What's Your 2013 To-Do List?

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The other day I was chatting with a dear friend/ writing mentor and she looked at me and said (well, she actually couldn't look at me since it was through a facebook message) and asked me what my goals for 2013 were.

A goal is different than a resolution. A goal has an end date, a deadline to get it done. It's something you're serious about striving towards and making happen. A resolution has become looser over the years because not a lot of stringent expectations have been put on the term.

She then told me that I after I wrote my list to mail it to her so she might keep me accountable through the year. I have to say I love this idea. Suddenly those goals aren't my own, they belong to someone else too. They know what I want to do with my time and if I don't get it done...it's not just a shrug your shoulders "I didn't make my goal"... I have to say why. And if I say why because I was frittering time away on pinterestfacebooktwitterblogging then...wellllll...that isn't a very good excuse is it? 

Strength comes in numbers. Power comes in sharing with someone other than yourself what your plans are.

You've got 365 days to get through. Of course, things are going to happen to change your goals, but work with those challenges and come up with a new direction for the same goal. It's allowing yourself, not to so much to accept failure, but to be willing to work with what you've been given and how you'll allow that to define you and your goals.

Here are a couple of mine for the year 2013:

Read and/or take a writing class once a month. This is a good goal. It's one I can accomplish. It's one that is realistic, but will also stretch me beyond my normal novel excuses. ;-)

Possibly work with a professional editor to take my writing further. Again, a goal I need to pursue. I'm at the point that I just flat need help. And I'll willing (and able) to invest in that. So I'm going to. Prayerfully.

I need to rewrite my book. So I'm going to make a game plan and start doing it. It takes me a loooong time to edit, so I'm looking at my edits realistically, realizing it will probably take me longer than this year, but going to to pursue this not with a sense of being overwhelmed, but a challenge to be conquered and a chance to learn and deepen my skills.

Looking at your new year and what you hope to accomplish in it should not be stress inducing, but should be taken as new opportunities to learn and grow. This business is all about both and being open to them gives you the best chance of making a difference. 

So your challenge (should you choose to accept it) is write out your goals. It doesn't have to be a lot, they don't have to be huge goals that aren't attainable. They shouldn't be what you can accomplish in a week. What do you want to do that will make you a stronger writer? What area of your novel craft needs to be improved? Now go about learning how to improve it. This year for me will be all about rewrites. That's my big goal. Everything falls under a sub-goal.

Share some of your goals in the comments and pair up with each other. Find an accountability partner and get 'er done!

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Casey Herringshaw is a homeschool graduate and has been writing since high school. She lives in rural Eastern Oregon in a town more densely populated with cows than people.