My Amazing 2017 Goals Will Rock This Year

What are your 2017 goals? Taking off from where I left off last week, I’m sharing my goals with you. I’ve learned how to set better goals since last year.

Every year I get better and better with my writing. I learn new things through chats in my writing groups, like 10 Minute Novelists, on Facebook. This year I’m writing goals and breaking them down into smaller steps.

For now I’ll post the bigger goals. I have six goals as opposed to the four I had last year. I’ve used the SMART technique, one of the things I learned and have written about in a previous blog post.

Goal 1

I will publish the four books I have started.

I have four books in various stages of the writing process that I plan to finish writing, get edited, and publish by the end of the year. For one of the books, I will need to research more before I finish writing it.

I haven’t published a book in a couple of years so I’m ready to finish these books and give my writing career the boost it needs.

Goal 2

I will read 36 books.

You might be wondering why I would put something like reading books as part of my writing goals. Being a successful writer means reading as well as writing.

I tried to read this amount of books last year so I’m planning to succeed this year.

Goal 3

I will make at least $500 a month in freelance writing and editing.

For the past couple of years, I’ve struggled financially because of a loss of child support as well as a job loss. I’ve always wanted to be a freelance writer, but a couple of years ago, I decided to add the editor part to it. I enjoy helping other authors make their writing better.

This year I will get my business going in the direction I need it to go. This amount will help supplement my income for now, but eventually, I would like to do this full-time so I can travel and work from anywhere.

Goal 4

I will submit/pitch ideas at least five times a week.

I’ve spent the last three or four months putting together a list of websites where I can submit or pitch ideas for articles. Some of these articles I’ve written in the past for a couple of different websites that no longer exist.

I’m free to use them wherever I want now so I might as well make money from them, right?

Goal 5

I will write at least 500 words each day.

Last year I agreed to write 100k words for the whole year, which was around 274 words per day. I crushed that goal by June and kept writing through the end of the year. I was just a little under 180k by December 31.

This year I wanted to set the bar a little higher because of my other goals. I hope to crush this goal as well as I did last year.

Goal 6

I will schedule posts on social media at least two times a week and spend time marketing my writing and freelance business each day — roughly 20-30 minutes.

I have learned more about marketing this past year, but one thing I haven’t done is to market consistently. I might do it for a couple of weeks or even a month, and then I would quit or not do it as much.

If I want to get freelance jobs or sell books, I need to have a presence on social media. I need to build relationships, and one of the best ways to do this is to be on social media.

I plan to focus my time on Twitter and Facebook with occasional posts or shares on Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest. Follow me if you want. You’ll find the links at the top of the page.

Six goals for this new year, and all of them are completely doable. I’ll break them down into smaller steps so I can accomplish more and not feel so overwhelmed.

What goals do you have for this new year? Have you broken them down into smaller steps to make them easier to achieve?