Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Smart Goals.

And so 2013 begins. I hope you all had a relaxing Christmas and New Year.

I was planning to write about an article by Germaine Greer that I read last week, but my friend Gitte Christensen beat me to it. So I'll simply link to her comments, and write about my plans instead.

I have made a number of plans for this year - I hesitate to call them resolutions. Resolutions have always felt a little flaky to me. My goals are definite and clearly defined.

Goals need to be SMART. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. Anything less is simply a vague notion or a good intention.
  • I aim to write a minimum of 35 stories this year. 
  • I aim to submit them all.
  • I aim to sell a minimum of 15 stories. 
  • I aim to sell at least three to professional markets.
  • I aim to SFWA qualify.
I also have  goals connected with writing, such as attending conventions and so on, and these too will be undertaken. And very specific goals that I won't elaborate upon in this blog. Be sure that I will achieve them all. And, hopefully, achieve well above and beyond them.

Have you defined your goals for this year?

1 comment:

Gitte Christensen said...

Oops, sorry about that :) I have a feeling though that you were going to put a lot more effort into than I did. It is a good article though.

Good luck with the goals. I've lined up a few myself, though not as specific numberwise as yours. Making sure I keep stories circulating is a big one, especially once they've been out a few times and start to get pushed aside by the newer, more exciting stories. I've just had an oldie put on hold (cross fingers) and I must admit, I was surprised. You start getting used to the rejections and forget your intitial love of the tale.