Monday, February 11, 2013

Realistic Goals

It's been beautiful up here in the Great White North. 5-10 ºC or 40-50 ºF, so I decided to take advantage and go for a walk. I've always loved going for walks because that's when I think, plan, and set goals then hope that I remember it all for when I get home and can write it down.

What I need to do is follow my friend Stina's advice and take a pen and piece of paper with me.

In the past I've made very ambitious goals. I'm going to edit a chapter every three days then do a major revision in a week and have it ready to be sent out in a month. Totally unrealistic, at least for me. I like my sleep too much.

On Friday, I went to get some Vitamin D and the whole time I thought about my book and what would be a realistic goal to get it query ready.

And here's what I came up with.

I've got ten chapters left to revise (some are small edits, lots are total rewrites).

So if my math is correct, and lots of times its not. If I do two chapters a month (including this month), I should finish by June. I'll spend the summer editing, revising, making everything as good as it can be before I send it to betas in September. Hopefully I get it back in a month, make final edits, and have it ready to query in November.

Sorry, you probably weren't interested in all that, but I'm hoping by making it public, I might have a better shot at completing it. At the end of every month, I'll update my progress.

So how about you? Made any realistic goals lately?