Any writing goals, hopes for 2008?

[Naomi Hirahara]

I just posted this on MWA-Breakout yahoo group and thought it might be fun to repeat it here:

Anyone want to share their writing goals and hopes for 2008?

For me, it's to keep any new installments to my series fresh, to challenge my characters and improve plotlines.

To find the pitch-perfect correct voice for my standalone. (Hasn't been quite discovered yet.)

To plunge into the middle-grade and YA market with my new book coming out in August and seeing if I can use new contacts to help widen my mystery audience.

And on a more practical level, to clean and keep clean my home office!

Hope you all have a great New Year! Happy Year of the Rat.

Naomi Hirahara
www.naomihirahara.com

[MysteryDawg]

1. My goal is to have a short story/flash fiction piece published each month. In addition, I want to get my first draft to a second draft of my 3rd attempted novel out to some agents and see if it has any legs.

2. I hope to see my good friend Kent Harrington publish another book. Kent writes some of the best work going and is deserving of a wider audience.

3. To have more authors and writers contribute to my flash fiction and short story sites. I hope this provides the opportunity to writers to see their work published and give them readers for their work.

Finally to continue my work helping authors and publishers with the business of getting the work of authors out and into the market.

Aldo
http://acalcagno.blogspot.com
http://powderburnflash.blogspot.com
http://darknessbefore.blogspot.com

[I. J. Parker]

Oh, thank you, Naomi. May all your wishes come true.

I'm winding up a thriller, anticipating a struggle with timelines and pacing before I'm done. My hopes are that this book will a) sell, and b) that it will be received well, and c) that it will finally give me the exposure that will help my other books.

All very selfish, but unless I can make a splash, it will become increasingly difficult to go on doing what I love best: writing.

[MysteryDawg]

Ingrid,
I don't think that these are selfish goals. They are smart ones. Good stories that are told well, and yours are, need to be read.

I wish you luck in winding up your thriller.....
Aldo

[I. J. Parker]

Thank you, Aldo. I feel a lot better than I did when I wrote my comment. :) Sometimes people make the sun come out on a cloudy day.

[Dana King]

Hopes: for the WGA to get a fair deal, and soon.

Goals: To get a contract on the book my agent is flogging in time for Bouchercon in October. It will be first (contract AND Bouchercon)) and I'd like to go with a promise of a book on the horizon.

To find just the right voice that suits my tastes and the needs of the WIP.

I wonder how many books will be written this year, titled The Year of the Rat, od some variation.

[Jana Oliver]

2008 Goals:
Complete the third book in the Time Rovers series (Madman's Dance)
Sell the mass market rights for my Time Rovers series to a major NY House (it's currently out in trade paper)
Complete the first book in a Dark Urban Fantasy/romantic suspense duo
Flesh out the the second book in that duo
Attend a zillion conventions (actually - 10)

And the most important --
Remember to enjoy each day as they come

[EDWARD C MORGAN]

Well, my "novel" goal is to get my two manuscripts finally revised. It is a task I've been putting off for quite some time.

I want to increase the number of short stories I have circulating out there and would like to expand my horizons a bit — maybe write something I don't normally -- a cozy, some non-mystery fiction, etc.

Of course, not really a writing goal, but I want to continue the weight loss. 45 pounds so far.

[Jana Oliver]

Clay
Congrats on the weight loss! That's an accomplishment.

[Sophie Littlefield]

So much in the writing world is out of one's control. I'm always so tempted to wish for things I can't personally make happen. I'm thinking it might be better to create goals that I and I alone can make happen. In that spirit:

1. Continue writing every damn day
2. Have something out to every market I care about
3. Turn rejected stuff around immediately and send it out again
4. Read with intent and appreciation
5. Be as helpful & encouraging as I can to my writing friends
6. Accept criticism with an open mind and use it to improve

- Sophie

[John McFetridge]

Good ones, Jon. I'd also like to wish my Crimespace friends a healthy, happy and prosperous new year. Being a member of Crimespace has been fun and informative and I hope it continues.

My second crime novel is coming out in July, so my goal for 2008 is to sell a few copies. I've finished the one that follows and am working on the next one, so I guess my goal is to finish it. I think over the past few years I've had the maximum amount of waiting for a book to be published time as possible, though it's not something I can really complain about too much (although I do, oh I do). The book that's coming out in July 2008 was finished in June 2006. It's a long story, but the best possible reason for a delay.

I'm also going to try and read a lot more this year than I did last year.

[MysteryDawg]

I love the addition of the personal goals. How important that it is not to forget family and friends as we toil in this sometimes lonely world of writing.

Aldo

[Jana Oliver]

Jon
Your father was a wise man (life's too short to drink cheap booze). My dad, after his heart attack , commented, "You know, I should have drank more whiskey and chased more women." Fortunately my mother wasn't in the hospital room at the time.

As writers, we do have an uphill climb in what can be an ugly industry. The flip side of that is the friendships we make along the way. Watching one's buddies climb the ladder, celebrating the good stuff, bitchin' about the bad stuff, makes it all worthwhile.