Back in January, I wrote a post called The Most Important Thing You’ll Write This Year.
That ‘thing’ was a list of your annual writing goals.
Today I realized 2010 is nearly half over, and it made me take stock of where I am, and wonder how everyone else is going with their writing goals this year.
I’m actually quite happy with my progress thus far. Six months ago I had my second child, so everything I’ve done since then has been with baby in arms.
Since the new year, I’ve written more than 50 articles for Write It Sideways and other websites, and approximately 50,000 words of a novel. My main goal was to write and revise a novel this year. While I’m not positive I’ll be completely finished by December, I do know I will have a solid draft ready for revision.
Considering the demands on my time, I’m pleased with my progress. Still, I know there have been moments I slacked off. It would have been entirely possible for me to have reached my goal in time if I’d been more diligent.
How are you doing with your annual writing goals? Have they fallen by the wayside like so many New Year’s resolutions? Have you stuck to them rigidly so you’re completely on track? Or, like me, do you fall somewhere in between?
If you are off-track or you’ve needed to redefine your goals, what went wrong?
Was it because:
- your goals weren’t realistic enough?
- you set too many goals?
- your schedule necessarily changed?
- you weren’t committed enough?
- you gave up too soon?
Perhaps there are some of you who set goals back in January, but have long since forgotten them. Maybe you’ve gone back to your old ways, or you soon became discouraged.
Fortunately, the year is only half over. That means it’s not too late to set new goals and accomplish a lot this year.
If you’re currently wandering from your writing path, why not refocus yourself?
In the next six months, you might be able to:
- write the first draft of a novel
- write a query letter and synopsis, and start your agent-hunt
- revise your novel
- tackle 6 freelance assignments
- write, polish, and publish 3 short stories
What have you accomplished so far this year? Are you still on track to reach your personal goals? Do you need to redefine your goals or set new ones for the second half of this year?