Ring in the New

Happy New Year! Anybody have any resolutions? Some people use the term "goals" instead, which I prefer.

Now that I've "retired" from my day job, my goal for 2013 is to write on a regular schedule for a consistent number of hours each day. I also want to explore some promotional activities that I haven't been able to fit in previously.

I consider myself a painfully slow writer and would like to get more done faster, and an established writing schedule should facilitate this goal. A few months ago, I did the simple math that hadn't occurred to me in all these decades: 1000 words per day equal a novella in a month and the draft of a standard-length novel in about three months!

Even taking into account the facts that most people won't write every day of the week, unexpected real-life events will sometimes disrupt the pattern, and time must be allotted for revision, 1000 words a day produce two novels or several shorter works per year. And even at my speed, I can crank out 1000 words in two hours. Without a day job, I don't have any reasonable excuse not to write for a least two hours a day several days per week. (Provided I know in advance what I'm going to be working on—I'm a dedicated outliner, who would be lost without a framework for the work.)

The calendar date for the start of the year is arbitrary (which is one reason I've become a little "bah-humbug" about "resolutions"), but it still turns our thoughts to fresh beginnings. What goals have you set for 2013?

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt