10 Writer Goals for 2015

Inspired by Brooke Warner’s post 52 Things for writers to do in 2015, I’m committing my own 2015 hit list to paper. Honestly, I felt like 52 weekly goals was a bit too much for a home-schooling, work-from-home, writer mom to tackle. I’ve created something challenging enough to make me push myself, but not so difficult that I will abandon my goals by midyear.

This year I will:

1. Up my blog writing game. After over a year of weekly blogging with WriteOnSisters, I’ve learned a lot about my weaknesses as a blogger. For me the hardest part is being personal. That might have something to do with an appalling cyber bullying attack my family survived a few years back. However, I need to work past that experience and engage more. I refuse to let other people’s negativity define my life. I’m here in the blogosphere to stay!
2. Buy my family and friends books for no reason at all. Books continue to be my favorite gift, and the joyful smiles all those new Christmas books created should be savored year round. If I shop for these goodies at small local books stores I’ll be helping the local economy and supporting independent book sellers at the same time. A win/win scenario for everyone.
3. Read and review more culturally diverse YA books. I’m lucky I grew up in a home where my cultural identify was guaranteed by two Hispanic parents and a strong ethnically diverse community. But my own kids are only half Hispanic and aren’t exposed to my culture as much as I would like. We Need Diversity is a movement sweeping the book market with good reason. Books need to show all the faces of the world. As a Latina woman, and a writer, I have an obligation to promote good fictional representations of my culture, not just for my kids, but for everyone’s kids.
4. Attend author readings. I moved in October to a smaller town, and since then I’ve seen several author meet-and-greets posted in the local newspaper. For some reason (general moving madness) I haven’t attended any of these yet. This year I vow to attend at least four author events and show some support for my local community of writers.
5. Get involved with my local library. Again since moving to a new town, I haven’t resurrected some of my old volunteering commitments. Helping the library is a project I highly recommend. My new library has a rather impressive friends group, so my January commitment is to sign up as a member and see what I can do to help out.
6. Show more support for my fellow bloggers. I’m so bad about leaving comments or likes on websites. When I read something I like I will tweet about it, or send a personal message to the author, but for some reason posting public blog comments always makes me cringe. This year I will get over myself and just post more likes and comments. Comments make a huge difference in my blogging life, so I need to spread the blog love around.
7. Improve my writing skills. This year I want to take my skills to a higher level. I’ll be attending at least one writer conference, and taking part in at least one writing class. I’m open to suggestions. If anyone has a great West Coast Writer conference to recommended (preferably for the second half of the year) please send the information to me.
8. Put my fiction writing out into the world. This year I’m going to enter contests, submit ideas for guest blogging posts, join in flash and micro fiction hops and just generally be more present with my fiction writing. Who knows, I might even publish an ebook of short stories.
9. Create some rewards for accomplishing my writing goals. Right now if I slip on a self-imposed deadline, no one cares. I shift my Trello notes around to compensate and keep on working. It would be nice if I had something waiting for me at the end of a challenging project cycle. I will establish at least 12 prizes for each of the major writing milestones I plan to tackle this year.
10. Finish my 2015 writing projects list. I have always have a long list of things I want to do every year, but this year the list is pretty impressive. I plan on shopping a new project to agents. I started a new book over the summer that I want to finish. And I have a new historical book fully researched and plotted, that I would love to start writing before the end of 2015. Will I complete everything on my project list? Perhaps not, but I have to try. Check back with me in a few months. I’ll post some updates on how I’m doing.

The New Year is like a bright beacon of hope, and I want to make the most of that motivational energy. If you’re a hardy soul, your list might be much longer (or more interesting) then mine. If so, please share your blog link in the comments. I’ll be sure to stop by your blog and say hello, and I’ll do it with a real comment and a like. : )
Whatever you’re striving to accomplish this year with your writing, or your life, I wish you well.

Author: Robin Rivera

Robin trained as a professional historian and worked as a museum curator, educator, and historical consultant. She writes mystery fiction, with diverse characters and a touch of snark. She's currently working on two new manuscripts that started off as NaNoWriMo projects. You can follow her on Facebook(https://www.facebook.com/robin.rivera.90813). However, Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/RRWrites/) is where her inner magpie is happiest of all. View all posts by Robin Rivera