Writing Goals for 2013

As a great lover of lists, particularly To-Do ones, I love the New Year.

It’s time to look back over the past year (pretty good, all things considered), and set myself some goals for the coming 12 months.

I’ve started a list of Things To Do in 2013 over at DayZeroProject.com, including some writing goals.

Finish the first draft of The Paradise Swarm
This is my main objective for the year. As I currently only have 8,000 words done out of a planned 90,000, it’s going to be tricky and take some serious work, but I’m going to give it a go anyway. I’m hoping to write 2,000 words a week in order to finish the draft by October and be ready to start something new for NaNoWriMo.

Write 10 pieces of flash fiction
As much as I want to plough on with The Paradise Swarm, I’ve been wanting to write more short form. Ten stories of less than a thousand words (that’s one a month until NaNoWriMo) should be easy enough to manage in terms of word count, but still a good exercise.

Complete NaNoWriMo
This will be my sixth year entering, and hopefully my fifth win. I’m slowly but steadily getting better at balancing being a Municipal Liaison for a busy city and writing a first draft in a month, so I’m sure 2013 will be a great Nano.

Maintain blog and post regularly
I don’t write very fast and tend to second guess a lot of what I put down on the page as I write it. Blogging has been a great way for me to practice writing in a more fluid manner, so I definitely want to do more of that.

Also on my long list: Read 52 books (I’ve attempted it for the past couple of years and only barely managed it in 2011) and Attend writing group regularly (I’ve already started doing that, but I’m seeing the benefits so clearly I want to make sure I keep going).

2 thoughts on “Writing Goals for 2013

  1. Awesome! Go for it, Josh. So, if you want to be technical, you can sign up at . For me, the site’s a hefulpl motivator because once I start writing, there’s no way I can quit before the progress bar’s all the way filled up. On the downside, the forums are not a terribly healthy environment, and I don’t recommend them.But you’re also welcome to do it on your own, in which case you could start early if you like. Personally, I’m convinced that it’s utterly inspiring and hefulpl for word counts to make yourself wait until 12:01 am, November 1st. I can usually get a good chunk of writing in before bedtime. Just go for what works, though! And have a blast with it. Oh and, uh, don’t blame me for any ensuing Crazy Writer Syndrome. *grin*~Beth

    • So that’s what ROW80 is! This is awesome! It’s just what I need. I’ve been aolelutbsy horrible at making time for my writing lately. I’m not being held accountable you know? I’m a little late, but I’m joining And like some of you said, Nanowrimo won’t be happening this year. Too much on my plate, but this is even better because it’s year-round and won’t burn me out. Thanks for sharing this and good luck on your goals! I just have one question, though: I already post on Wednesdays on my blog. Could we check in another day instead?

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