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Like most people, I can say, "I'm going to do this" or "I'm planning on doing that" and really mean it, yet never accomplish what I said I was going to do. Sometimes, as it is with ideas for articles or stories, I will actually forget what I said I was going to do. Sometimes, if it is something that is uncomfortable for me to do, I can easily ignore my unwritten intention.
But when you write it down, make a list, type it out and commit it to reality in this world, then those hopes and aspirations become goals; concrete, substantial goals that look back at you as you look at them, reminding you that you gave life to them and are responsible for them and to them.
I've never been one for making New Year's Resolutions as I consider them to, in reality, be short-term, wishful-thinking exercises that seldom, if ever, bear any lasting fruit. But I do endorse setting realistic, reachable goals that will result in long-term growth in your personal and professional life.
1. Write at least one article for at least two different local print publications. - There are a few, not a lot but a few print publications in the surrounding areas of where I live and, while I have lots of web writing samples, I need print clips to give some weight to my writing resume.
2. Write at least one article for at least one regional print publication.
3. Write at least three guest blog posts. - As a way of getting your work out in front of the blogosphere, guest posts are a great way to spread your name and abilities. They also tend to help bring visitors back to your own website and blog, if they are interested in what you write and how you write it.
4. Write at least one article for at least three different online publications, apart from the guest blog posts. - The web is full of online publishers that need content to fill their web pages and even though I write for 5 of my own pages or blogs, I'd love to extend myself even further to readers around the Internet.
5. Write at least one e-book to give away and one e-book to sell. - In that order so that I can gain some personal experience in producing an e-book with some helpful and/or needed information before marketing a larger e-book with more substantial information and content that will make it worth a fair price. I've been working on some ideas and need to focus even more sharply on final subject matters for both of these projects.
Have you made any similar writing goals? Or have you already met those goals and are moving on to new writing peaks? If so, I'd love to hear of your current writing goals or how you met these goals in the past. Please feel free to leave a comment below.
