Writing Goals for 2009

Today's weather forecast for St. Peters: Mostly sunny, high 45 degrees.

Happy New Year! For me, the first day of each year is always a fresh start--like a blank screen or a clean piece of paper waiting to be filled.

For 2009, I'm going to focus on my writing goals. When I worked as a management analyst, I learned one way to set and accomplish goals was by using the SMART approach.

SMART goals should be: Specific, Measurable, Are positively stated and written down, Realistic, and Timely (have a date or time attached to them). So, here are my SMART writing goals for 2009, with some comments on how I hope to achieve them.

1. Write two book reviews or author interviews each month. (I write book reviews and have done some author interviews for Bookreporter.com, Teenreads.com, Kidsreads,com, and have begun reviewing books for Thomas Nelson Publishing, so this should be attainable.)
2. Submit three entries to the Oklahoma Writers Federation Inc (OWFI) contest by Feb 1. (I have a few things in mind that I'll work on this month.)
3. Finish the first draft (50,000 words) of my YA novel by Sep 30. (I have 14K words completed, so I need to work harder on this goal.)
4. Polish my YA novel and query an agent by Dec 31. (dependent on goal #3)
5. Write a minute mystery (250 words) and submit to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Feb 15. (I will write the story then read at my critique group this month. After that I'll polish it and submit to EQMM.)
6. Outline, research, and write a proposal for a non-fiction book by November 1. (I have some notes on this but won't start in earnest until the summer.)
7. Double my writing income by Dec 31. (This one is dependent on all of the above.)

Other things I'm working on not listed above are: edit the galley for Cuivre River Anthology (Vol IV) by the end of January, coordinate entries for MWG flash fiction contest, continue this blog and network with more bloggers, and if my schedule permits, attend one writers' conference this year.

How about you? Do you have any writing goals for 2009 you want to share? If so, please post them here or e-mail me at dvolkenannt@charter.net and I will add them to the list and post next week.