Okay, so it's kinda like the Author Accountability thread only...smaller...and less intensive. (btw, I should totally get on that... )

Since other things in my life have fallen through to the point of "idk what I'm doing," I'm just going to try to focus on my craft for the foreseeable future instead. And, along with other more personal "resolutions" I'm starting tomorrow, keeping up a priority of good writing habits and productivity is what I'm working toward.

I know it's late to be starting this, but this isn't contained to just right-off-the-bat New Year's Day resolutions. Think about it through the month of January or February or whenever and come back when you're ready!

Anyone care to join me?

Please post your creative goals for 2017. Feel free to add personal goals. And, if you feel up to it, volunteer as an "accountability partner" for anyone who needs one. I'll start us off:

My Goals:
1. Writing a minimum of 1,000 words (or the cumulative parallel) every day over the course of the year. And/or editing a minimum of five pages' worth of pre-written text.
2. Sending off one novel for publication/entering self-publishing. (Depends on lots of factors, but basically publishing a hardcover book.)
3. Keeping up a regular writing blog. I'm aiming for at least a monthly post. I'll be exploring my own creative adventures, doing reviews, and discussing creative processes. Not to plug my sad little blog or anything, but if you're interested, there's a link in my signature.
4. Finish the first drafts of my novels Air Jumper and Beneath West End Run.

and that's quite enough, I'm done.

Now for Part 2:
I volunteer my services as Accountability Partner (gosh, we need a different name...suggestions?), Beta Reader, Antagonist, whatever you need that I can give this year in your creative endeavors. Just message me whenever!

Note: This thread will also be for updates on goals/resolutions/accountability as we go along.

Just grab the goal you talked about like so:



And post your Update: "Wow why did I make so many goals"

Fun idea!

1. For me, my biggest goal is getting more familiar with my tablet and drawing in general. It would be fun to become good enough to offer commissions and start a webcomic by the time 2018 rolls around.

2. I'd also like to figure out what's going to happen college-wise and find a job to help pay for it. o.o

3. Another goal I have is to finish one of the stories I have sometime in the coming year.

There are a lot of little ones, but those are the biggies. I probably won't be an accountability partner for now, but I look forward to seeing everyone else's goals!

Today I typed up and shared my multi-page project idea with a potential collaborator. Spending this upcoming week praying about making the project my 2017 goal. It includes fiction, platform, business, and craft improvement. And, of course, expanding the stories of Jo, Mon, Ian, and Akil.

If you seriously want a grumpy old guy to be an accountability partner, let me know. Yes, accountability comes in many forms, I'm okay with that.

Awesome goals for you both.

Good luck on all the arts and the colleges and the jobs-getting, Q!

And it sounds like you're already off to a fantastic start, Domici! I'll almost definitely take you up on the accountability offer.

My best to both of you!

This is great! Thanks for doing this, girl.

Now I guess you're gonna make me go quantify my goals, aren't you...

YES. Yes I am. XD

Second the thanks!

Of course, I have to paraphrase all those who say "a goal with out a plan and a timeline is just a wish." I'm great with plans and will be working on time-lines in the next couple days. Hansen, you need to General up and get going!

This is a great idea, Caeli!

My Writing goals are:
1. Publish 4 novels and 1 novella
2. Research World War One, Bible Times (especially Kings David and Solomon)
3. Start outlining Fairy Tale Re-tellings and WWI novels
4. Do better at planning marketing strategies
5. Write 250,000 words this year, an average of 20,000 per month

If anyone wants a little extra help with motivation/accountability, we do have a Weekly Challenge. Click the link to find the newest one.

I'm more than willing to be an accountability partner, although I'm not on super consistently, so pick me at your own risk.

YES!!! We are!

For the past few Decembers I've done "New Years Dissolutions". I quit doing everything possible; wrap up a project if I can or close the door on it otherwise. The goal is to reduce life to the minimal requirements and toss the year's baggage.

