2020 and 2021 New Year's Resolutions (in regards to writing)

alexvss

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What are your writing goals for this new year? Did you achieve your writing goals in 2020?

For 2020, I set a goal to qualify for SFWA. I failed. All I had was 200 form rejections, and I remain unpublished. So, for this new year, my goal is to make at least one sell (be it SFWA qualifying or not).
 
That's a good goal. I wish you all the luck in the world with it.

Also, @therapist, welcome to Chrons. This is a good place to help you create the writing habit, and I can highly recommend the writing challenges as a great way to hone your craft. I believe there are two underway at present, a 75-worder and a 300-worder.
 
Last year my goal was to write a review every time I watched a film, so as to keep up the habit of writing. I've been successful with that and I think my writing has improved as a result.

It's been a long time since I've been able to produce any fiction, mostly because I've been stalling on a larger project. I am hoping to take part in the writing challenges here as a prompt to get me writing more short fiction, and also work to have a full draft of my bigger project before the end of the year.
 
For 2020, I set a goal to qualify for SFWA. I failed. All I had was 200 form rejections, and I remain unpublished. So, for this new year, my goal is to make at least one sell (be it SFWA qualifying or not).
You've got over 30 posts now, so put up the first few hundred words of a story in Critiques and see what feedback you get.

Well I am new here, and only just started writing. My goal is just to try and write a very short story everyday. And in the process try and learn alot from people here.
We can't help with the "every day" goal, but we can help with 16 short stories every year! We run monthly and quarterly Challenges, and you've come at just the right time as two started yesterday! JANUARY 2021 75 Word Writing Challenge -- READ FIRST POST!! and 300 Word Writing Challenge #40 -- READ FIRST POST!



And my writing goal is to try and ensure the Chrons anthology Femmes Fae-Tales gets published in 2021 and gets lots of sales, enough to provide me with enough royalties to pay for all the things I've bought with foxes on... :LOL:
 
My goal for 2020 was to develop a daily writing habit — check!

So, for 2021 a little more ambitious:

1) complete two novel development drafts (first one almost done, no not cheating)
2) complete four short stories with revisions and critiques
3) collect a minimum of thirty rejections on short story submissions

ETA:
4) participate in all sixteen 2021 forum writing challenges

Good luck on your goals everybody!
 
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You've got over 30 posts now, so put up the first few hundred words of a story in Critiques and see what feedback you get.

I have a problem with that. I've read the guidelines. You only accept stories that are family friendly; and that's not what I write. I'll try and write something slighty family friendly and post it.

@JS Wiig, I like your goals. They're countable, and they depend on you only. That's how you make a goal. I, on the other hand, am a little stubborn, and keep setting up goals that don't depend on me--like selling a story.

@The Scribbling Man, I created a blog last year, and posted more than thirty times there. I post reviews on books, series and film. It does help with my writing!
 
I used to set goals but I don't any more. I found that, if I came up short, I felt bad and felt worse because the only thing I could do at that point was to set new goals and feel anxious about them.

Now I just write. I try to spend three or four hours five days a week (I'm retired, so I have that luxury). If on some days I have to do other things, that's okay. I like the idea of writing a book a year, but I don't like it so well as to feel badly if I don't manage it (as I did not, last year).

Or, to put it another way: to be sure of hitting your target, just shoot. Whatever you hit, call that the target. :)
 
I have a problem with that. I've read the guidelines. You only accept stories that are family friendly; and that's not what I write. I'll try and write something slighty family friendly and post it.
You don't need to post the whole story -- in fact we usually advise against it -- only, say, the iniital 500 words. That will give us enough to go on in the first instance.

Does the unfamily-friendly crop up in the first 500 words? If not, then you're good to go.

If the unfamily-friendly in the first 500 words amounts only to four-letter words, then use asterisks judiciously -- eg f**k, or s**t -- and you're still OK. (Though the c-word is never acceptable, even with asterisks.) However, it's worth bearing in mind that the more such words are used, the less impact they have, so if there are more than a couple inside 500 words, I'd suggest you row back on them anyway, unless you plan on writing something like Trainspotting.

If, however, the unfamily-friendly within the first 500 words is excessive over-the-top violence and/or explicit sex, then to be frank it's highly likely we've found the reason why you're getting rejections.

In any event, before firing off more submissions, I really do think you need disinterested feedback on your work, so do try and put something up soon.
 
@The Judge Yeah, I figured a whiled ago that --one of the-- causes of my rejections are adult themes, so I've been auto-censoring my work lately.

I'll post the beginning of my most family friendly story then.

About the c-word... Yeah, a lot of people fear cancer. My mom doesn't speak this word since auntie died... (pun intended).
 
Goals — are you a plotter or a pantser?

or...

Do you find your goal setting style matches your writing style?
 
It's not a goal yet, but after years of being just a reader, I'm feeling a little tempted to do some writing.

I've bought a pad of paper and some biros (I know it would be easier to do it on my PC, but at the moment I want to put pen to paper for some reason) and other than that I have no plan :)

I don't have any ambition other than to try and produce something interesting, if it's anything like the music I make it will be fairly abstract and incomprehensible to everyone except the few that like what ever it turns out to be.

I don't want to be a "writer" but I would like to see if I can write.
 
In 2020 I set out to self-publish a few short stories (which I succeeded in doing) and to finish the draft of a novel I've been working on. The novel dragged out to about 90 chapters, but I did manage to chop down to 25 chapters and send out for comment. So not a complete bust, I guess.
 
It's not a goal yet, but after years of being just a reader, I'm feeling a little tempted to do some writing.
(...)
I don't want to be a "writer" but I would like to see if I can write.
Nice! Writing something makes you a better person. It's a hell of an exercise.

@Mlex Welcome to the forum. Do you have goals for 2021?
 
My goals for 2020 were to get an agent, sell my thriller, write a new novel and write the pilot for a proposed TV series based on my first novel. I only managed the last item on my list.

So, this year I will finish the new novel (next month), use the two completed novels to try to snag an agent and/or publisher and find a producer for the TV series. I'll also start a new novel and try to keep the sales ticking along for my two published books.

Not sure how realistic any or all of those goals are, but while my non-writing 'real' job dominates my time, the plans are really long term.
 
Nice! Writing something makes you a better person. It's a hell of an exercise.

@Mlex Welcome to the forum. Do you have goals for 2021?

hmm, 2021. it'll be odd, but not prime (as my uncle, the mathematician, told me).
of course, finish the damn book I'm working on.
publish four more issues of the quarterly zine on schedule.
finish a story I'm working on.
reach out to other writers more, just for chatting, mutual encouragement, and the like.
I've already accomplished one of these!
 

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