Writing goals

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season.

I'm taking the week between Christmas and New Year's Day off to jumpstart a few projects. My goal is to outline my current story ideas so, with the new year, I can start writing them.

What are your writing goals for the New Year? Or, like me, do you prefer to plan six months at a time? If so, what would you like to accomplish by June? I'll start us off.

While writing the contemporary romances for which I'm contracted, my goal is to complete the proposal for the romantic suspense trilogy I've mentioned. I want to always have at least one project making the rounds with publishers.

I'm also going to spend more time studying the craft of writing. To that end, I'm reading Donald Maas's Writing the Breakout Novel. Have you read it? I hope to discuss it with you next week.

And, of course, it's always important to study the industry. What are editors looking for now? Which editors are moving to which publishing houses? What lines are launching? Closing? Cutting back? Are any publishers in financial trouble? It's important to know what's going on with the people and companies in the industry so you can target your submissions accordingly.

So, what are your writing goals for 2008, or at least the first six months?

And merry Christmas, everyone!

Patricia