So, for my Manic Monday, I posted the first part, a compare-contrast of 2009 and 2010. Now, let's take a look at the goals I'd set for 2010 and evaluate them. :)
Average 3 short fiction OR poetry submissions per month (same goal as 2009).
The total for short fiction and poetry was 32, so I was only 4 shy of my 2010 goal, so that makes this a realistic goal to continue striving for.
Get Yesterday’s Shadows polished and send at least 10 queries or submission packages (carryover from 2009).
Yeah, no. But that was something we needed teamwork for, and if more than one person is involved, there's always even more of a chance of things going wrong.
Get A Silent Starsong polished and send at least 10 queries or submission packages (2009 carryover).
Yes, and exceeded. :) I sent out 13 queries, got two partial requests and am still playing the waiting game on a few more. Not too shabby!
Finish draft of 2nd Christy project, edit, send out to beta readers, prepare for submission.
Submit 2nd Christy project by July
Yeah, no… same issue as Yesterday's Shadows.
Attend at least 7 conventions, 5 as a guest/participant/dealer/volunteer*
I cut down the # of conventions because they are costly, but I attended every single one as at least a dealer with Broad Universe and running a Rapid Fire Reading, and all but one as a participant of some sort, so I'm happy with this goal.
*Calculate 2009 convention expenditures and spend 25% less.
Um. Yeah. I think so. I cut out one convention (which, in 2009, was my second costliest convention.) I also made use of my mother's house for all Western MA and CT conventions, and packed lunches or utilized the con suite whenever I could. Air fare was crazy, though, but entirely out of my control. However, I did plan enough to not have too many unexpected fees due to overweight baggage (though H-of-A and I did have to pay fees because we missed our stupid flight to Atlanta for Dragon*Con.)
Attend at least 10 non-convention events
Yeppers. Though, I believe I will cut this down for 2011 because of cost. (Most are either lunches or dinners or somehow require one to buy food.)
Set business goals with Stefanie for Aurelio project.
We dissolved the business relationship, but I am mostly done with the script for the first comic. This ended up being out of my hands, too.
Finish:
Western Faeries: Nope.
Puhka-Shire Pond Castle Story: Turned into a Novel that's almost finished.
1st Android Novel/Novella (?) Rough Draft: Also turned into a Novel that's almost finished.
Wings & Fire: Nope.
Edit:
Max: Yep.
Manipulation: Yep, and 2 submissions.
Cemetery Angels: Yep, and out on submission.
E-Hell: Yep, and out on submission.
Pony's Guide: Dropped/back-burnered for now.
Full Withdrawal: Yep, but want to do one more pass before submitting.
Oprah Funds End of the World: Yep, must find place to submit.
Nonny: Dropped/back-burnered for now.
More or less, but definitely a good goal to keep.
Blog at least three times a week
With a few reasonable exceptions, yep!
Blog at trishandchris.blogspot.com every other week
Alas, no.
Send Family Newsletter 1/month
The family moved to Facebook, so an acceptable drop.
Create/send Business Newsletter 1/month
Yeah, no… also dropped without my partner. :(
Submit 6 Paid Non-Fiction/month
No. I was closer to 4, which got really hard some weeks/months. I really need to not write more, but write for more $.
Maintain 15 hours of Tutoring/week (save summer break)
Yep!
2 Major Editing Projects
Just barely. I squeezed the second one in just before Christmas.
Raise more than $500 for Bay State Equine Rescue
YES!
Submit more than 75% of articles at least one day early.
Probably not. But, the only two "missed" or late deadlines were per miscommunication with the editor or computer issues, so a definite improvement.
Do a better job of tracking expenses/profits THROUGHOUT the year… possibly quarterly.
Looking over at the pile of envelopes. Yeah, no. I'll be scrambling with spreadsheets and crying again shortly.
Answer questions on LinkedIn /
Write useful Tweets and respond to people more on FB & Twitter
Another "yeah, no." I don't think I did much of anything on LinkedIn besides accept requests and update the status via Hootsuite. That said, I did a bunch of social networking through Broad Universe, Facebook, and my blog.
Non-Business:
More horse training OR riding
1 Horse Clinic
As I HAVE MY OWN HORSE NOW, yep!
Relaxing more and losing some weight is also in there.
Last I checked on the Wii Fit, my weight is exactly what I started at in 2010. Blergh!
Scott is still scheduled to leave for Taiwan, though end of 2010 or 2011 now (thanks to site conditions), so you'll hear my trials and tribulations with that.
Um… this is still up in the air. Yahhhh… We'll just leave this alone for now.
Believe it or not, I actually have far more notes outside of this - hard copy and on word files and spreadsheets. I feel more prepared than last year - and I hope that displaying all my plans gives you an idea of the life of a professional writer, occasional editor, tutor… and helps you achieve your own dreams and goals.
This hasn't changed at all, really. I have pages and pages of notes of things I must do, things I accomplished, comparisons… and spreadsheets galore. (I rather like spreadsheets.) I do feel more prepared than last year once again, especially considering some of the financial difficulties and loss of work… while adding more financial responsibility.
I'm also glad that I broke this exercise down further, and as I mentioned last year, I hope that sharing all of this with you is helpful to your annual planning. It's all fine and well to make resolutions - especially about writing - but to really make them stick, there needs to be a lot of evaluation and introspection of what you are able to do. Looking back over these blog posts, I've gotten a much better idea of what I can do in both long-term and short term - but it will likely be a learning process for all my life.
And that's ok.
I'll gnosh on these things and have a more detailed business plan of goals/resolutions for 2011 next Sunday. And Friday, I'll share my fire ritual. Because achieving goals is more than just the mental desire to do so… you have to satisfy your physical and spiritual needs too.
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