Writing Goals for 2019

So if you thought my reading goals for 2019 was excessive you’ll be in for a real treat 😈

I have some ambitious writing goals for this upcoming year, mostly because my writing habits this year were crap and I’d like to go into 2019 with a bang and actually get myself in gear. Following a bunch of writers on twitter has been really inspiring and I’ve been craving a more consistent writing routine.

I’ve broken down my goals into two different categories: blog writing and fiction writing.

Write two reviews a week

Reviews have been some of my hardest posts to write; I just don’t enjoy them! I think it’s because I wait too long to review a book and I can’t remember what happened. I also don’t think I’m very good at it, but like obviously I can’t get better if I’m not actually writing any 😑

Since I have to read about two books a week to meet my 100 books a year goal, I should be reviewing every book I read. This will definitely be a struggle and will be time consuming, but there are little no downsides to this. This will make me a better writer, blogger, and reader so like I just got to get over this fear and realize that my reviews might be a little sucky for a while. 

(Also I would like to work on cross-posting my reviews to other sites as well.)

Write (at least one article) for an online publication

!!! I have this dumb fear of being published which like at this point is unfounded because I’m literally publishing my garbage blog posts multiple times a month.

By the end of the year I would love to have written something as a contribution for an online publication, like a website or magazine. Not quite sure how I’m going to go about doing this, but we’ll see.

Continue to work on my High Priority novel

One of my problems is that I have way too many ideas, so I started sorting them into a google sheet and prioritizing them by high priority, mid priority, and low priority.

My current high priority novel is my NaNoWriMo project from 2017. It’s a rough draft, and my plan is to currently rewrite it. I’d like to spend the first few months of the year rereading it, taking some notes, and coming up with a better plot. I already know I’m changing the POV and making some character changes, so ultimately that comes with a new/different plot. Hopefully if I get that done by April, I can rewrite it during Camp NaNoWriMo. If I end the year with a complete second draft of this project, then I’d be super happy.

Participate in 3 NaNoWriMos

NaNoWriMo traditionally takes place in November, but there are also two more in April and July called Camp NaNoWriMo. Camp NaNoWriMo is way more laid back that NaNoWriMo in November, and you can pretty much work on whatever you want.

Ideally, I’d like to rewrite at least part of my project during the April NaNoWriMo, which leaves the July NaNoWriMo open to either continue to work on this high priority novel, or if I’m feeling like I need a break, I can spend some time writing one of my mid priority projects (most of which are already started/half written).

In November, I’d like to work on a brand new project! Hopefully I’ll have more time in the summer to brainstorm and write a better outline.

Write 6 short stories

I love writing short stories, but I find them extremely challenging to write. One of my long-term goals is to publish work in literary magazines, and the only way to do that is to actually 1) write short stories and 2) send out my work for publication.

I have a couple ideas for some short stories already, and I really can’t wait to work with them. I hoping this will allow me to take a break from working on some larger projects while also writing more frequently.

Send two short stories out for publication

Notice my wording is very intentional: I didn’t write “publish two short stories” because what if I send them out and no one accepts them for publication??? I can’t really control who choses my work, but I can control how often I write and how often I send it out. I’m planning on sending one piece out in March, and one piece out in October.

The piece I’m planning to send out in March is basically done; it’s been written and revised by me multiple times, and edited by others multiple times too. I’ll probably do one or two line reads before I send it out, and I’m planning to research some literary magazines or websites that it will fit well into.

My second piece needs A LOT of work; I’ve gotten two people to read it over and give me some feedback but I’m legitimately terrified to read it over and revise it myself because I’m just scared it’s going to be terrible so I just need to get over myself and work on it.

Finish writing When We Were Beautiful

Hi friends my name is Seal and I’ve been working the same Maximum Ride fan fiction since I was in legit 8th grade and it’s still not done.

2019 is THE YEAR I will FINISH it. I’m swear I’m leaving myself NO CHOICE I literally cannot have this in my head anymore it NEEDS to be written.

Some background: I started reading Maximum Ride in 6th grade, and wrote my first fanfiction ever in 8th grade (about Maximum Ride obviously) and like everything else that most 14 year old Seal wrote it was actual trash and it’s been since deleted.

However this specific story started blossoming around that time, but my writer-hood was too underdeveloped to figure out how to write it.

By the time some of the later books were published, my story was starting to fall together. When I was a sophomore in college I wrote over 50k words of it for NaNoWriMo.

I have about 70k words written and it’s been slow because it’s just not a priority for me to write fanfiction anymore. But literally I am still thinking about it so I just need to buckle down and write it. I have about another 50k words to go.

But the plus side of having an idea that the age of a 4th grader, is that is already incredibly fleshed out. I have an entire composition notebook of notes, plus an entire spreadsheet with 5 tabs, and an incredibly detailed outline. I literally just need to write it.

This should honestly be the easiest goal for me to reach because I’ve done all the hard work already.

What are some of your blog or writing goals for the year?