Goals -- What are yours?

[David DeLee]

I thought it would be interesting to start a thread about people's writing goals for the coming year. To start off I'll give you mine:

 

For 2011 I intend to write a minimum of 365,000 new words of fiction.

I believe this will take the form of four completed novel (between 60-90k each) and 14 short stories (avg. 6,000 each).

 

How about you. What are your writing goals for 2011? Let us know.

 

David DeLee

[Tim Scanlon]

My goal for 2011 is to finish and publish my first novel. Working title is Overturned Stones.

 

I'm going the e-book route as I see it as the future of the industry and I haven't been overly impressed with some of the recent actions by various publishing companies (I've met several authors who've received no promotion or support for their books but several celebrities have had their books pushed very hard for what is an inferior product). Plus a friend in publishing was telling me that there isn't much interest in new authors.

[minervaK]

My goal this year is to get Nine Days well-queried (and hopefully published, but I'm a realist) and start either a sequel or another stand-alone novel.

[David DeLee]

Good luck with NINE DAYS, Minerva, and your next.

 

David DeLee

[Susan]

In the immediate future, I'm excited about my next thriller, DIVA, coming out in June. I'm working on the video trailer, etc, and doing a lot of online marketing. But I'm also writing Volume 1 of TRAILBLAZERS: Women Who Dared to be Musicians and More. It will be a short ebook, less than 100 pages, about two of the women I've already profiled on my website. Hope to have it done and published by end of August.

Then I'll begin revising the rough draft of my next thriller. Yowza, just looking at that makes me, well, tired? Nervous? Please tell me I can do this. :)

 

 

[David DeLee]

You can do it, Susan.

David DeLee

[Mary McFarland]

I don't think in terms of how many words I crank out, although I have many friends who do, and I totally understand that approach.  Rather, I have a five year career plan that I've mapped out, based on my preferred writing genres and my targeted publishers. 

 

So my goals for 2011 look like this:

1. I'm completing my first novel in my Casey Burke Nuke 'Em 'Til They Glow: a green decology (Book I is finished)
2. I'm writing the second novel in my Profiler Series (querying on the first)
3. I'm writing a mainstream novel
4. I'm writing a SF novel
5. I'm documenting my writing process so I can duplicate it with my next novels (done) and use it for a workshop I'm preparing (in process)

Will I meet those goals?  That's my plan.  Does it help to share my goals here?  Yep.  Very much so.  Thanks, David. 

[David DeLee]

Sounds like a great plan, Mary. Good luck.

My own goals have changed drastically this year. I've thrown myself into the deep-end of indie-publishing

and so, where I'd planned to do a lot of new writing this year, a lot of that is taking a backseat to whipping up the four novels I have done already, and in various stages of readiness, and getting them up for sale.

I have written five new short stories and have sent them out to traditional anthologies, and if they don't sell I'll be putting them up to. Regardless, my revised goal is to have at least 20 new titles up for sale by the end of the year.

Glad my post helped you in some way, Mary.

 

[Mary McFarland]

Deep-end of indie publishing, David, is like Dante's ninth circle in hell for me.  I'm following what's going on, but I know I'm not --I'm just not--ready to take that plunge, and I'm not rushable (that's a word, right?). 

 

I look forward to hearing how your indie work is going.  Sponge here, learning what I can by listening to the pioneers like you. 

 

Sometimes, I feel like a fossil because I haven't dived in at the deep end, but I think by next year I might be ready to at least try. 

 

20 new titles is a fabulous goal.  Gives me something to shoot for, to emulate.

[David DeLee]

Thanks, Mary.

I don't think you need to worry about how fast you jump in to indie-publishing, I don't think e-publishing is going anywhere <g>

Any questions I can answer just let me know.

Good luck with your writing.

David DeLee

[Tim Scanlon]

Agreed. Everyone seems to be in a rush to publish rather than concentrating on doing things right. I'm on a few forums where everyone is all about promoting and yet half of their posts are poorly written. Writing is the important part, publishing is what you do when the writing is finished.

 

I have a rough goal of publishing my first novel by the end of this year. However, I'm still more focussed on producing the best novel I can first. When it comes out is secondary.

[David DeLee]

Exactly right, Tim. The best marketing you can do (imo) is to write the next story.
Good luck with the book.
David DeLee

[David DeLee]

Now that it's August, I thought I'd revisit my New Year's goal. I'd planned --

to write a minimum of 365,000 new words of fiction.

I believe this will take the form of four completed novel (between 60-90k each) and 14 short stories (avg. 6,000 each).

My plans (and goals) have shifted a lot since Jan. I made the decision early on this year to get stuff self-published, so to that end I started 2011 with two short stories available in e-format.

As of today, I have seven short stories available, one novel and one collection of five short stories. I am in the process of learning how to publish the collection as a POD edition (and after I work the bugs out) will do the same with the novel. I also submitted a full manuscript (on request) to a traditional publisher, I have two short stories out to trad. publishers as well. And, I was published traditionally in the MWA anthology THE RICH AND THE DEAD released by Grand Central Publishing in May.

Plans for the rest of the year -- write a first draft of a novel in August. (started this past Monday) and self-publish it prior to 12-31-11

Complete seven more short stories and self-publish them before 12-31-11

Revise two completed novels and self-publish them before 12-31-11

Wish me luck and I hope everyone else is hitting their goals or hitting their revised goals

David DeLee

Fatal Destiny - a Grace deHaviland novel