I’ve decided to switch gears mostly away from reading challenges again in 2020 so I can really focus on my writing goals. I used the Bookish Resolution Challenge for writing goals in 2019, but since they’re just year-long goals, they didn’t really motivate me—especially when things started going wrong in my household and we hit those last few months of craziness. And the waiting game with submissions isn’t particularly motivating either. I’d love to be able to say my book sold in 2019 but that’s not the reality. Here’s hoping that 2020 is the year that happens!
I’m going to try hard to make solid monthly writing goals in 2020 and focus on those. (And you guys, along with my writing friend Megan, can help hold me accountable!)
Here are some goals for the year, but like I said, I’m also going to break them up monthly to make them more doable.
My Writing Goals
- Update Convenerimus based on feedback from sensitivity reader and send it back to my agent. I made a change to the MG manuscript that I’m currently on submission with, and I decided it would be a good idea to have a sensitivity reader take a look at the book for that change and for some other aspects. I should be getting that feedback back very soon, so I need to make updates based on the feedback and send the book back to my agent so we can get it out to a new set of publishers.
- Finish first edit of my Selfish Giant retelling. This is the manuscript I should have finished in 2019. It WILL get done in 2020.
- Attend one writing conference and at least one online class. I’m actually already registered for the SCBWI conference in New York in February, so that one’s a given. For Christmas, I asked for a $75 gift card to The Writing Barn, which would cover one online class. (I actually ended up getting cash because the gift card could only be emailed—but I need to make sure I spend that money on a class in 2020.) Honestly, I would love to attend even more workshops and classes, but I have to be realistic about how much money I’m spending on my writing.
- Read writing craft books and resources. This was a goal last year, but this year I’m going to be more specific about a plan for each month so I actually do it. It’s really easy to feel like I have “all year” to complete a goal—and then never get to it.
- Edit A Memory of Magic. This is the working title of the YA draft I wrote during NaNo a year or two ago. I set it aside and never really picked it up again. Need to fix that.
My Reading/Reviewing Goals
(Besides reaching 100 books for my Goodreads goal, which will be no problem):
- Keep up with (requested) review books. I’m giving myself some grace on the books that show up as surprises (though I do love surprises!), but for books that I request, I’m making it a goal to review them no more than two weeks past publication.
- Work on clearing out my backlist review books. I actually have a pretty good NetGalley rating (I’m currently at 88%), but I have some older books that have been hanging out on both NetGalley and Edelweiss. I also have a decent number of backlist physical review books that publishers have sent me that I’d like to get to.
- I know I won’t be able to get them all completely cleared away, but my goal is to get to at least two per month.
- Here’s the spreadsheet I created specifically for my backlist ARCs and review copies. (This was adapted from one of the tabs on Val @ Reader Voracious’s 2020 spreadsheet). Hopefully seeing this list here monthly will help keep me on track!
My Only 2020 Challenge
This year, I’m keeping it simple and I’m only signing up for the 2020 Book Blog Discussion Challenge. It’s the one challenge I can’t ignore since I cohost it with Shannon (plus, I love it!).
You should sign up too!!
That’s it for my 2020 goals! Like I said, I’ll be setting monthly writing goals as well to hold myself accountable—but this gives me an overall direction for the year. Wish me luck!
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