I’m the kind of person who likes setting goals mentally, but I rarely write them down. This might be a reason why many of my “goals” haven’t come to happen yet. Thanks to a prompt from Inscriber Ruth Snyder, I thought I’d actually sit down and think about some of my vague goals for this year—and write them down to see what I can accomplish by next January.
- Graduate! Top of my list of writing goals for this year is to finish my Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing. I am doing four courses this semester (two on writing novels, one about websites, and one on Tolkien‘s Middle Earth) so I’m a bit stressed out about actually making it to April (I’ve only done two or three courses at a time in past semesters). Obviously this goal includes a bunch of writing (with very concrete deadlines!) but also a very nice reward at the end: another fancy piece of paper to stick on my wall.
- Learn WordPress. You may have noticed a new look around here. I finally switched from Blogger to WordPress (after thinking about since last summer—did I mention “vague goals”?—and working on it over Christmas break with Blogelina). I thought I was okay with WordPress, because I use it in writing for 5 Minutes for Mom and The Untrained Housewife, but I’m realizing that composing posts in WordPress and actually blogging with it are a bit different. Most of my writing right now happens on my blog (other than school), so becoming more conversant with WordPress will make it easier to spend more time just writing.
- Finish my novel. Last January, I had the chance to start on my novel about Charlotte Small and David Thompson. I’ve been plugging away at it since then and realizing what a huge task it is to write historical fiction, but I’d still like to get a first draft of this novel done this year. I agree with one of my profs that having a larger picture of the story might help in fine-tuning some of the earlier chapters and doing more research. So I just gotta keep writing (especially once the deadlines from class go away and I have to push myself to work on this project).
Those are my current writing goals. I’m tempted to add a few more items to the list, but I think for now I’ll keep it manageable and hopefully I can achieve these goals (and not get sidetracked chasing too many things).
Do you set goals for the year in January? What goals do you want to accomplish this year, in your writing or in your life?
17 Comments
All the best with your goals for this year, Bonnie. The discipline of classes with regular assignments will keep paying off after graduation in your personal writing. I’m looking forward to your novel. Definitely finish the first draft before stressing too much about the fine-tuning.
Love the new look of your blog!
Here’s to sticking pretty pieces of paper on walls! Best of luck for your degree (the Tolkien class sounds awesome…)!
Your blog looks AMAZING Bonnie! CONGRATULATIONS! I am very impressed by your very realistic goals – I know you will achieve them even before Spring comes!! My goals are definitely specific – yet I am having a tough time meeting even one of them. I keep saying – “I’m starting tomorrow”. Been saying that since Dec 31st 🙂
Good morning Bonnie! Looks like you’ve got a busy year ahead of you! Good luck with the novel, and with finishing school. Blessings on you and your family this year!
I like your new blog, Bonnie!
You seem like one of those people who get lots done whether you write out your goals or not. Congratulations on the last lap of your degree. Doing that while being a mommy to little ones is testimony to your self-discipline. Looking forward to that novel when it’s done.
Beautiful list of goals, Bonnie. Very reasonable and achievable – thanks for sharing. May God bless you and your work in the year ahead.
Sara – thanks for dropping by! I guess by the end of the year we’ll see how “achievable” this list is! 🙂
Hooray for manageable goals! Yours do sounds impressive to me, though.
Well done, Bonnie, for keeping it brief and reasonable – unlike me! I hope your degree in Creative Writing finishes in splendour. I doubt you’ll be able to take on much else until that’s under your belt.
Yes, most of my writing (and other) goals are on hold until April. Graduating is the goal in focus right now and when that’s finished (thankfully the end is in sight this year), I can focus on some of the other goals. 🙂
Bonnie, I’m still tossing the ‘switch’ around myself… I decided NOT to make switching to wordpress this year one of my goals, event hough I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of years, now… I take you are happy you did so
Tracy – I’d recommend doing the switch sooner rather than later. I liked Blogger and could do a lot with it, but I started to see the limitations. WordPress seems better for site organization, SEO and commenting. However, now I’m facing a learning curve (after all that I did to improve and learn about Blogger) and fixing up some things that didn’t transfer perfectly. So I think the switch is easier if you do it earlier in your blogging career! 🙂
Kudos for your upcoming degree! Great goals too!
Hi there
So great to follow this blog hop and meet all my friends and their sites.
Praying that WordPress can get under your belt easily and more time be spent writing for Him.
Blessings,
Janis
Janis – thanks for dropping by! Yes, I’m finding the finicky things about WordPress frustrating because I’d rather be just writing than playing with layout or design. 🙂
Bonnie, thanks for sharing your goals. I’ve been using WordPress for a couple years and am still learning. It seems like there is always something more you can do. I struggle sometimes with balancing all the learning with spending time writing. Best wishes for 2014! I’m excited to see where we end up this year 🙂
Ruth – I agree that there’s always something more you can do as a blogger, whether you use WP or Blogger. For everything you learn, there’s still something more to learn… so maybe the only difference is how urgent all that learning is! 🙂