Goooooaaaaaallllllss!!

Ok, a month later here is that post I promised. The one about my goals for this year.

First, I 'd like to blog more. I could set a schedule but then I tend to forget what day it is, etc. Right now I'm going for at least 2 times a week with a gold star for 3 or more.

Writing. Well, that's the big one, ain't it? My ultimate goal is to get two books written (finished) finished this year. To that end, I've signed up for the Book Challenge of a local chapter I belong to - TARA. That means I paid $10 for each book that I set a goal to write and at the end of the year I get a raffle ticket for each one I finish and the winner of the drawing gets half the pot. Or something like that. But the best part is that this puts me on a loop with other people in the Challenge (great people!) who will keep me accountable. Throughout the whole year!

It's so easy for time to pass and to just say "I'll write about that tomorrow." But when you have to check in every Tuesday and you're as competitive as I am, then it's not as easy for time to just float by. For example, I've said I'll write 6k and send my last 20k off to be critted this week. While I haven't written anything, I did send off what I have! So I'm part way there!

Do I have smaller, more concrete milestones to hit my 2 book goal? I wish I did. Originally it was to write for an hour a day. And for those days that I just couldn't write, to at least sit down with the WIP for 10 minutes. So far, not so good. The best that I can say is that I'm getting there. I don't watch nearly as much TV as I used to (in fact, none for the past two nights) and instead The Boy and I camp out in the living room in front of the fire with our computers on ready to write. So at the very least we're creating the habits. I can say that I think about my book every day. All the time. To the point that I get itchy and antsy.

Of course I'd love to have the goal of getting an agent and selling. I mean, that is the ultimate goal. But it is outside of my control. What I can and will do is write and finish work, continue to use my awesome critique people, really incorporate their thoughts, really edit my work, and aggresively send it out. I'm not at the query stage yet or close to it, so those types of thoughts get pushed back for a while. Cause right now, it's all about finishing the current WIP (originally I wanted to do it by Valentine's Day but now I'm not so sure how long it will end up being...).

Another goal of mine is to get more involved in the community. The only problem I've had with that so far is that there's just so much out there - almost too much! I've been watching my loops roll over and over again (I've always felt they're cyclical) and there are so many people out there so much better versed than I to give the requested advice that I just end up being too shy to chime in. That's why I'm going to start small: post on the blogs I read, really contribute to the book challenge group, work my way. My ultimate goal is to have lots of fun friends to have a margarita with at Nationals in July :)

I entered DB&D in a contest. My first ever non GH contest entry! I kinda did it on a lark, especially since I'm not really working on that right now. But it was a goal of mine to submit to a few contests. I can't really submit the current WIP cause it would never win. Trust me. Not your average romance.

Read. I'm gonna go with the goal of 52 books in a year. So far I've been a bit behind, but I got a lotta travel ahead of me. I also have a goal of reading RWR as it comes - all of it :)

As for the other areas of my life... I'd like to have a better attitude towards my day job. After all, it does keep me in the style to which I am accustomed. I want to smile more. In fact, I read someone who said that in 2007 they wanted to bring more beauty to their life: clean house, clean mind, etc etc. I want to be a bit more of an adult (I think it might be time) and keep the house a bit neater, go to the grocery store more than once a month. Those types of things. I also have this big Thin by Thirty plan (which is more of a fit by thirty plan but that doesn't have the same type of ring to it). That means I want to be in better health - back the way I was when I entered law school. I want to be able to run with the dog and know that nothing in my health would keep me from what I want to do! Of course, I say that right now prone on the couch because my back ain't working so good these days (doctor appt. tomorrow - I'm scared!).

So, yeah, I think those are my goals. This time next year, if I am not a contracted author, then I will be starting on my third book having exhausted every possibility on the two I'm going to write this year. My two big focuses: health and writing (The Boy always trumps all, of course :)

I guess we'll just have to check back in a year to see how I did! Wish me luck! And feel free to kick me in the pants if I'm not going after those goals!