I’m of two minds about freelance writers setting New Year’s resolutions. I’m all for setting goals and writing them down to reinforce that message. And I agree that it’s good to make those goals measurable so you’ll know when you’ve achieved them.
But at the same time, freelancing requires flexibility, so sometimes the goals you set at the beginning of the year just don’t make sense a few months in. And you could have a totally kick-ass year without meeting any of your goals if you discovered some other project or path that fulfilled you creativity (and hopefully also filled up your wallet to some extent). I didn’t follow through on my first goal for 2009 (“spend at least two days per month on creative projects”), but I still had a great year overall.
Also, writing is a subjective, creative discipline, so setting measurable goal like the ones I would have made a few years prior (for instance, “I will send out XX queries per week” or “I will earn XXX this year”) don’t tell the whole story. They don’t speak to the quality of those queries or whether the income came from clients who treated you with respect or whether your sanity suffered as a result of meeting those numerical goals.
Then there are goals like “get published in the New York Times” or “sign an agent for my book,” which are laudable goals but completely out of one’s control.
So, for 2010, I’m setting a few loose goals and will figure out the rest as it comes. This year, I will …
- Say no to low-paying, high-maintenance clients
- Complete my certificate in Writing for Professional Communication (I’m already halfway through and the plan is to be done by March)
- Finish that ebook I’ve been neglecting and get it ready to distribute
- Retake driver’s ed so I will feel comfortable driving on the highway when I need to (it’s been awhile for this city girl)
And if other awesome projects get in the way, I’m sure 2010 will still be an awesome year.
What are your resolutions? Do you have any other thoughts on resolutions?
I'm glad I'm not the only person who wants to retake driver's ed! (10 years in Boston.. hehe). I've got lots 'o goals. Hrmm
1. Learn to drive my husband's stick shift (it's our only car… *sigh*)
2. Continue to grow the Brain Science and Creative Writing blog (specific goal – 1000 subscribers by end of this year)
3. Finish first draft of my YA manuscript by end of April (35K words so far)
4. Start a new science blog on my dissertation topic to force myself to get more familiar with the research.
Whew.
I try to avoid resolutions, but make goals (for my writing).
I posted a great article from 1997, about reflecting and not making resolutions.
It's really great, check it out if you get a chance. It's called 17 questions that could change your life.
Happy New Year.
My goals are to be more bold! and to have guts! I'm going to try to give up on the perfectionist nonsense and leap out of my comfort zone as quickly and as often as possible.
2010 will be nothing if not interesting.
One of my goals is to get better about following-up with queries and essays. It really does pay off sometimes. I should also work on the driving thing. Four years of living in Switzerland without a car makes me a bit scared to drive!
My primary goal is to stop struggling. Like when an editor wants revisions, I tend to get all ruffled up and waste all of this mental energy thinking about how the story is just fine as is. I will not do that anymore. I'll just do the revisions and be done with it, saving more energy for myself.
I'm not a professional writer, although I do need to write well in my job, so I have set myself a writing challenge for 2010. Instead of reading about how to write well (which is what I did for most of 2009), I will make myself put pen to paper and publish 3 blog posts per week. I hope to improve my writing style, increase my active vocabulary and express my thoughts in an organized manner. I'm inspired by your clear, seemingly effortless writing style Susan, and my (rather elevated) goal is to achieve the same level of clarity and fluidity in my writing by the end of 2010.
I, too, have pondered the past year as well as the year to come in my last couple of blog posts.
My goal for 2010 is: "To become a highly acclaimed author." With a great book coming out in March, I'm ready to achieve that goal!
I welcome your visit to my blog:
http://doreenisthewizardofwords.blogspot.com
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