What Are Your New Year's Goals?


I wonder if William of Normandy made New Year's Goals. Time to conquer Saxony England.
Or if Christopher Columbus peered out into the wide blue ocean and made a goal to reach land.
The key to making goals is ensuring they're reasonable, something that we can actually achieve!
First, make a long term goal---for instance: by the end of the year I want to have written another book.

Make shorter term goals to reach this end: Write 70,000 words in the next 3 months, so approximately 23,000 a month, break down further, in a week, less than 6,000 words per week. Divide it up by days, 1,000 per day, 1 day off a week for good behavior. But what about the rest of the year? Okay, revise book, have it critiqued, ultimate goal? Send it out to agents/editors before year end. Again, make these real goals....By such and such a date, send in chapters for critique. By such and such a date, have all revisions done. By this date, submit to these five agents. If no response by a certain date, send out to these five agents. Etc....always make the short term goals identifiable, not vague.

The key here is to set tangible goals and how we're going to reach them with shorter, more doable goals.

By stating I want to have something or do something by the end of the year, but I make no plans on how to go about that, will surely result in not accomplishing my goal. :)

I want to write a new book and have it ready to go before the end of year? I'll do it, IF I reach my short term goals that keep me headed in the right direction.

So what is my New Year's Goal? Finish Betrayal of the Wolf and send it to my editor!
What are your New Year's Goals?
Terry Spear
Heart of the Wolf
~~Welcome to my world, where wolves are wolves with a human sensibility, and their human counterparts are gifted with the wolf's keen senses. See what happens when the lupus garou break free of the rules of their society, wreaking havoc, and threatening exposure of their special kind. Read how Devlyn rescues Bella only to find themselves in worse trouble than before where their forbidden love may get them both killed...

4 comments:

Carol Ericson said...

Terry, I love this time of year just for the endless new possibilities! I enjoy setting goals and making lists. I agree that breaking your goals into do-able bits works great. I can make a goal about having a book done by June, but giving myself smaller goals to achieve this gives me a greater sense of accomplishment as I accomplish each task.

Terry Spear/Terry Lee Wilde said...

I so agree, Carol! It's a new beginning, uhm, what didn't I do last year? Now I can begin anew! And the smaller goals really help to make it happen. :)

ShawnaMoore said...

Hi, Terry!

Great post and I enjoyed reading your goals for 2008. Here's to Betrayal of the Wolf and to making 2008 the best year ever!

Best wishes always,

Shawna

Terry Spear/Terry Lee Wilde said...

Thanks, Shawna! I'm almost done with it and then I've got to start over with Allure of the Wolf! :) Terry