2024 Writing Goals

 Where am I going in 2024?

 

I love planning, so this part is easy for me. Even though I know, from years of experience, that plans rarely achieve full fruition, I feel comfort having them.

My Writer’s Plan for 2024:

  Sparrow Spy Corps, revise to final, FINAL draft.

o   Include in anthology for Flannery O’Connell contest. May 2024

o   Submit to agents: if rejected, see next:

o   Publish on Amazon.

·         Anthology for Flannery O’Connell contest: May 2024 deadline

o   Finish revision of Sparrow Spy Corps for anthology.

o   Review all the stories that will be included.

o   Request read-through by someone.

·         Pirate story, revise to final, FINAL draft.

o   Submit to agents.

·         Big Edna and the Fae: finish manuscript, 15 scenes to go at 3 March 2024.

o   Expected completion: 30 Mar 2024.

o   Finished first draft: 3 APRIL 2024!!!

·         Anthology for Mary: all of above but including non-fiction and poems.

The looming deadline is May 30 for the Flannery O’Connell Anthology Contest. The competition requires a word count of 44,000 to 77,000 and can include novellas but not poems or nonfiction. Right now, my word count is under 44,000, thus the need for Sparrow Spy Corps, which can be classified as a novella. For this I need the sparrow story revised to final, and reviews of 30 of my short stories. Whew!

To inspire my work on Sparrow Spy Corps, I got some mugs to remind me to work on it.

I hate to admit this, but IF I miss this deadline (which I want to meet) then I can submit it next year.

I hope to have two novels ready to submit to agents this year, and an anthology ready for publishing on Amazon. If not accepted by agents, I’ll publish these three works on Amazon, available for sale in time for holiday bazaars. October 30 is the deadline to publish on Amazon in time for the holidays.

I’ll also be working on revisions to Big Edna and the Fae, hopefully for publication next year. At year end, I plan to have made some noteworthy changes to my Wall of Pride (see blog post 6 March 2024).

What are your writer goals for 2024? Have you had stories published in anthologies? What was that experience like for you?

 

New Year's Assessment

This blog is about me as a writer, so I thought I’d explain a new year’s assessment that is standard for me. Next post I’ll share my goals for 2024.

First, Where am I as an author of fiction?

 

This photo shows my completed short stories, plays and novels. It is a visual record, for me, of my success at finishing works: a quick count indicates 35 tales. Some of these will remain on this ‘Finished’ shelf forever (my earliest two books) but most—I hope!—will move on. When I finish writing the first draft of a story, I print out the manuscript, put it in a three-ring binder, and write the title on the spine. When I feel like I’m not actually a storyteller, I glance at this collection, which is in the dining room where anyone can see it, and am reminded that in truth, I AM a writer!

 

 

This second photo is a picture of my publication record. It includes two full-length children’s novels, a play for kids to perform, and many literary journals that accepted my short stories.

When a tale is published, I remove the notebook from the ’Finished’ group and add the final publication to my ‘Published’ shelf. Once a story comes out in print, I remove the manuscript from the notebook to reuse for printing, and I recycle the paper and that binder to another work.

The number of items in my ‘Published’ collection: 18.

Also, note beside the ‘Published’ works, gear from my one high school athletic competition, fencing: jacket, face mask, glove, and foil. Because of this training in my youth, I’m able to write with confidence about sword fights, and have advised fellow tale spinners about proper technique. I recommend authors consider taking lessons in fencing if they want to have accurate and exciting duels in their stories.  😉

I suggest giving yourself an award system such as my shelves to prove how prolific and accomplished you are. When I feel discouraged, just looking at this Wall of Pride, makes me smile. “I wrote all that?” I think, and the answer is a resounding, “Yes! I did!”

Total completed pieces of fiction: 53. Wow! Not bad for seven decades of life!

Is there a quirky hobby, sport, or activity you’ve participated in that you could draw on in your writing? Or in your artistic endeavors? How do you reward yourself for a job well done?