Each year I set myself a list of goals. I find it odd come January if I don’t have a file on my computer with all the things I want to achieve, generally categorised between writing and personal development, to health and fitness and personal finance.
These goals are often divided into quarters. Then I have another list for monthly goals, weekly ones and daily ones.
Yes, that’s a little OCD when it comes to lists.
What can I say, I love writing lists, and ticking things off once they are complete.
In 2015, my primary goal was to publish my first novel. I did that. Lethal Disposal was published on Amazon in May 2015. This was an amazing feeling. It also taught me a few things that I wish I paid attention to before putting the book to market. The good thing about e-publishing is that it’s editable. But I don’t plan on making the same mistakes with future books.
In my last post, I mentioned my A goal for 2016. It’s a big one and it’s going to take a lot of commitment, time and sacrifice but it will be worth it.2016 is going to a big year. An exciting year. A hard working year.
1. I want to be a healthy writer.
I’m athletic. I run, swim, cycle, and weight train. Since having my son, my training has been sporadic at best. Given that my day job is sedentary and so is my writing, it’s imperative that I fit in daily exercise. Walking to and from the train station just doesn’t cut it.So I’ve started the year with some daily workouts. I want to run more marathons and do a few triathlons throughout the year and they both require a significant amount of training.
Being a writer doesn’t mean junk food, alcohol and staying on your butt. I’ve found that staying fit boosts my creativity. I use this time to plan out scenes, think through plot problems, and brainstorm article ideas.
I want to be a writer for as long as I’m here so that means I need to look after myself every single day. You can check out some ways I stay healthy as a writer here.
Whatever you do, make sure you invest in your health by eating nutritious food and staying active every day. You can still spoil yourself, just do it in moderation.
2. I want to publish six novels/novellas in 2016.
Insane. I know. How is that even possible?
Anything is possible if you believe and are willing to work your butt off. I’m not one to shy away from hard work and so I like to set myself some lofty goals.
At first glance writing six books seems like a stretch. If I was starting from scratch than that would be the case. I spent the last six months of 2015 writing two novels and two novellas. I’m aiming for the following publication schedule:
January – Lethal Instincts, a prequel to Lethal Disposal.(novella)
February – Lethal Aftershock, a sequel to Lethal Disposal (novella)
April – Lethal Attraction (Book 4 in the Lexi Ryder series)
May – Lethal Untitled (Book 5, a novella still to be written)
July – Lethal Games (Book 6 in the Lexi Ryder series)
September – Lethal Untitled (Book 7 in the Lexi Ryder series)
I hope this works out but life sometimes throws unexpected obstacles at us. While I’ll do everything in my power to achieve this goal, even if only manage half of it, it’s still a success, and more than if I didn’t set the goal at all.
3. I want to become a better writer.
Writing has been a passion since I was a kid. I hope it will continue to be one until my grey old days.
I know I can write fast but at the same time I want to write well. The only way to write well is to write more, read more, and learn more.
I’ll be working on improving my writing skills throughout the year, and I’ll share a post on that later this month.
4. I want to read more non-fiction books
In 2015 I read a lot of fiction. I didn’t keep track but I’d say I went through more than fifty books. For some it’s a lot, for others it’s nothing at all.
In 2016, I want to read 26 non-fiction books. That’s one every two weeks. But I don’t want to just read any old non-fiction books. I want to read two books in each of the following categories – business, religion, politics, crime, culture, biography, writing, espionage, travel, science, history, philosophy, and psychology.
Reading is an important part of being a good writer. It’s not enough to read books in your own genre. We need to engage all our senses, question our beliefs, learn new facts, and develop our minds to fuel our creativity. Non-fiction can also provide ideas for future fiction books. It’s a win-win.
I also want to read 26 fiction books. This won’t be too hard. If I really enjoy a book, I can generally get through it within two days.
So that’s a total of 52 books in a year or one book a week. I’ve joined the GoodReads Reading Challenge for 2016.
5. I want to earn $10,000 from my author business in 2016
I wasn’t going to set a monetary goal for my writing as it’s not one that I can control. But I like quantifiable goals and an income goal does just that, it provides me with a quantifier.
Why $10,000? It’s a nice round number and fairly achievable and it would pay for the two holidays I have scheduled for this year. I’m aiming for 50% from book sales, 30% from affiliates on my websites, and 20% from writing services I offer (articles, blog posts, etc).
If your business, website, blog or magazine requires a writer, check out my Hire Me page.
6. I want to become more confident
Success comes in many shapes and sizes but one thing that every success has in common is confidence. There are a lot of successful people out there who aren’t necessarily ‘the best’ at what they do, but they are confident.
To become successful in any arena it’s imperative to believe in yourself, because if you don’t, nobody will either. Confidence is one of my major weak points and it’s something I need to work on continuously.
As a writer, this means opening myself up for more criticism. I like a healthy dose of criticism as long as it’s done respectfully. Unfortunately, the online world has made some people think that they have permission to be rude, aggressive and vulgar towards others. But just because you aren’t sitting face to face doesn’t give you the right to be abusive. Play nice, we’re all in this together. Let’s help each other out, the world has enough hate already.
7. I want a few more things unrelated to writing.
From finishing a half marathon in under 1:45, to spending more quality time with my family and friends, to exploring new places, tasting new restaurants, embarking on unplanned journeys, building a house, learning the ropes in a new job, and being grateful for the all the wonderful little things that we take for granted.
2016 is going to be an awesome year. I’m looking forward to sharing my journey with you, and I look forward to hearing about yours.
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