2016 is rapidly coming to a close–a fact I’m sure many people are grateful for, since this year’s been a bit of a shit storm–and that means it’s time to sit down with ourselves and have a hefty dose of total(and potentially brutal) honesty. We need to take a look at what we’ve accomplished this year, where we stand in our careers and lives, and what we want to accomplish next year.
Now, it may seem a bit early to do this. After all, we still have almost all of December to meet even more of our goals, right?
Well, that’s true to an extent, but December is one of the most hectic months of the year. The holidays bring all kinds of responsibilities with them, and if you’re going to visit relatives out of town, you’re going to lose several days of writing time this month.
Often during our yearly planning we like to treat December like the other months of the year, planning for the same level of productivity, but when the holidays come around we find ourselves too exhausted to push forward in even the tiniest ways. No matter how you feel about your family or how much fun you have at the festivities, holidays are exhausting for everyone and our planning should take this into account. Spending time with our families and friends is just as important as achieving all our personal and professional goals. So is self care, especially if your holiday dinners tend to be fraught with drama.
In other words, you probably won’t be as productive as you expect this December. I’ve never hosted my family holiday dinners but I’ve also never had a December where I actually met all of my goals, largely because I work hard all year and my brain needs some time to recharge.
So this year I’ve only set myself two big writing goals for the month–one to finish a short(ish) story and submit it to an anthology, and the other is to work closely with my editor(s) and make Good Bye the best it can be before our release date.
Which means I’ve also already got a pretty good idea what I’m going to do next year. No, I haven’t written it all down yet because things might change, especially the timeline for editing Good Bye, but I’m thinking about it, and to be honest, I’m already looking forward to 2017.
Are you thinking about next year already? Are you still too entrenched in an ambitious December goal list to look past it? Let me know in the comments section below!
December is my month for planning out my writing goals for the next year. If I go into 2017 without some sort of guideline I’ll end up doing a whole lot of floundering which will amount to….nothing! I’ve got three books to revise so that’ll be my biggest focus 🙂
Good luck with your projects!
Hi Adryanna,
I’m exactly the same way–having no plan is a surefire way to end up doing nothing but playing video games, even if the plans I make in December often change throughout the following year.
Thanks for stopping by & good luck in 2017!
~Dianna
I started thinking about 2017 in September. I have a fairly robust (and hence scary) set of goals for next year. I’m spending the rest of 2016 doing wrap up, and looking at writing, planning, and tracking tools to help me reach those goals. And, I’m looking into writing groups with a focus that I think will challenge me to bite off more than I usually do in a year. In all the planning, I don’t want to lose sight of my objectives, though. It’s very easy for the planning and measurements to take the place of the actual doing.
Hi M. C.,
Well, if I’m totally honest I’ve been thinking about 2017 at least that long 😛 Don’t forget to take some time to breath between all those big projects–and to stop by at the end of each month so we can celebrate our accomplishments together!
Cheers,
~Dianna
I’ve begun thinking about my goals for next year, but December’s been so hectic I haven’t had a chance to start writing things down yet! Hoping to get to that this week, though. 🙂
Ahahaha this week is going to be the most insane for me. Three family dinners! But I am determined to still write a page a day.
Good luck with your writing & happy holidays!