Surprise Topic of the Week - It Was [or not] a Very Good Year

[jer_bear711]

I said there'd probably be no Topic of the Week this week due to holiday laziness.  But I just posted a review of my 2008 goals to my personal LJ and thought it would make a fun topic for this last week of the year

Comments

[anywherebeyond]

I am really bad at this- my goal this year is the same as it's ever been, and that's just to keep going. I'm always afraid if I get more specific, I will lose my head if I fall short.

-Saundra

[jer_bear711]

To tell the truth, I never looked at my goal list after I made it up (until this morning), because most of the year I was in that frame of mind you mentioned, "just keep going." Putting out fires, doing the best I could not to drown (uh, sorry about the mixed metaphor). It's amazing how much we can accomplish that way.

I don't see yearly goals as something to beat myself up over (that's what daily to-do lists are for!). I see them as a chance to set priorities and figure out what's important to me.

Also, they give me something to laugh at. ;-)

[jer_bear711]

I'm pretty happy with what I accomplished in '08, which is funny, because every day I am plagued with a continuous I'm-getting-nothing-done malaise. So it was nice to see I did something this year other than go to cons and read blogs

[suricattus]

I tend not to make Resolutions, because the Universe just takes that as a challenge.
Making my deadlines, writing books I'm happy with, and generally trying to be a mensch are the only constants.

However, in 2007 I came up with what I thought would make a great story, and wrote a proposal, and in 2008 it became a three-book deal with a new publisher, so yeah, I guess that was a major goal-accomplishment. :-)

I also wanted to redesign my web site to something more 'me.' Managed that, although I've not mastered the second part of that, in keeping it updated every quarter. My bad...

Some things happened. Some things didn't. Some things may yet happen, because time-frames are another thing that make the Universe laugh.

[jer_bear711]

Congrats again on the book deal, Laura Anne! And yeah, websites are a huge ongoing project.

I try not to refer to goals as 'resolutions.' It brings to mind impossible tasks like "being less of a worrywart" and "exercising."

I see myself as a business owner as well as an artist, and when I worked for a business, we set goals and objectives. It totally makes sense to me to keep up the habit now that I'm my own boss.

(At my old job, if we actually accomplished all our goals, it meant we weren't setting our sights high enough. So a "failure" to meet a goal is actually a good sign. :-)

[megancrewe]

I don't really do the 'goals for the new year' thing, because I'm always setting goals for myself throughout the year. It's pretty hard to know what'll come up or how my career will go a year in advance, since so much in publishing is out of our control! So I set my goals more based on events as they come up--e.g., I know my book will be released in the fall, so I've been making publicity plans I intend to follow through on then.

I tend to be a push-myself-too-hard person rather than a slacking-off person, so I've found that being more flexible in my goals and not letting myself guilt myself if I don't end up getting done exactly what I'd hoped, when I'd hoped, is the best way to go.

[jer_bear711]

Good point, which is probably why I never looked at my 2008 goals after I made them. ;-) I think it was just a good exercise to figure out what was important to me at the time, but that's always changing.

And you're right, flexibility and self-forgiveness is key. Life is unpredictable, especially in this biz.

[serafina_zane]

For 2008 (and 2007), I had, like, one basic goal, which went something like "If you really want to learn to be a writer, finish something." Because I had a couple finished short stories and a lot of beginnings, even a few middles.
And this year, I did it.
In April I finished Werewolf Story of Strange Length, and then in June I finished the first thing that could be considered "novel length"...which was a pretty good achievement, and then in July I said to myself "hey, this new idea is great, I wonder if I could finish it by the end of September." And then, because I'm crazy and can't lost bets with myself, I...did. And then I did (and won) NaNoWriMo, so...instead of finishing one thing, I finished three novel-length stories and one weird overlong short story novella deal.
So I kind of succeed at my goal several times over. Which makes me very, very happy when I think about it.

Goal for 2009: Learn to revise. I don't think I'm going to magically learn to do it right, but I'm going to try. By revising, a lot.

[jer_bear711]

Congrats! Finishing is a HUGE step. You should be very happy.

As for revising, there's no one right way to do it. You just have to find *your* way, and you're right--it's totally on-the-job training. :-)

Good luck!

[serafina_zane]

Thanks! I feel all official and actual-writerish now. And I figure there's no way to fail at the goal, because no matter what I do, I'll probably learn *something* about the process, even How Not To Revise.