Stepping out and stepping up…
Dear readers and writers,
It’s January 15th, 2020 and I’ve made a decision: this year, I’m going to step out and step up with my writing. I’m going through that open gate.
What does that mean? Well, first of all, it means I intend to start treating my writing less like a hobby or enthusiasm and more as a full time career, albeit at the moment an unpaid one.
I’m going to start taking it seriously, put in the time and work hard towards some goals. Disclaimer: this is not financially courageous on my part – I’m not leaving a paid job. I am fortunate enough to be retired and on an adequate income. But it does feel both exciting and a little bit brave nevertheless. After all, I may fail in any number of ways, which will be even more embarrassing now that you know what I’m aiming for. Hopefully, you’ll keep me accountable, too.
I was partially inspired to take this decision by the Writing Goals section of Jeff VanderMeer’s Booklife, which I’m currently reading.
If you have goals, you immediately know if you should take advantage of an opportunity. You can easily recognise when an opportunity is not for you.
This resonated with me. There are so many things I could do as a writer, but it feels like it’s time to focus on what’s important to me, and goals are a way of defining that.
So, I have made a 5-year plan and a 1-year plan. Here is the plan for this year, broken into 3 sections: Writing and Publishing, Engaging with other Writers, and Engaging with Readers.
- Publish my debut novel, Greenhaelan (Chronicles of Algarth#1) in February
- Revise and edit Skalsinger (Chronicles of Algarth #2) by end of August
- Publish Skalsinger in November
- Outline Charm Shaper (Chronicles of Algarth #3) ready to begin drafting in 2021
- Write 6 short stories and enter them into the Australian Writers’ Centre Furious Fiction competition
- Write 2 other short stories
- Submit one short story to anthologies/ magazines
- Write and publish 24 blog posts
- Attend 6 local author events at my library or bookshop
- Attend 2 larger festivals/conferences
- Actively engage and network at these events
- Support other writers on Twitter, Blogs, GoodReads, etc
- Offer beta reading to at least 2 other writers
- Publish a review for every ARC and newly published book I enjoy this year
- Launch this author website and mailing list (if you’re reading this, it’s done!)
- Grow mailing list to 50 this year
- Recruit an enthusiastic launch team for future books
- Engage with readers on social media
- Garner 50 Amazon reviews for Greenhaelan
- Give at least one interview as an author
So, there you have it. Some of these goals are completely doable, some will stretch me a lot, and a few depend on other people and are to some extent out of my control. But this feels like the year to be ambitious and dream big. To march through that open gate and see where the path takes me.
What do I really have to lose? Jeff VanderMeer again:
In all of this, there is still the human element. The simple truth is: no one reaches all of their goals, and no one has the inhuman ability to stay on task all the time. But making the attempt to articulate your dreams in this way means you will accomplish more than you would otherwise.
So, here’s to my new career!
Dear readers and writers, what are your goals for 2020? Are you being ambitious? Are you stepping out? Let’s do this together!
