Setting Goals

Thinking about this past year, I’ve decided that while I didn’t hit everything I ambitiously wanted to do, I did quite a bit. The biggest thing, of course, was that Lever was released on January 12th. I spent a good six months doing almost full-time marketing with it, and still invest one day a week more or less to this. I also redid my story development for Nest Among the Stars, the prequel for Lever. While it’s a great story, it doesn’t grab me as it did last year, and I’ve decided to put it on hold for awhile, maybe start with the sequel or another idea I’ve been kicking around for awhile. I also have done a huge amount with developing Story Template, and am looking into different venues for getting that out. I presented at a writer’s conference this summer on story structure, and have other lectures lined up for the new year. So, not too bad eh?

With less than a month before the new year, it seems like a propitious time to organize a plan of action for goal-setting. By doing it now, before the Christmas rush, you have time to draw up any progress charts you may want to keep, and maybe even start with a plan of action so you’re up and running on January 1st.
I always like to use four categories to come up with my goals for the new year: body, mind, spirit, and interacting with others (includes relationships, business, and other). I’ve already spent about two hours free-writing what I want to accomplish this next year, and hope you take the time to do so also! Once I have my goals, I break them down to get an idea of a timeline to work for each month, and so on and so forth. It’s hard to reach all of these goals, but certainly helpful for a guideline.

Happy (early) New Year, my dear friends.