Hope you all had a relaxing holiday break. Many wishes for you in 2016.
In setting my goals for 2016, I am first following Julie Hedlund’s anti-resolution revolution and writing down my successes. In the past, I didn’t even make resolutions. Seemed pointless since they came from a place of what wasn’t achieved, a place of negativity. With Julie’s approach, you celebrate successes from the previous year and use it as a base to build upon. I did this last year and faired better in making forward progress. My next thing is to figure out what happens at mid-year when the plan starts to unravel. It’s possible I should make only 6-month goals in order to remain flexible with my changing needs. Without further adieu, here is my recap of my successes big and small for 2015.
- Rejoined my in-person picture book critique group. Love being back with my peeps.
- Got an accountability partner. Just sort of happened and it’s been great.
- Three month picture book mentorship with Kathi Appelt.
- Winner of the 12×12 Diversity Scholarship!!
- Attended three SCBWI conferences (Asilomar, Spring Spirit, and Oakland) and Kidlit Summer School.
- Took an excellent on-line class on Character Building in Picture Books.
- Grew in my picture book writing skills.
- Realized I love writing with lyrical language.
- Started using storyboarding during the revision process and loving it. Really helps with pacing and being able “to see” the full story. (Got the idea after seeing this terrific post.)
- Volunteer PB application reader for We Need Diverse Books
- Positive feedback on my stories from a few agents.
- I read 212 books! Checkout my post where I break down the numbers and list some favorite titles (Adult thru PB)
- Seeing myself continuing to grow as a writer. Taking joy in the process without getting too consumed by the agent search.
This past year turned out to be a year of “revision”, due to my three-month picture book mentorship, professional critiques, and an R&R (request and resubmit) I received from an agent. As a result, I only wrote 1 new PB draft. So my word for 2016 is CREATE. My over-arching goal is to create new material. Whether they be drafts of new picture books stories, or background material/character sketches/free-writes for my YA novel idea.
Goals for 2016
- Finish latest round of revisions for prospective agents.
- Take Nonfiction Archaelogy and start a new PB story which will be a NF Biography. (So excited to be finally taking this class.)
- Attend 1-2 writing conferences. (maybe NJ-SCBWI ??)
- Finish reading Writing Irresistible Kidlit by Mary Kole – excellent craft book.
- Write 12 new sh***y first draft PB stories. (This will be my biggest challenge. I dread first & second drafts. I have a strong internal editor. Thanks to Julie Hedlund’s 12 Days of Christmas group I’m gonna shoot for the stars!)
- Read/listen to 25 novels. (I love audiobooks! No way I would be able to get through this many novels without it.)
- Restart research efforts for my novel.
- Add two more polished stories to my portfolio.
- Blog at least once a month. (I do miss conversing with all of you. 🙂 )
- Write/think about stories/Study Craft EVERYDAY – even if only for 5 minutes. (Up till now I work in spurts which is okay, but when I fall off the bandwagon I lose momentum.)
- BELIEVE
Wishing you the very best. What are some of your goals for 2016?
Sweet! These are great goals! If you come to NJ SCBWI, let me know ahead of time. I’m thinking of attending too.
Will do! Just waiting for the dates to be announced.
Fabulous successes, and even more fabulous goals for the new year! I wish you all the best, my friend! Yes — reach for the stars!
Thank you Beth. Wishing you all the best with your writing as well.
Howdy accountability partner! I’m so delighted you won a 12 x 12 Scholarship AND have been such a wonderful participant in the 12 Days of Christmas!
Looking forward to 2016 with you! 🙂