goals and timelines, I probably wouldn't get as much accomplished.
Just me, though.
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