Every Monday in the Aliventures Club* group on Facebook, I ask members something along these lines:

How did your writing go last week? And what have you got planned for the week ahead?

It's great to hear what everyone's been working on and what they've got planned. It's always lovely to see members encouraging and supporting one another, too.

Perhaps you're already in the habit of reflecting regularly on how your writing is going and on what you're hoping to achieve next. But I know how hard it can be to pause and take stock -- and if you haven't done so for a while, now's a great time to look both back and forward.

We're a third of the way through 2023. If you set goals at the start of the year, have you managed to make any progress towards them? (Any and all progress is well worth celebrating, even if you haven't got as far as you'd hoped.)

If you didn't set goals, maybe you've been doing some writing anyway. If so ... fantastic! Think back through what you've achieved over the past three months.

Those might be small things. They might even seem like failures: but look at them another way, and they're partial successes.

For instance, perhaps you wanted to get into a daily writing habit. You managed it for two weeks before you stopped. That's still worth celebrating! That's 14 days of writing.

With these 3 months now almost behind us, what are your goals for the next third of the year? What are you hoping to achieve in April, May, and June?

Here's how my writing goals have been going ... and what I'm planning to do over the next three months too.

Goal #1: Write or Edit 250+ Words Per Day

This one's a bit frustrating ... I made it through almost three months before missing a day last Tuesday (I went out to the pub with some friends in the evening and was having such a good time catching up, I forgot all about my fiction-writing, oops). Then, I missed a day again last Saturday.

But instead of lamenting the two days I missed, I'm trying to focus on what I did achieve: 84 days (so far) of writing or editing at least 250 words/day ... and I did well over the minimum most days.

Going Forward: I found this goal worked really well for writing/rewriting, but less well for editing, when I could often rush through 250 words pretty quickly! It also didn't work when I wanted to spend time on planning and outlining. So I'm adjusting it a little to either writing 250+ words or spending 15+ minutes editing/planning/etc.

Goal #2: Finish and Publish My Novel-in-Progress

This is a year-long goal, so I had two sub-goals for this quarter:

• Finish the second draft by the end of January 2023 -- I managed this!
• Finish the third draft (so the manuscript is ready for an editor) by the end of March 2023 -- I'm just about there, but I haven't got it into the "ready for an editor" stage yet.

I'm having a lot of writerly self-doubt about this project so I'm pleased I had this goal keeping me going. I need to re-read my own tips on having confidence in your writing...!

Going Forward: I want to get the third draft into "ready for an editor" stage within the next few weeks. Then, this goal is going to be on hold while I work on Goal #3.

Goal #3: Explore Other Genres of Fiction

My third goal for the year was supposed to start in April! I was going to write:

• Two short stories (in different genres, but I haven’t yet decided what) 
• Two novel outlines, plus the first 3 chapters of each (again, in yet-to-be-determined genres)

I'm actually ahead on this one! I wrote two short stories this quarter, one of which I sent off for a competition last month. The second is going off this week, once I've finished the final edits.

Going Forward: I haven't been working on any novel outlines & first 3 chapters yet, so that's my goal for the next three months. I really enjoyed writing the short stories, too, so I'm planning on writing at least one more.

In a potentially goal-derailing development, though, I had a new idea today that I think will be novella/novel length ... but it's in basically the same genre as my existing novels (contemporary fantasy). So I want to mull that over a little and decide whether I want to add that into the mix too!

As you can see, my progress isn't always linear and it definitely isn't perfect. Sometimes I jump around between goals or something unexpected comes up ... and I imagine it's just the same for you and your fiction writing.

What's important, I think, is finding a balance between following new ideas and inspiration, while also making progress toward finished pieces.

I'd love to hear about how your writing's going this year and about what you're planning for the next few months.

If you're in the Aliventures Club, come and share your progress in our quarterly "how's it going" thread here:

facebook.com/groups/aliventuresclub/posts/4289345917956250

* The Aliventures Club is open to anyone who's bought anything from me, ever! If that's you, you're welcome to join us here: facebook.com/groups/aliventuresclub

If you haven't bought anything yet but you're planning to do so, you're welcome to join too (when you answer the questions to join, just let me know what you're planning to buy).

If you're not in the Aliventures Club, or if you'd prefer to let me know about your writing goals privately, just reply to this email and tell me how your writing's going. I'd love to hear from you. :-)

Happy writing,

Ali

If you missed last week's blog post, you can find it here:

How to Write When ... You Have So Many Other Things to Do