Last year on January 1st I published my list of writing goals for the year, and a few days ago I assessed how I did. Some of my goals were less successful than I’d hoped, some more so, and some simply changed over the course of the year. Overall, I think I did fine, and I enjoyed having a list of concrete goals to work toward.

Recently, Dean Wesley Smith blogged on the difference between goals and dreams and I highly recommend you read what he has to say. In short, a goal is something you can control and complete by your own perseverance, while a dream is something that depends on the cooperation of another, or of fate…which is why you won’t see any sales goals in the list below. I can’t control sales, but if things go well, I can produce books and stories.

So here are the writing projects I’m hoping to do in 2012:

1. The Dread Hammer, published in 2011, is the first book in the series I’m now calling Stories of the Puzzle Lands. Early in 2012 I plan to re-publish it with a new cover, and shortly after that publish the second book, Hepen the Watcher, in ebook and print versions.

2. Finish two original novels. Of the two I have in mind, neither are related to anything I’ve done before or to each other. One is already 20,000 words along and one is in concept stage.

3. Finish four pieces of short fiction, with short fiction being defined as any story less than novel length (but trying really hard for true short stories 7500 words and less).

4. Consult with a professional editor on the potential and direction of my long-evolving novel The Wild, and either bring it to fruition or put it away permanently—though I’m not sure the latter is possible. This is definitely the book I can’t let go of.

Bonus Points
If I get these first four goals done, I’ll be happy, but a really productive year would include initiating two more books, at least in concept if not in actual word count. One would be a third volume of Stories of the Puzzle Lands. The other is just a vague notion, hovering well out there on my mental horizon, but maybe it’s time to contemplate another book in The Nanotech Succession.

And that’s all I’m going to commit to!

I’ll check back here at the end of the year to see how I did. In the meantime, what are you planning for 2012? Let me know–I love to hear from you.

Posted on: Sunday, January 1st, 2012 at 2:26 am
Categories: Annual Writing Goals, Writing.
Tags: writing goals