After the first plot point in my manuscript for Long Road, the main character tells her husband’s best friend that life is too unpredictable to make plans.
Unpredictable indeed.
Since Christmas Eve, the corner of the state where I live has been socked with two multi-day blizzards. And during one of those storms, my dad developed blood clots in his lungs and had to be rushed to the hospital.
The big plans I’d spent so much time making in December – to spend at least a half hour a day on the elliptical, to write 500 words a day on the second narrative of my NaNo book until it’s complete -- have since fallen to the wayside.
Letting these plans slide has caused more than a little anxiety for me. I keep telling myself to pull myself together. Get back on my feet. Climb back on the horse. Get back to the race.
So thinking about my response to BJ’s topic for this blog chain – What are your writing goals for 2010? – has helped me refocus.
Here are my writing goals for this year (not plans, goals):
1. Break in the new office chair my husband bought me for Christmas by sitting my butt in it and finishing Justice’s narrative in my NaNo book by April 15.
2. Become more involved with QueryTracker.
3. Finish my query/synopsis for Long Road before February 1.
4. Submit it to at least 10 agents before March 1.
5. Establish a direction for this blog. What do you all want to read about? Is my weird world really that entertaining? 6. Establish a bigger audience for this blog. (In other words, I'll be groveling for more followers at some point during the year.)7. Start another blog that focuses on the relevance of spiritual health.
8. Compete in NaNo again.
9. Finish my Insight stories, hometown commerce series and photopage before my Jan. 20 deadline. (This is the scariest one.)
10. No miss a single Ten-Word Tuesday from now through the end of December 2010.
Think I can do it?
I’ll let you know in about a year from now.
Eric posted before me. Now check out Christine’s goals for the year.
But first, tell me about your goals for the year.
12 comments:
Oh no! What a scary time. I hope your dad is all right! Sometimes big plans just have to take a backseat.
Your goals are great start to getting back into the driver's side. Good luck with them!
Wow, I hope everything went well with your dad. You have quite an agressive list of goals, so I wish you luck with them.
I don't think you necessarily need to change anything with this blog, but my advice is for you to find what you like on other blogs and see if that's something you could do as well (no, I don't mean copying others, but simply using them as inspiration). That's what works for me so well, learning what I can from my fellow bloggers and trying to achieve that same level of excellence. As you can probably see, I still have alot to learn :) Nice job on this post.
I hope your father is doing better!
I'm also trying to do more with my blog this year. I think the key is to write about your passions. I'm a science geek, so I'm going to discuss science more often on my blog (and hope I attract more people who like science than I scare away!). So I suggest blogging about your particular passions too. Good luck!
A health crisis will always take priority over everything else. I hope your dad is fully recovered, or at least well on his way.
I like reading your blog so much that I can't think of any topic that would be better than just hearing your take on life. Sorry, I know that's probably not helpful!
Your goals are wonderful. I'm still in limbo here, which is a very hostile climate for goals. So much about what I do with my writing in the future depends on one big unanswered question. I'm trying to take the writing one week at a time.
What a good list. Number one sounds familiar. :)
I hope all is well now...and can I say that I AM SO EXCITED about you querying Long Road - it is truly an AMAZING piece of literature, everything a book should be!
I sure hope your dad is doing better! Love the list. . .I am, for some reason, opposed to doing a list of my own this year. . . For now anyway.
You can do it! I know you can!
Very cool. You have put a lot of thought into this! I applaud you!
You have quite an agressive list of goals, so I wish you luck with them.
Work from home India
Great list of goals. I hope your father is doing better :)
That's quite a list of goals, and I do hope you achieve them. Most of all I hope your dad's doing all right.
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