Look Back to Move Ahead

A few days before the deadline for this blog I had some time to begin thinking about the next year and the goals I would set for myself as a writer in 2016. Naturally, I looked at the goals I’d set for 2015 as a starting point. True confessions, here. I didn’t do great at achieving the goals I’d set for myself last year.

Oh, I can rationalize that personally last year held more drama and transition than I could have foreseen. Job loss and a major move count for something, don’t they? Who wouldn’t have abandoned some goals in the face of that kind of upheaval.

Yet, honesty compels me to acknowledge that one of the primary reasons I didn’t meet more of my goals is fear. I know I’m not alone as a writer in struggling with fear. I’ve read enough other writers’ blogs and published authors to know that all of us who aspire to put ourselves out there in print for the world to see cringe at the prospect of being misunderstood, ridiculed, or both. It’s much easier for me to wield an editor’s pen than to submit my own prose to others probing, critical eyes.

I could continue to berate myself for not blogging regularly, not attempting to submit more articles for publication, or not joining the professional editor’s group I’ve considered joining for three years, but still haven’t invested the funds. It may be more helpful, however, to recall the small steps I’ve taken in the last year:

• I took the Goodreads Book Challenge and set a modest goal of reading 15 books in 2015. By early summer I had reached that number. By year’s end I’d read more than 30.
• Included in those 30 reads of 2015 are a few that took me outside my usual nonfiction genre of history, biography-memoir, spirituality. I dipped a toe into horror with Stephen King’s The Shining and magic realism with Eowyn Ivey’s The Snow Child. Though reading outside my usual interests wasn’t a goal I’d specifically set for myself, I claim it as a small step of progress in expanding my awareness of what constitutes good writing—an essential element in being a good writer.
• Connecting with other writers was at the top of my list when making the adjustment to our new home. I’m grateful to have found A3 this year, as well as a local chapter of Word Weavers, a Christian critique group.  The friendship and sounding board these writers provide are a sweet blessing on my journey.
• I submitted two pieces for publication in 2015; one was accepted. That’s an acceptance rate I can live with. The challenge in the year ahead is to be a bit more productive than that.

Setting goals is essential to realizing our hopes and aspirations. Share on X Michael Hyatt says they are a prerequisite to happiness and offers five principles for goal setting. To these I would add, ...celebrate small accomplishments. For small successes are a great antidote to fear. Share on X