I’m a little late with this, but I wanted to get my 2018 blogging, reading and writing goals written out so that I can (hopefully) track them. Otherwise, I’ll whisper them to myself and then pretend they don’t exist!
Writing Goals
- Complete a second edit of Meet You in Convinerimus (the current working title of my middle grade book) and submit it to at least ten agents. I can’t get published if I don’t submit the book! I have gotten some excellent feedback, and I’m working on an edit based on that—I need to kick it into high gear!
- Attend a writing workshop. I really want to attend a workshop or craft-intensive conference this year. I’ll probably do that instead of attending ALA/BEA.
- Read more writing craft books/materials. Again, I need to work on my writing skills if I want to succeed. I’m giving myself a challenge of reading four craft books (one per quarter) and consistently reading other writing resources throughout the month.
- Finish the first draft of A Memory of Magic. This is the YA book I worked on for NaNo this year. I need to complete the first draft, but I’ve set it aside for a bit so I can work on editing the middle grade book.
Reading Goals
- Read less. Yep, you read that right. I want to read less in 2018. Significantly less. I know this is a crazy goal for a book blogger, but if I want to get serious about writing this year, the only way I’m going to manage it is if I take my reading down a notch—I can’t manage it otherwise! So, I set my Goodreads goal at 100 books (instead of 200). I still plan to read—a lot—but hopefully reading won’t overwhelm my other goals.
- Read one review book for every one that I request/receive. I was planning to just post a generic goal like “catch up on backlist books, especially those I’ve received for review,” but that sort of goal is too easy to shirk. This goal is tangible and I can track it. (I’m already behind on this, so I’ll need to catch up!)
- Read more middle grade. Since the book I’m currently working on editing is middle grade, I should be reading LOTS of books written for this age group. When I looked at my 2017 stats, I was sad about the number of MG reads I completed—definitely not enough!
Personal Goal
- Work out! Thought I’d add one personal goal here of working out at least twice a week. I’m so weird about working out—I do it every day for months and then don’t do it at all for months. Maybe I can find a happy medium?
I was going to post some blogging goals too, but those are pretty much covered in my 2018 challenges (Commenting 365 and Book Blog Discussion Challenge), so I’m not mentioning them here. And, of course, I have some reading challenges as well!
That’s it! Do you have goals you’re trying to meet in 2018? I want to know!
This topic was suggested by Kissin’ Blue Karen’s Beyond the Books and is being linked up there as well as to the Discussion Challenge.
Can’t wait to read one (or more) of your books!
I hope you one day get the chance!!
Aw Nicole, fabulous list of goals! Wishing you tons of luck on your writing goals! And I love how you altered reading backlist books, that’s such a great way to accomplish that one! Ohhh working out is one of my goals that I’m starting tonight. I usually go in the pool every Friday with my little boys, but I haven’t done that since Thanksgiving, ack. I’m reinforcing my rule that I can’t watch TV unless I’m on my eleptical, because that always works. 🙂 I’m going to binge watch Rosanne since it’s free on Amazon, I can’t wait till I get to when David joins them lol #FirstNerdyCrush. Good luck with your work out goal too!!
Yes, I have shows that I only watch on the elliptical, and that’s a great way to do it—if I only watch them then, I’m eager to work out! 🙂
Good luck with your goals this year! <3
Thanks, Steph!
You’re getting serious with your writing! I hope you succeed. And I’m curious now – what’s Convinerimus? If it’s not too much of a spoiler, that is ?.
There’s this author who debuted with an excellent YA book last year, E.S. Wesley – and since you mean to read more MG this year, he has an upcoming MG book that sounds fascinating: https://www.seaneasley.com/hotel-between. Judging from the YA novel I read, Wesley (who writes MG under the pen name Sean Easley) is an author to watch!
Thanks for the suggestion—I’ll go check it out!
Great goals! The writing ones are so exciting, eep! And yeah, I agree that being serious about writing means reading less, which is probably why I haven’t done it yet ?
I feel the same about exercise, ugh. Like I used to do it literally every day of my life for legitimately decades and then… I was like “oh wow okay we never have to do that again!” Which… Isn’t great. It’s definitely something I want to work on, too!
Oh, don’t even get me started about my lack of consistency with working out. It’s just so easy to put it off for a little while and then … put it off for months. Like, you don’t even realize it’s happening until way later.
Good luck with all your goals this year!! I also want to read less which seems weird lol!
