I adore fall. It truly is my favorite season. Even up here in perennially green Washington, we have enough leaf changing to warm my autumn loving heart. So imagine my horror, when here I am still enjoying my fall asters, my pumpkins are barely turning orange and my husband’s grumbling about falling leaves on his lawn, when the late night news does a spot about retailers putting Christmas stuff out earlier than usual.
“Christmas??? It’s only October,†I complained grumpily. Then I looked at the calendar and realized that perhaps it is time to start preparing for the holidays, but not the ones you’re thinking of. Forget about the usual rush of the November and December and let’s get perfectly clear about what is really bearing down on all of us: New Year’s Resolutions.
Now before you start grumbling about my putting the champagne wishes before the turkey platter, I intend to make a good case that the time is NOW to start thinking about where you want your writing career to go in 2006. Better now than at the end of a six week, turkey induced, sugar cookie propelled, one-more-piece-of-fudge-can’t-hurt coma, only to find that on the morning of January 1st (after a few glasses of bubbly and a warm smooch from the DH) you’ve vowed to write a bestselling, seven-figure advance, 650 page epic comedic romance set in the French Revolution.
So this year, let’s have clearer heads prevail. What do you need to do in 2006 to take your career toward the next step? Yes, right now, make out your New Year’s goals for next year. Write them down, the first things that come to mind. What are they? Finish a book? Find more time to write? Find an agent? Try a new genre? Okay, those are great starts and usually where New Year’s goals end. By February 4th they’ll hardly be on your radar.
This year, take one more step and list under each of these goals the steps you need to take to accomplish it in 2006. Say you want to finish your book, but finding more writing time is a problem. Ask for an Alphasmart for Christmas. Come January 1st, you’ll be writing on the go, and those pages can start adding up. Consider this: write one page a day, 250 measly words (they don’t have to be perfect, spelling doesn’t even count) and you’ll have your draft done before the end of the year. Be creative, now, quick, get your goals in place, set a clear vision for 2006, before you wander into a Target and get caught up in a frenzy over those tins of Danish cookies or mesmerized by the twinkling of tree lights.
~ Elizabeth Boyle
www.elizabethboyle.com
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