Near the end of the month I look at what all seems a good idea for the next year. Those are the things I pick up. Some new, some old. The years I've missed this have been chaotic indeed. The times I adhere to the plan provide greater awesomeness all year.

When we plan 2017 I recommend leaving 2016 behind. Failures and successes.

"General up." That, good sir, was perfection.

Okay, okay. I'm editing right now (at least this novel is actually quite good ), but will be back later.

I'm afraid to make to many big goals, because so many thing could happen in a year to derail them. Also I just started planning out a new project that's going to slow things down.
That said, I want to get Girl of the Rumours into the hands of a few critiquers by August. If i really focus on my editing I could have it sooner, but I want tot get other things moving along too. The first draft of Lady of Courage should be finished end of next month at the latest.

As someone who lives life in a continuous state of barely controlled chaos, a list of goals for 2017 is almost anathema to my personality. I am living proof that life is what happens while you were making other plans.

Nonetheless, here goes nothing:

1. Create artwork for and publish 4 commercial products (probably for the Traveller RPG).

2. Make 365 PbP Game posts in the year.

3. Win the Holy Worlds Weekly Challenge in 2017 (no more free ride you slackers, get ready to bring on your A game!)

4. Do something completely unthinkable at this moment in 2017 (like entering NaNoWriMo in 2016 came completely out of the blue.)

Okay, you asked for it...

1. Get the initial batch of books (about 12 titles) edited and published under Penoaks by the end of January.

2. Work with my publicist to run several promotional campaigns for those books in the spring, to start figuring out what works and build a social media presence.

3. Republish all of my existing books under Penoaks (some of them need new covers).

4. Acquire and publish a handful of new titles under Penoaks in the summer.

5. Write and develop the writing "curriculum" that will be launched as part of an advanced publishing program on a certain forum...

6. Have the program up and running enough to send 3 tributes... I mean volunteer test authors through the program in the fall.

7. Publish a couple of my own titles. For absolute certain I have my frozen coffee recipe book and the sequel to Red Rain. However, I am toying with the idea of making Peter's Angel my focus this year.


I know the goals for my personal books could use some refinement... After I get the initial batch of books out from my other authors, I'll figure out what my main project is and set more concrete goals for that.

There. You happy now?

Yay! Very happy! Especially about goal #7.

I love how you just glazed over the rest and were like, "Cool, more Peter's Angel, that's what I care about!"

Awesome goals, General. (Really excited about the Penoaks items too )

Are you sure Miss Elizabeth isn't just really into frozen coffee?

I read the others, I just wasn't as excited about them. And actually, I'm more interested in the Red Rain sequel. The one you let me see some sneak peeks of last time you were here and you STILL haven't published!!!!!!!!



EWWW!!! Oops, did that just slip out? Sorry. I don't like coffee. And Rachel knows that. I did enjoy proofreading the Frozen Coffee book, though, mostly to see what kinds of cuh-razy things people do to their coffee.

As usual the past few years, I've posted my goals for the year to my blog; I'll summarize the "writerly" ones here, but anyone interested in how I did last year, in fuller explanations, or in my goals that are less relevant here can read more there.

Miscellaneous:

• Finish my Peter's Angel page-by-page critique.
• Finish and post at least three posts in my planned blog series on LaTeX ("stretch" goal: finish the whole series)
• In my series of blank-verse Psalm paraphrases, get through Psalm 42. ("Stretch" goal: Psalm 70.)
• Write reviews of at least six "recently read" books.
• Respond to each letter or email that needs a response within two weeks.
• Finish at least three turns of the current campaign of Strategic Primer, the play-by-email strategy/simulation game I'm developing. (With a "stretch" goal of successfully recruiting at least one new player to the campaign.)