I know, it’s very counterintuitive for us book bloggers. 🙂
Good luck on your goals! I’m sure you’ll achieve them with flying colors, and especially look forward to reading more about your writing journey throughout 2018 🙂 If you ever feel brave enough you should definitely share snippets!
Thanks! I just might share at some point. 🙂
Work out is permanently on my list. That, and lose weight. I like the one for one thing. I could never do it, but I admire you in setting this goal. There are a ton of amazing MG books coming out this year. I know I will be reading more. Good luck with all your goals, but especially your writing goals.
I’m hoping I can stick to the one-for-one rule, but we’ll see how realistic it ends up being!
You make a good point about making more realistic goals versus broad goals. I am guilty of being too broad with some of mine. I hope you reach all of your goals, especially your writing ones!
Yeah, it’s easy to just tell myself to read more review books, especially the ones that are past due (which I’m sad to say I’m guilty of), but a specific goal is much easier to actually make happen!
Good luck with your goals. Making time to write, especially if you want to get published, is important. Otherwise you can’t breath. That you can stil read 100 books next to it is amazing though. 😉
I think 100 is very doable with my writing goals, but we shall see! 🙂
Good luck with your goals! Reading more middlegrade and exercising are some of my resolutions, too. If you haven’t read On Writing by Stephen King, you should. It’s an interesting book, even if you don’t like Stephen King.
I’m trying to remember if I read that one years ago—it’s been way too long since I truly studied writing because I sort of felt like it was “too late” for me—I’m just now starting to realize there’s no such thing if I really go for it!
I think reading less is a good goal if you really want to to focus on writing more. I can’t wait to hear your progress on editing and choosing a cover and then getting published (maybe I have that out of order, I have no idea).
These are great goals. Thanks for sharing!
Yeah, the only way I’m going to manage writing more is if I cut down on some other things. It’s looking like my daughter is probably going to attend public high school next year, so that will mean I’ll have a LOT more time to write!
Great goals, Nicole! I love how you’ve made them specific, and thereby more concrete and achievable. I don’t necessarily *plan* to read less but I am definitely aiming for a return to reading for pure enjoyment/entertainment this year. It’s not going to be about arcs or challenges or new releases or hyped books. I’m determined to take the pressure off and simply read what I want to read, whenI want to read it. Backlist titles, reading off my own shelves, taking two weeks to read a book and not feeling bad about it. Hopefully we will both be successful this year!
Yeah, I think that’s a part of it for me too—I want to feel less pressure to read this year because it sucks some of the enjoyment out of it.
You can totally crush these goals! I don’t really have “read less” as a goal, but it is something that I’ll probably end up doing because I really do want to work on my own writing more this year. I said it last year, but this is going to be the year! I have to take it more seriously and I think blogging/reading gets in the way of that. I also need to schedule ahead as much as I can, which will also (hopefully) free up some writing time.
As for exercise, I’ve been bad at this my whole life. There just aren’t a ton of things I really enjoy doing but I need to do it more often so I’m going to hopefully try some new classes, etc. to see what sticks!
-Lauren
I just found this online conference called WriteOnCon that has some amazing people participating and it’s crazily inexpensive (like, they’re obviously just trying to cover their website costs with it). If you’re interested in it, check it out HERE
These are some great goals! Best of luck with them!
Sending your middle grade novel off to agents is definitely an exciting one, so I hope everything goes well with that! 🙂
I’ve been procrastinating for so long—trying to make it perfect. Last summer when I got feedback from that editor with Penguin UK, she suggested I send it out, but it’s hard to take that step. But I AM working on the edits she suggested, and I applied for a writing workshop that’s forcing me to go for it—they are going to decide on February 15th who makes it into the workshop, so I have that as a hard deadline because I have to be ready to send it to them if they accept me. (And if they don’t, then at least that hard deadline will make me get it done!)
Great goals. I know I need to finish just one of my novels that hasn’t been finished. Or the other thing is finish my short story and try to publish it as an ebook on Amazon and see where it goes. Of course I want to do editing, etc. The less reading to do more writing is really true. I need to do less blogging I think though. I can’t imagine giving up my reading. Good luck to you on your goals. Oh yeah, I need to work on losing weight too. I am looking forward to hearing how your middle grade book goes!
Yeah, less blogging will probably need to happen too, though I don’t want to cut down to too much less than three posts per week (plus my Sunday Post). We’ll see, though.
Great list of goals, and I’m so happy to see that you are making your writing a priority!!!! That’s so awesome! Let me know if you find any good local workshops!
I definitely will! It would be fun to meet up at one!
