2022 Writing Goals

I am writing this afternoon from home in Norway. We made it back on New Year’s Eve after a beautiful and wonderful Christmas together with my parents on the island of La Palma. I feel so fortunate to have been able to do this trip. Everyone has now made it home safely, and we’ll start up the new term of school this coming Thursday. Until then, I’ve got schoolwork, housework, and of course my writing to keep me occupied. It’s good to have a few days here at home before the rush starts up again.

I did end up making it through my 2021 word count and submissions goals. The final month, though, was surprisingly difficult. I felt unsure about what I wanted to do for this new year–should I stay the course? Should I rework how I map my goals? Ought I just stop and take a break? I felt conflicted. This morning, though, I sat down with my journal and I made a plan. I’ll share that with you all here today.

*Back together! We met my parents at the ferry terminal on Tenerife. They had had a long, overnight flight but were in great spirits. It felt so good to be together again after six months.*

What were the pitfalls of last year’s goals?

I wrote two weeks ago about how valuable the goals I set in 2021 were–the sharp increase in productivity, the steady progress–and yet too there were problems that I wanted to address. My word count goal created an incentive for lots of writing, but that didn’t necessarily mean writing of good quality. Because revision wasn’t counted (unless I was doing a full rewrite), this essential part in the writing process often got sidelined or even made me feel guilty for not making progress towards the more quantifiable goal.

The other glaring drawback to the 2021 goals was the one over which I lacked full control: the number of publications. I ended up with one instead of my hoped-for three. Obviously I need to give myself a break on this one, but I don’t think I want to set a goal like this in the future. Goals, after all, should be attainable.

*Dusk from onboard the ferry as we departed Tenerife. In the distance, you can see the island of La Gomera, which we had come from earlier that day to rendezvous with my parents.*

My husband had found a marvelous place to stay. The host is an incredible gardener. Although it was often cold, we enjoyed sitting outside with the plants and the view over down the slope to the ocean.

Changes for 2022

This year, I’ve planned out four main goals, which I’m hoping will lead to more holistic use of my writing time, as well as a focus not so much on words but on numbers of stories. We’ll see how it goes.

Family cooking. We made a number of yummy dishes during our time together. My family loves cooking, and we made the most of fresh produce we got at a farmer’s market to make shakshuka, grilled vegetables, and fresh-squeezed orange juice.

Goal #1: Increased daily writing time

For quite a while now, I’ve had a daily routine of a fifty-five-minute morning writing session. This is the bedrock of what I’m able to get done, and the habit of it keeps me focused. This year, I’m going to try to increase that time. I’ll keep my fifty-five minutes in the morning, but I’m going to try to add another thirty minutes in the afternoons or evenings when I’m done with school. My goal will be eighty-five minutes per day.

My plan, then, is to section off the longer morning session for work on my actual writing pieces, then use the afternoon for submissions, networking, research, or other more indirect writing activities. Blogging and journaling can also count, and in extenuating circumstances when I just can’t write (traveling days, for example), I’ll make up that writing time within the month. When I calculated, this comes out to 31,025 minutes for the year, or 517 hours.

One activity that was completely new to me was a boat ride to look for marine mammals, and we found some! This is a pilot whale photographed by my husband. Unfortunately, I got seriously sea-sick and so was contemplating these beautiful animals while trying to hold onto my breakfast. So it goes.

Goals #2 and #3: Finished pieces

Instead of word counts, I’ve decided to try a more holistic measurement of productivity this year. My second goal is for a number of finished pieces that I want to write this year, taking them all the way through planning, drafting, and revising to submissable drafts. I am hoping this shift in focus will help me privilege quality, as well as keep me from dithering for too long with a piece before I call it done.

The plan is this: for 2022, I will write six short stories (or creative nonfiction pieces) of 2000-6000 words, one every two months. Along with this, I will write at least six flash pieces of under 1000 words. The goal is to have twelve new submissable pieces by the end of 2022.

The third goal also has to do with a finished product, but I’m not necessarily aiming for a final draft. My goal is to complete a second draft of the novel I’ve been working on. We’ll see how this goes.

La Palma has been having a serious volcanic eruption since early this fall. This has caused so much destruction to the communities here–many people have lost their homes. The eruption stopped just a few days before we arrived. From this overlook, we could see where the lava had spilled into the ocean. It was still sending up steam.

Goal #4: Submissions

This goal was powerful last year–I submitted more pieces more consistently than I had the year before. I feel good about the number too, so this goal I’m keeping unchanged. The goal is sixteen submissions per month, for a yearly total of at least 192.

*Another day, we drove to the highest point of the island, where the sea of clouds stretches out below.*

*La Palma is home to a huge number of telescopes and other astronomical observational equipment.*

Plans and hopes

We’ll see what the year ahead brings. I am hopeful I’ll get some more acceptances, hopeful I’ll be able to write things that feel meaningful to me. And, of course, there is so much going on in life beyond writing–work and family things and questions for the future. I’m looking forward to what’s brimming up.

Are you setting goals for yourself for the new year? What are you hoping to do, to change, to start, to end? Best wishes for the coming fortnight, and best wishes for this bright new year.

With love,
Jimmy