As-yet-untitled poetry collection:

• Come up with a title for the collection.
• Decide on (an) organizing principle(s) for the collection.
• Decide on a definite list of at least 60 poems, in a definite order.
• Find at least one suitable illustration for each poem.
• "Stretch" goals: Write all necessary front- and back-matter prose and get the collection formatted and thoroughly proofread for all of the platforms I'm targeting.

My new focus-on-one-story plan:

• Choose which story to focus on this year ASAP
• Get my outline for that story to the "scene" level.
• Follow "the snowflake method" for that story to at least step 7.
• Get at least a quarter of the way, or 25,000 words, into a "first" draft for that story. ("Stretch" goal: half-way or 50,000 words.)

Other Shine Cycle development:

• Write at least 15 character biographies or histories
• Create at least 5 "character loglines" or "motivation summaries."
• "Stretch goal": Get at least half-way through the Race Fractalling System for elves in the Shine Cycle

I also want to make a good start on mapping, but unless I rearrange my plans even more than I already have in the last week, planning that (listing all the granular, tractable, tasks that make up that huge task, so that I don't get stalled by paradox-of-choice "where do I start?!?" later) may last through the whole year, so I didn't make an official goal related to it this year.


This is what I'm excited about.


And this; if I'd known about this before last Saturday, when I was putting my Shine Cycle goals together, I would have included volunteering for this (in whatever capacity you wish) in my goals.


Still no Erde ... sigh ...

Yes, I attempted to get Faith to test the recipes in the book for me... She politely refused.

Oh wow, it's been that long? I did not realize I showed you snippets of it when I visited.

Oh, I forgot about Erde. Hmmm. Irregardless, when the program is ready for volunteers, you'll definitely be welcome, Jon.

Some of the non-coffee recipes sounded pretty good. But the best sounding ones had cream cheese and the only cream cheese I can have is really expensive, so I haven't tried it yet.

And yes, it has been that long! Something like 3 years or more. I don't think you had even met Joel yet!

I have to leave for work soon, so I haven't read through everyone else's goals yet, but here are mine, by order of priority:

1. Publish something (I have to figure out what...)
2. Finish video game development course (possibly also make an original project after?)
3. Find good map-making or graphics software and make a good map of my fantasy world

I'd love to have and be an accountability partner with someone, if anyone still needs one!

Honestly I see all three of those neatly tied together! Finish the course with maps and publish a basic game. Very basic, what's called a "minimum viable product'. Get testers and players and grow from there.



Not sure we've actually sorted out yet.

Hey, that's a good idea! Unfortunately, my mind is nothing close to tied together. XD I meant publish a piece of writing--a short story, a novella, something. And finish the video game course and start putting the new skills to use on my own. And also make a map or visual representation of my fantasy world. They do tie together, just not that neatly.

I have completed the first and least of my tasks:

The rest will, of course, not be anywhere near so easy.

Great job! I still have to do this for myself, with figuring out what to finish and publish.

I'm not sure where my writing future is going at all right now, but I really want to keep writing. I think I've decided to commit to journalling this year, and let other writing come as the spirit moves.

I can be an accountability partner if anyone still needs one.

y'all, I intend to instigate success.

Except for one old geezer who doesn't have any choice in the matter, I've sent PMs to those I saw open to this sort of relationship. If you're up for it, respond to my PM. If I missed you, please accept my apologies and PM me anyway. We can decide, between us, the how and when bits.

Thanks for bringing it back up, Domici, and for the message!

I am totally still up for this, and I will pester anyone who wants to be pestered. I am going to be honest and say January has not gone well as far as keeping to my goals is concerned. My life is currently a mess that does not breed creativity, but hopefully things will be looking up soon and I can devote the time and energy I want/need to writing once again.

Goal update: I have at least completely refurbished my writing blog to get it ready for activity again, and modeled a side-blog on Tumblr to coincide with it, so I've at least started on that goal. XD Regular postings TBA.

