Setting Goals

I want 2013 to be a year of goal setting. I started January with a vague idea in mind of what I wanted to accomplish with my writing. Now I know that setting concrete checkpoints are important. They help drive you, provide you with a schedule, and let you see when you achieve success!


What do I want to accomplish this year?

1. Send a story to On Spec during their open submission period.
2. Submit stories to at least 3 other venues to test the waters.
3. Write 3-4 new short stories, edit, and send out to markets.
4. Send out my novel and/or secure an agent to represent it.
5. Complete the draft of the sequel (currently sitting at 20,000 words completed).
6. Submit to the yearly Tesseracts anthology.
7. Begin drafting a fantasy text, to break me out of the SF kick I am on.
8. Write more blog entries/edit this blog design to be more readable.

This list might seem long, but I tend to work in streaks. I do a great deal of work in a short time, then take a break and go into what my sister very accurately calls "input mode." I can't read and write at the same time. When I'm reading, I'm absorbing new ideas, studying narrative, and generally enjoying work that I haven't had to produce. When I write, I can't take anything else in or it breaks my style and I completely lose my muse.

For better or worse, I am currently in "output mode." Since the beginning of the year I have drafted two new short stories, edited one, and sent that one out for submission. I have also sent out my novel (which is currently being considered), submitted to Tesseracts (I made the first cut, but did not make the final round), worked on this blog, and tried out 2 new venues for story submission.

I haven't yet been able to submit to On Spec for 2013 as they have not been open; however, I have secured my first offer! My story "Chance Encounters" will be appearing in a future issue of On Spec, which I am very excited about. I love the magazine and it's neat to think my work will be featured alongside stories which, quite frankly, I feel are higher calibre than my own. I know we are our own worst critics, so I remind myself that the editors liked it for a reason. (Trust the editors, I keep reading. Trust the editors, they know best -- and they do!)

I also haven't sat down to work on my novel sequel yet. I did quite a bit of work on it in the fall before I had an "ill" stint over Christmas. I'd like to get back into it, though I'm really hesitant to do so just now, in case it disrupts the rate at which I've been writing short fiction. I feel I am really developing my writing with the short stories and I'd like to bring that maturity of narrative to the book. I love my novel universe dearly and want to do it justice, particularly in the sequel when I have the chance to flesh out some major subplots from the first book.

On the plus side, I *have* been able to work on a fantasy text, and not in the manner I expected. I've had the joy of guiding my husband along the writing path the last couple of months. He's always had "the story I wish I could write" in his head, and if anything he is an excellent world builder. When he started talking about the ideas he had, I began to get my own ideas, and I knew he had a rich little kernel to work with.

Last night we went to a coffee shop with a notebook, and we began to give physical form to the little creative ghosts that have been in his head for years. I am a bit ruthless. "Why," I kept asking, for each note. "Why does the character do that? Why not this? What is their motive? Why would it be that way in the world?" He does the same for me when I write, so we joked about it being karma. In reality, we banged quite a bit of logic and reason into the rules of his book universe. The plan is that he will draft up detailed notes of ideas, and I will write. I'm not sure if this is how others co-write books, but it's our plan and I'm looking forward to it.

I didn't include "sell a story/novel" in my goals, because in reality, I can't make that happen. What I can do is get my work out there, write lots, and take steps to allow others to read it. I like writing. At heart, it's why I do it -- and I submit it because I want others to read it. I submit to professional or excellent semi-pro markets because I want it to go out to many hands, and because I have this lofty idea that someday, I will earn enough money from writing to renovate my house.

Keep writing!