I’m a huge New Year’s resolution maker. Actually, scratch that. I’m a huge all-the-time resolution maker. I absolutely love self-improvement and making plans for change. Following through on them, I’m not always as good at, but by aiming for the moon, I’ve often grabbed a few stars.
I’m pulling ideas from a couple different places to set my writing goals for the next few months. Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport suggested setting your goals on a roughly semester basis, which appeals to the school geek in me, so these Winter 2020 goals extend to May when I’ll select some summer semester projects. Atomic Habits by James Clear encouraged me to focus on the smallest possible unit of action: going small often makes a bigger difference than going big, which is always a temptation for a planner and goal setter like me. And I stole the three areas of my goals from DIY MFA, which suggested them as the benefits provided by an MFA program which you can replicate yourself without the expense of tuition.
So without further ado, my Winter 2020 writing plan:
Reading
* Atomic Habit: Open my Kindle app every day. I do most of my reading on audio, but I need to take more notes for this kind of craft reading. I figure if I at least open the app, I have a greater than normal chance of getting more reading done. Plus the app automatically keeps track of when you open it, making for an easy streak tracker.
* Read one craft book – I’ve picked Story Genius by Lisa Cron. It was recommended to me by my writing buddy Marinda (her blog Reading Responses is hilarious), and I’m hoping it can help me with how passive my protagonist ended up being in my NaNoWriMo story.
* Read one collection of short stories by a classic author – The idea here is to get a taste of the work of the greats without spending the time to read multiple novels. I’m trying out A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury. I’ve never read his work before except maybe one short story so I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s all about.
* Read three comp titles and three context titles – These terms come from DIY MFA, but basically, I want to read some novels similar to the next book I want to try before I attempt to write it to give me some context for what’s being written in that area.
Writing
* Atomic Habit: Write at least 500 words a day. I made a tracker for this to keep track of my writing every day. This is less than a third of NaNoWriMo level output, so it should be possible. I’ve already been thrown off by a random blizzard hitting Pacific Northwest and causing some snow days. But I suppose I need to learn the discipline to write even on days when four kids and their friends are running around my house….
* Write 5 short stories, each from a different elemental genre – I’ve already written one of these, “Winter Fog,” a Victorian-esque Christmas ghost story. The idea here is to stretch myself as a writer by trying some new techniques in a short, no-risk format.
* Write another novel in spring – I want to attempt another long-form project in March-April-May, not at NaNo pace, but hopefully moving along at a good clip.
Community
* Actively workshop pieces and read others’ pieces in the Reading Excuses group – Reading Excuses is a SFF critique group that started based on Writing Excuses, my favorite writing podcast. I’m submitting work there and reading others’ work to start building up connections with other writers and to get used to getting feedback and editing. I’m also looking at American Night Writers Association (ANWA) as a source for feedback, but let’s move one step at a time.
* Attend at least one local writing event – There are so many great writing communities in the PNW. I’m looking at the event lists from Hugo House, PNW Writers, and even from the local library system, and I’m definitely going to attend something before the end of May. I just learned that Marie Brennan is doing a workshop in Seattle in February through Clarion West, and the Memoirs of Lady Trent is one of my current favorite series so that may be my pick!
And that’s it! What are your writing goals for this year/season/life? I’d love to have anyone who wants to read/write/socialize along with me. Comment below or send me an email if you’re interested.