For me either: I was having a slightly slow start (as I had half-expected), and was needing to turn most of my attention to classwork (as I had expected)---and then I and my parents were all hit by a severe cold (except not quite; my parents were both helped by antibiotics) that laid us low for several weeks. I had the mildest and briefest case, and was able to go to class (which is one night a week) and do the minimal reading and other homework that was due this early in the semester, but even other homework (progress on semester-long projects), let alone anything for the goals I listed above, fell completely by the wayside until the last week or so. God willing, maybe I can make some progress on the backlog of tasks that has built up during my illness over the next few weeks.

Sooo ... We're now six months into 2017. How are everyone's goals for the year coming?

My first quarter went really, really badly, but while I'm not happy with how little I got done in the second quarter I'm almost caught up on several of my goals. (In cases where I set goals I thought were achievable so long as I didn't get and stay distracted for months on end, not the more ambitious ones).

Here are my successes from the goals I listed earlier in the thread:



I have organizing principles, or at least central themes, for three sections, and except for about fifteen more poems (which I expect to get to this week) I have them in a tentative order. After which I can send it to anyone who volunteers to be a beta reader. (I made a thread requesting such readers.)


I'm nearly finished with Step 6; I should finish that step this week (but I've been saying that for at least two weeks ... )


I'm up to 6 character histories this year, and 8 "character loglines." So I've blown by the "character loglines" goal, and the odds that I'll actually reach the "character histories" goal by the end of December are at least shortening.

(I did a full quarterly-review on my blog; you can read it there, starting here and going forward through the week's posts, if you'd like a little more detail than I gave here.)

How about everyone else?

I highly doubt I'll get all of these done. Life kind of took a fun, exciting, and life-changing turn. I'm getting married in September! So yeah, my fiance, wedding plans, and getting used to married life will take precedence over these goals. For obvious reasons.

Epic fail ... working on the first, now.


Probably on track.


In first place, so far so good.


Well, I started a fantasy short story here on HW. Since the last time I was really into the fantasy genre, Ronald Reagan was president, I think that counts.

My Journal of Darkness and Light was also after January. That might be another candidate for the unexpected.

oh yeah, I learned to bake Bread in a Dutch oven. That was unexpected.

We're now in the last week of 2017; how has everyone done on their goals this year?

I'll do a full and careful check of my goals in blog posts later this week, but off the top of my head, here's how I've done on the ones I listed above:

Nowhere near (sorry, Aubrey!)

I made some significant progress, but I'm still working on the first post

I'm now on Psalm 17 or 18, I think.

I think I might have done so for about three. Not sure.

As I think I mentioned, I failed on this one in January, and I also put off writing another letter in early fall by about a month, but other than that I was mostly pretty prompt in keeping up with correspondence.

We finished one turn, but no more. And no new players yet.

Done: it's now titled Dreams and Prayers: Verses from a Wandering Mind.

I already mentioned my success on these points.

Working on it, but I'm less than a quarter done with this.

Yeah, nowhere near on that, as expected.

My outline is nominally complete, and I'm currently on "snowflake step 9," which is writing a scene-by-scene "detailed synopsis."

No prose, though.

I'd have to check the exact numbers, but I think I probably met or exceeded these.

By my current plan, I should be starting this (or something in the same category) in a month or two now.

(If anyone else wants to start a 2018-goals-and-accountability thread, go ahead; if no one else does, I'll do so later this week, once I have specific targets for my goals pinned down.

Well, I got married this year. So most of these didn't happen.

1. Publish 4 novels and 1 novella 2 novels only
2. Research World War One, Bible Times (especially Kings David and Solomon) Didn't happen
3. Start outlining Fairy Tale Re-tellings and WWI novels I just started outlining one fairy tale re-telling
4. Do better at planning marketing strategies I think I have
5. Write 250,000 words this year, an average of 20,000 per month I haven't counted this up yet, but I don't think I got there yet.

That's okay, Jon, I'm nowhere caught up reading your critique.

Congratulations! Everything else sort of pales as you form your new life.

Thanks. And yes, it does.