2010 Writing Goals Review

At the beginning of 2010 I made very aggressive goals for myself in regards to writing.   My plan was to write at least 200,000 words which would equate to about 2.5 novels and a dozen short stories.  I also planned on keeping my Race score above twenty points (race score is a way writers keep track of how many manuscript submissions and short story submissions they have on editors desks; a typical professional keeps their score above 50.)

While the year isn’t quite out, I feel comfortable saying that I’ve well exceeded my goals.  By the end of the week I’ll have around 260,000 words written and be hovering around the 34 point mark for the Race.  That means I have ten short stories and three novels sitting on editors desks being reviewed (well, really in a big pile by the door, but who’s counting.)   I also have another one and a half novels written that aren’t yet on editors desks (the one will be inFebruary and the other later in the summer.)

Additionally, there are a number of things of note that I accomplished but didn’t have them on ye ol’ goal sheet.  One of those being publishing a novel.  The industry has changed considerably from the beginning of the year to the end and I’ve had to make several adjustments along the way.  Getting The Digital Sea out this Christmas has been one of those adjustments.  Next year will prove to be more of the same as the publishing industry shakes itself out.

All in all, I feel very good about what I accomplished.  I’ve had to make a lot of sacrifices in my life (everything minus the family and my day job) including gaming habits and sleep.  But I can look back on the year and know that I did what I said I was going to do.  Have I had much success behind the Silver Honorable Mention in WOTF and the book being put out?

No.

But those are things I can’t control.  The best any writer can do it keep sitting down at the computer, puting word after word, hopefully in the correct order, and then shipping that out to an editor when it’s complete.

So here’s to a successful 2010 and for 2011 to be more of the same!