Writing Goals for 2021

Last week I talked about what writing-related things I accomplished in 2020. This week, I’d like to talk about what my goals are for 2021. Before we dive in, I should make one thing clear. I’m not naturally a goal-setting, plan my week/month/year kind of person. I’m a what do I want to do today vs what should I do today vs what must I do today kind of person. As a procrastinator, I push things until they catch fire and then spend my time putting out the fires I’ve set. I tell you all of this to show you how out of character it is for me to sit down at the beginning of a year to set goals.

Why Set Writing Goals?

Given I’m not a naturally organized, goal-oriented person, one might wonder why this is an exercise that I’m taking on, and worse, extolling to other writers. For me, there are two major drivers for setting my writing goals; accountability and focus.

Accountability

If I don’t say “this year I will do this thing”, there’s a good chance it won’t get done. There are innumerable shiny things to distract us and immeasurable opportunities to wander along new paths. Without accountability, I’m free to fritter away my time by turning my attention to these other things. It’s also easier to procrastinate and put that novel on the shelf for ‘later’. Even worse, it gives you an ‘out’ when things get hard and you’re tired of the work. In 2019, I tried doing the #100DaysofWriting accountability challenge and found it worked. For me, saying “I will do X” works.

Focus

A goal (dream+deadline) gives you a target, a destination. Once you know where you’re going, you can start to plot the tasks or steps needed to reach that place. Logically, I know that to reach my goals, I’ll need to complete a number of tasks. But if I don’t focus on the goal, the tasks may or may not get done, depending on my whim or enthusiasm for that task. This scattershot method is not a great way to organize time, energy, or resources. Given that I have a life and a job, the time and energy I have available for my writing is limited. Without focus, I can’t see how I’ll accomplish much of anything.

How to Set Writing Goals

Without getting into SMART goals and vision boards, I’ve tried a couple of different methods to set goals. In the past, I’ve scribbled a wish list and then winnowed down the list, or put a number of ideas on a board and literally thrown darts at it. This year, I took a hard look at what I want to do in terms of building my writing career and tried to balance that with what I felt was actually achievable.

Make your Writing Goals Achievable

I believe goals should be both aspirational and achievable. If you set unrealistic goals and don’t achieve them, will you find your end-of-year review motivating? Conversely, if you set goals that won’t push you or stretch you in any way, will you feel like you’ve accomplished much at the end of the year?

Considering what was achievable did mean that I dropped a few things from my list, or pared them down to a more reasonable level. I’m still struggling with this part; on the one hand, I’m looking at the big picture and wanting to prevent burnout, and on the other, I feel like I’ve already lost so much time and burn to shove my writing into high gear.

“Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal.” — Elbert Hubbard

My Writing Goals for 2021

So now we come to the part of the program where we list the actual goals. Note, this list is still high-level and doesn’t actually speak to all of my writing-related wants. For example, I’ve set attending a writing conference as a goal; my purpose for attending the conference is for the opportunities to network, learn, and deepen my understanding of the business of writing. Each of those could have been a goal in itself, with attending the conference as the objective in which to reach those goals. But for an introvert, voluntarily attending an event such as a conference is a big step forward, so I chose to put it out there as a goal. How you think about your own goals, and the purpose of those goals, will inform how you develop your goals.

My List

• Self publish the first book in my Fantasy series
• Query my Middle-Grade novel
• Post to the blog each week
• Attend a writing conference. I’m planning to attend the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association conference in September.
• Attend a writing retreat. I’ve signed up for Rainforest Writers Village virtual retreat.
• Finish drafting the second book in my fantasy series
• Compete in NaNoWriMo 2021
• Beta or Critique read four books (1 per quarter)
• Write 4 short stories (1 per quarter)
• Read 24 books (2 per month)

Whew. It feels like a lot when I list it like this, and meeting these goals will mean I’ll need to focus my energy and time on the tasks required to meet them. While a part of me feels up for the task another part says “we’ll see”. At the best, when it’s time to review my accomplishments for 2021, I’ll be further ahead than if I hadn’t set goals, and isn’t that really what matters?

Have you set your goals for the year? Jump on the accountability wagon and share them in the comments!

Header Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash