Adelaide International Rose Garden

Happy New Year to all my readers.

I hope the year 2011 brings you great joy, peace and at least some success with your writing. As I explained yesterday, one of my main goals for this year is to be published in a variety of forms: novels, picture books, articles, poems, short stories and whatever else life throws on to my path. I am also determined that this year will also see lots of submissions. If you are not submitting to publishers there is no way you can get published, so I’m determined that this is one area of my writing that needs to change.

Other goals:

Life is more than writing, of course, but over the last few years as I completed my MA Creative Writing degree there were some things which were neglected. As I said yesterday, I’m not really into making New Year’s resolutions. I’ve observed that most people don’t keep them however well intentioned they might be. I prefer setting firm goals with definite, achievable targets. My writing goals include a daily target for the number of hours spent on writing, the number of words written and the number of poems and stories submitted to publishers. I also have goals for other aspects of my life. These include:

1. Reading: writers are readers so this is of utmost importance. This year I plan to read 100 titles (books and magazines; I read most of the magazines I get from cover to cover).
2. Travel 1: I plan to visit my son and his family in Sydney.
3. Travel 2: I plan to visit my daughter while she is teaching overseas.
4. Exercise: I plan to exercise on average five times a week.
5. Weight loss: I plan to lose 12kg this year through exercise and sensible eating.
6. Hobby: I plan to go birding at least once a week, taking photos to share on my birding site.

I have many more smaller specific goals, such as cleaning out the garage, cleaning my office, gardening and so on. These are much more detailed plans and I won’t bore you with them here. I like making lists of things to do – and take pleasure in crossing them off when completed.

It looks like it is going to be another busy year.

I’d better plan to have times of relaxation too.

Good writing.