Set writing goals

Camy here, commiserating with everyone who didn’t final in the RITA or Golden Heart.

(Waaaaaaahh … Okay, sob session over!)

What next? Why, forward and onward! Ho!

(I’m channeling my historical Western author friends)

The year is still young. Set some new goals for yourself for the next few months.

Why? Because if you have something you’re aiming for, then it can motivate you to be efficient and productive.

As writers, we want to simply keep going. We want to keep writing. We are not one-book wonders, right??? Right???

So let’s move on to another book, another story premise, another set of characters. Let’s just write!

So, let’s set some writing goals. I’m not talking about goals like “get an agent” or “get a publishing contract” which are not things you can control. I’m talking about concrete goals for you to achieve.

Things like “Finish a new manuscript this year” or “Research and query ten agents.”

Set deadlines, if you can: “Finish a new manuscript by December 31st, 2009” or “Research and query ten agents by April 30th, 2009.”

Contests are also good goals: “Enter the ACFW Genesis contest (deadline March 31st, 2009!!!)”

If writing is something important to you, then spur yourself on in your writing career. Set goals and work toward them.

(This is kind of funny, but this type of setting goals is just like giving your characters external goals. The goals are concrete, with a deadline, and not something dependent on things out of the character’s control.)

So fess up! What are your writing goals for this year?


Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. Her novel Single Sashimi is out now, and she runs the Story Sensei critique service. In her spare time, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service. On her blog, she gives away Christian novels every Monday and Thursday, and she ponders frivolous things. Sign up for her newsletter YahooGroup for monthly giveaways!