Clear you mind… 

Organize your writing space… 

Tidy up your computer file folders… 

Just let the ideas and writing begin to flow… 

It’s time to budget your writing goals.  Whether you’re a new or an experienced writer, there’s always a time that we need to take a good hard look at our projects.  If you want to work in a timely manner and finish your projects, you have to budget and work out your yearly goals.  Sorry, there’s no easy way around it! 

Yearly and multi yearly goals are a must!  Some people even budget three to five year goals.  I can’t seem to wrap my head around that, but projects are still simmering in the back of my mind for future projects.

I divide my yearly writing goals into three basic categories: writing, editing, and promotion.  Then I expand from there until I get my basic “to do” lists for a weekly or monthly schedule.  An important thing to remember is not to get down on yourself if you don’t follow your schedule exactly.  Praise yourself for writing and completing every task you set out to do. 

Generally, I have one specific novel that I concentrate on for the calendar year.  Sometimes another novel will spill into the current year, but that’s definitely okay and keeps the flow moving forward.  For 2011, I’m currently outlining and writing my third Emily Stone Novel, titled Dark Mind.  I’m very excited and can’t wait to get back into the head of Emily Stone along with a very disturbing, interesting serial killer.  As the year progresses, I will give updates on my progress and scheduled release date.     

Editing and promotion is a big challenge for writers.  Mapping out time to complete this is extremely important.  What are your goals?  How are you going to budget your time?  What new ideas are you going to incorporate into promotion this year?   

Along with writing, editing and promotion, there are other tasks that many writers want to accomplish.  For me, I will be hosting several writer’s workshop on “How to Write a Screenplay” along with some other appearances and talks.  These all have to be budgeted into the yearly overall goal. 

With a new year, there are also new schedules and procedures.  It’s always nice to revamp your usual routine.  It’s helps to breathe new life into your daily work schedule.  Are you going to write more or less per day?  Are you going to outline or not?  How many scheduled research trips/interviews do you have?

The best way to budget your yearly goals is to write down the basics and then break down individual tasks from your basic list.

Here’s to a very successful, productive, goal-oriented year!