Each year, writers often have plans as to where their writing will take them, but often they are not realistic. Their minds are filled with ‘the big break’ and unrealistic payments from large publishing houses that have probably stopped taking on new talent since the recession. The other end of the scale are those writers who have such little motivation, they are convinced each word they write is nonsense and should never see the light of an agent’s desk.
Most writers have a strange balance of the two; a manic desire to break into the market JK Rowling style, coupled with the depressive self-tormenting mindset that their work is absolute rubbish. Although the first mindset can be fun at times, both are really undermining the writer’s productivity.
Keep a Level Head
It might be tempting to send in a short story for every anthology advertising, an outline for each travel company open to submissions, or a novel synopsis to a publisher who’d just claimed on international TV that their company isn’t bankrupt after all and they really are taking new talent, but don’t. It’s fruitless and will end up squandering the stores of creativity that every writer needs to produce that one good piece of work a year.
All writers knows his or her limits and what they can do, so making a list each year with a writing objective is highly recommended. At the top, put major projects like novels (broken down by how many chapters are expected to be written each month), feature articles (along with whom they will be sent to and when), and other major works (such as submitting a movie script to BBC or something similarly sizeable).
Next are the mid-sized projects such as short stories, articles, or perhaps even query letters (if there are many, this could even be put in the major works section). And finally, allow for a list of smaller things: flash fiction submissions, letters to editors, blog posts (yes, they count too), and even creating an ideas poster. Each writer will have a very different plan for the year, but it will come in useful when the urge to send everything every written out to each publisher in a mad dash attempt to get published.
Know the Market
Each writer should know what they want to do for each year; it might be a balance between fiction and non-fiction, solid articles for a particular magazine, or perhaps a series of writing courses that will set the foundation for the next writing year. Whatever it is, the writer should know the market in which they will be applying their trade, so if needed, the writer must first do some research.
Before writing anything, research into which agent, publisher, or magazine will be accepting submissions and read their guidelines. A major project is not easily re-written, so make sure it is done correctly first. Writers often waste time and postage by writing something and sending it to the wrong market or publisher. Make sure all writing is sent out in the required format, word count, and to the right person (not just an assistant). Get it right the first time.
Now is the perfect time to prepare a schedule; don’t wait until New Year, the writer’s year starts from when the writer plans it, not the start of a Gregorian calendar (or worse, the tax year). The sooner the plans are set, the sooner those projects can be completed, sent, and finally, published.
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