Creative Writing

Well, we’ve made it through another year.  I hope this finds everyone feeling fine and not too hungover from last night’s entertainments.  I was a good kid and stayed home.  Not much of a stretch for me, as I rarely go anywhere anyway, but I thought it would be a good idea to bring in the new year doing what I love best; writing.

I’ve been reading several other blogs the past few days, and it seems that everyone is posting their New Year’s resolutions and goals for the coming year.  There are all the usual ones like losing weight and giving up various vices, but you won’t find those things here.  First of all, I haven’t made a New Year’s resolution since the 80’s and I’m famous for breaking every major goal I’ve ever really set for myself.

I do have a couple goals set for this year, but I’m going to try and keep them at a minimum so I’ll have a better chance of meeting them.  My goals for this year are to keep my blogs updated a little better than I have been, and to finish the e-book I’ve been working on for the past several months.  I figure that if I can achieve those 2 goals, I’ll have done something wonderful.

What types of goals have you set for yourself this year?  I think writers should set goals for themselves, but I don’t think they should go overboard.  When setting goals for yourself, keep in mind the other things that happen in your life and factor that into the equation.  Family, real-world jobs, and sort of thing.

I remember when I was in school, one of my teachers gave a speech about short range and long range goals.  As a writer, I’ve found that this is one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever heard.  As you look at the goals you’ve set for yourself, see which ones fall into which category.  For instance, say one of your goals is to get that novel published.  That would be the long range goal.  Now, figure out what it’s going to take to make that happen, and work on the short range goals.  Goal #1, get that first draft done.  Goal #2, do your editing and revisions.  And so on.  By meeting each of your short range goals, you’ll soon find that your long range goal is in sight and can become the reality you’ve been dreaming about.

I know many of you will read this and think, “Well, duh”.  However, there are a lot of times when we all forget that it takes baby steps in order to run a marathon.  I wish for you all to meet your writing goals this coming year and I hope you’ll come by and share your achievements with the rest of us.

To all my writing minions, have a happy and creative new year!!!