Honestly, I *should* read less so that I can do more writing and art this year, but I know that I won’t. I know that I prioritize reading over those because there are so many books I want to read that I just can’t stop myself! Also reading is so much easier, haha. But your goals sound great, good luck with all of them!
Yes, the easier part is where I get hung up. It’s like, “Oh, I could struggle through this edit and try to convince myself that I’m making good progress or I could relax and read a book. Hmmmm….” The only thing that makes me feel better is that, according to Twitter, all writers of ever feel this way about editing—it’s HARD!
Good luck with your book, Nicole!!! I like the sound of your current working title, though. ?
Also, I have been working out this year too! This is an awesome goal.
So…. I can’t believe I am upping my reading goal this year, but I totally get why you want to decrease your reading!
I’m liking this title best out of the ones I’ve tried out. The Meeting Spot was too boring and Until We Meet Again sounded too much like an NA contemp, not a middle grade blend of contemp and fantasy. So I’m glad you like it! Of course, if the book ever does actually get published, who knows what it will be called. 🙂
These are so awesome, Nicole!!! I usually only read YA and up, but best of luck on completing your second edit and finding agents!!! <3 Sending lots of moral support your way, lovely. <3 <3 A Memory of Magic sounds awesome, too!
I read mostly YA too, so it’s a bit weird that the first book that I felt truly inspired to finish is a middle grade, but this book idea definitely lent itself best to that audience. Thanks for the encouragement!
This is my first time seeing a blogger wanting to read less, and honestly, I think it’s great! I don’t read half as much as you do, but spending less time reading may give you more time to write. Congratulations btw! I just love seeing bloggers who aspire to be writers, taking the steps to become published. Don’t forget about us when you’re a bestseller lol! I’m JUST like you when it comes to working out. I’ll do it either a few times a month or more consistently, then I end up stopping out of the blue and don’t pick back up until months later. I’m really hoping to change that habit this year. Sometimes it’s just so hard to get motivated!
Yes, reading less is a sort of odd goal for a book blogger, but it’s the only way I’ll achieve my dreams of actually getting published!
I am so totally with you Nicole! I’m trying to get ahead of my reading and blogging now in January so I can dedicate February and March to editing and then April to Camp Nano
Good luck with your first draft of second draft of A Memory of Magic [I’m already in love with that title!] and your editing of Meet You in Convinerimus! Can’t wait to see your books hitting the stores!
I’m feeling reinvigorated with my editing right now. It helps that I applied for a writing workshop and I have to have my MG completed by February 15th in case they accept me. I need deadlines!!
Good luck with your writing goals! I think it’s so admirable that you are trying to read *less* in favour of pursuing your dream! I think we often put so much pressure on reading more that we end up with very little time for anything else!
I’ve done that for years—I love reading, but I need to make room for other things too!
Uhm, you usually read 200 books a year? DD: HOW. HOW DO YOU DO THIS. I am so impressed. But I totally understand why you need to read less to be able to write more – I wouldn’t know where you got the time otherwise, especially with everything else you juggle too! Hope the writing and submitting to agents goes well ^.^
How do I do it? I don’t sleep much? Yeah, I think that’s pretty much it. LOL!
Good luck with your reading and non-reading goals. I need to work out this year as well!
I’m sure we’re all saying that. 🙂
I love reading about other people’s goals, and we share some of them!
I want to write my own book this year, even just for fun, but if it goes well I’d love to submit it too. I definitely want to sort out my backlog of “review books” too, and I’m starting to work out as well.
Good luck with all your goals 🙂
Good luck with your writing goal! I’m excited to finally be truly pursuing writing. We shall see!
Your writing goals are so exciting. I think it’s amazing that you’re going to submit your book. I definitely think that it’s logical to have reading take a back seat while you hone your craft.
My goal for this year is to be more consistent in my working out as well. Even something small will make me happy as long as I keep at it.
Good luck with your goals this year.
I just need to be realistic about all of my goals to get everything in. That can be hard sometimes!
Good luck with your writing goals. Jeff Anderson has some really great books about writing you might want to check out. He also writes middle grades. Check your regional education service centers for upcoming workshops, too. I’ve seen him twice that way and both were excellent workshops.
Thanks for the recommendations!! I’ll definitely look into him.
Good luck with your goals and your two novels! I haven’t made firm reading goals this year except to continue reading more diversely and to limit the number of review requests so I don’t get too bogged down in books I have to read. Enjoy your 2018 reading and writing!
Sometimes those less solid goals work just fine—I needed to be sterner with myself this year. 🙂
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