Writerly Goals for 2012

You knew it was coming, right?

I can't survive without my goals :-)

So here they are!

I will write like a madwoman. I will write like crazy. I will write, explore new genres and styles, I will push push push on the boundaries of my abilities. I will write until ink gushes from my pupils.

In 2012, I will:

Write 50 poems. That's about one per week.
Write a new chapbook -- it's in my mind, and starting to materlize on paper, too. Tenetively, she's titled Texas Exodus, but we'll see. She should be done done done and submitted to publishers by the close of 2012.

I will continue writing fiction, too. I will challange myself, I will feel uncomfortable, and I will learn to like it.

I will finish my novel. I will rewrite it. I will edit it. He will sit on an agent's desk by the close of 2012.

I will read and study short stories, and then I will go back to writing them. I will write 4 short stories in 2012, one of them relating to an idea I have for a historical novel set in south texas, 1900. I have plans. I will watch them materialize.

I will submit, too.

I will continue my "submission bomb" for the poems set to be published in The Garden, Uprooted.
Once publication rolls around in June, I will switch gears, submitting new work to journals at a slower pace, two packets per week.

By the end of 2012, I will have submitted my poetry to at least 100 journals. I will amass rejection letters. I will laugh in pain. I will cry with joy.

I will submit my novel manuscript, too -- to 6 agents.

I will submit my next chapbook to 5 publishers. I will enter contests.

I will write 4 book reviews.

I will meet success. I will meet failure.

I will write until my fingertips are nothing but bone. I will love every minute of it, because there is nothing on this earth I would rather do than write. Nothing.

I will not worry about things beyond my control, but feverishly work at those things which are. I will be the best writer I can be. I will be the best woman I can be.

I can do it :) I absolutely know I can.