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

[jer_bear711]

Six novels in six years--good for you! Major rewrites do take time, and it's a good idea to build that into one's plan. I'm sure you can do it! :-)

[tmthomas]

My goal was to keep writing and to sell something.

I've been letting the failure on #2 predominate, but really, #1 led to some new ideas and projects this year. So...a mixed bag, to put a positive spin on it.

[jer_bear711]

I like to set goals that are in my control--like "submitting a story," as opposed to "selling a story."

And as long as you keep writing, that's a victory in itself, so go you! :-)

[ext_119346]

Ha! I promise I wrote my reply below before I read this ;)

[tmthomas]

Yes, but it's a very low paying success. I'd rather have the one where cash changes hands.

Someday...

[ext_119346]

Last year was the first time I set resolutions for myself - and to my surprise, I made all of the writing-related ones. They included spending less time on fandom writing, finishing my first novel, participating in NaNo (done, and won with 75k in ten days) and writing more short stories

[jer_bear711]

75K in ten days! *eyes bug out* That's amazing! NaNo is an excellent motivator--I hope I can do it this year, deadlines permitting.

What I learned from goal-setting is that it's easier (for me, at least) to have hard-and-firm goals like "finish novel A" than vague resolutions like "do more of this".

Bingo! In the corporate world, we had to submit goals that could be measured, or they would rap our knuckles or something.

Wow! Congrats!

[tom_gallier]

75k in 10 days? You da man! I "won" too, 70k in 21 days. But we both have working 1st drafts, and that's half the battle.

Good Luck selling it.

[jessaslade]

I tend not to make Resolutions, because the Universe just takes that as a challenge.

Oh yeah, that's a glove in the sand for sure :) I just found a Word doc of my goals for 2004. Among the goals; get new shoes, sell a book. It took me until 2008 to sell a book, but I do remember I got new shoes (well, new-to-me shoes) shortly after setting my goal.

I try to set goals I can reach, resolutions I have to stretch for, and dreams that nurture me even if I know I can never get there.

[jer_bear711]

Hmm, new shoes. Sounds like a stealth goal. :-)

Congrats on your sale!

[shanna_s]

I love setting goals and making grand plans for the year -- and then life has a habit of getting in the way so that my goals change.

This year, I'm mostly focusing on setting a goal of getting into good, productive habits as the particular projects I might be working on are subject to change based on events I don't control. I don't have a release next year so I can really hunker down and focus on the writing.

[jer_bear711]

I'm mostly focusing on setting a goal of getting into good, productive habits as the particular projects I might be working on are subject to change based on events I don't control.

That's a good way to look at it. Once we develop the right habits, we can fall back on them during crazy busy times.

I try to take contingencies into consideration. Like a flow chart: if Series A sells, write and rewrite Book One; if Series A doesn't sell by Date X, write proposal for Series B. And so on. It gets nutty.

[shanna_s]

I kind of do the contingency planning, but I try not to get more than two months in advance. So I have my January work planned and a contingency project for February in case the proposal on submission doesn't sell by then. I'll take another look at things at the end of January, depending on status. I've found that if I contingency plan too far in advance, that's when everything pretty much falls apart.

[jer_bear711]

True. I also find it difficult to schedule tasks that depend on someone else's activities, like an editor returning revision notes some time in the nebulous future. Should I work on another project, or start thinking about the rewrite? Definitely the former if it's going to be another month, but the latter if it'll be next week. There's a limit to how often you can bug them for an ETA.