2017 Goals

Like every other slacker in the blogosphere, 2017 equals a new me, which means more organization, more success, and more blog posts. Yay for you!

I wanted to kick off this new year with something totally unique – my writing/blogging goals.

Really the main reason I’m telling you this is so you can perhaps come up with something similar and *key word here* achievable. And let’s be real, maybe, just maybe, if I write it down and make it public I’ll actually stick to it.

So without further ado…

Blog Goals
-Consistently write two posts a week. The beginning of the month I will outline ALL blog posts for that month. (Guess who’s starting out strong? This girl!)
-Teach myself ways to increase blog traffic through other social media outlets and actually keep up with it. (Today I started learning how to utilize Pinterest to direct traffic back to my blog. Quick revelation: all social media exists to point Internet users to other social media. What happened to just having MySpace?)
-Don’t try so hard to please everyone.

Writing Goals
-Submit two new short stories to at least ten potential literary journals each month. (I’m about a quarter of the way to this goal for January already!)
-Find an agent for my current almost-finished middle-grade novel, The Gatekeepers. (This goal has several sub goals that I won’t bore you with. They include finishing editing, beta readers, more editing, etc.)

I usually hate committing to goals (I don’t like the saying “New Year’s Resolutions), but since I’m about to graduate with my masters (YASSSS January 9^th!!) I think it’s time to stop resisting and get serious about my writing career. Who’s with me! What are your goals for this year?

~Liz

How to Make Goals (That You’ll Actually Stick With)

I think most of us know how to make a realistic and achievable goal. Just in case you don’t, here’s a quick run down:

• Break your goal down into a series of steps.
  • Each step will propel you onward, because you have mini-victories to cheer you along.
• Give yourself deadlines.
  • But make sure they’re reasonable. If you aren’t writing full time, chances are you can’t write a full length manuscript in one week, let alone plan and edit it.
• Prioritize your goals.
  • Figure out what’s most important and make sure those get done first. Most important can mean what you care about the most or what needs to be done in a timely manner. You’re smart, you can figure it out.

But here’s the problem. If you’re anything like me and take issue with authority (it’s a problem, I’m working on it), then even giving yourself a set of rules makes you want to rebel. I write to do list after to do list, and you know what I end up doing with them half the time? Throwing them away, telling myself I’m not the boss of me. It’s kind of ridiculous, but that’s beside the point.

I’ve discovered a handy trick to help achieve my goals, and the second I say it you’re going to smack yourself in the face. Just, before you x out of this tab, give me a second to explain. Pretty please?

The trick to actually achieving your goals is *drum roll please* reward yourself!

Seriously, that’s it.

Rewarding yourself can be literally anything from going on a shopping spree (I suggest leaving this to the big goals, like getting published and being given a huge advance) to taking a bubble bath with a glass of wine and your current book. I promise it will change your life.

I typically reward myself with a Starbucks latte or a book from my favorite local bookstore (I try to find used copies so I don’t break the bank). If it’s a huge goal I just accomplished, I’ll splurge on dinner out.

Your rewards don’t have to be insane or innovative to work. By rewarding yourself you’re doing more than telling yourself good job. You’re telling yourself that you value your hard work, you deserve recognition for whatever you’ve done (even if the recognition is just from you), and that you care about what you’re doing.

When we put goals on a piece of paper they sometimes become disconnected from our dreams. They become items on a list we want to cross off and get out of the way. If your goals are your dreams, then you shouldn’t want to move on from them. You should want to live in them, soak up the feeling of accomplishment, and allow yourself a little treat to recognize how much of a bada** you are!

So make those goals, but don’t forget to treat yoself!

~Liz

Follow me @liz_tampa on Twitter and @wethewriters on Instagram.