Margie's 2023 Writing Goals

by Margie Senechal

Thank you Liz (and someone in Romantic Gems) for coming up with this alternative to making a resolution or selecting a word for the new year. Let’s be honest, I generally forget the word by the time my blog has published.

I like the idea of setting writing goals. Because goals are kind of like wishes with a plan. And I’m all about wishing and dreaming. And I like that there’s a limit of goals just because if I made a list of ten or twenty, I’d get discouraged and give up. Or I wouldn’t even try.

I’m going to do Liz one better (because I’m competitive like that) in that I’m going to set a few dates. Only because I know my procrastinating self and I’m making this list to get out of that horrible habit.

My five 2023 Writing Goals are:

*Finish the beta copy of Suitcases and get it into the hands of readers and critiquers by March 1^st. Yes, six and half weeks from now. Why am I still writing this blog? I have a book to write.

*While Suitcases is in the hands of readers, I’m going to work on a couple of other projects. The first being a middle grade book, The Banned Book Bandit. Which I believe is very timely and should get out into the world. I’ve written two chapters and I’d like to take two months just to focus on it. So, that will be my March and April project. My aim is to have a beta copy by May 15^th to send out into beta land of readers.

*Come May, I hope to have copies with comments back from readers of Suitcases and possibly BBB, so for May and June, I’m going to edit and rewrite. Once the rewrites are ready, I’ll need to write a couple of kick butt queries so I can start submitting to La Agent Land.

*In July I’d like to refocus on the France reunion love story which grew out of my published short story. I’ve written about a quarter of it and every once in a while, it pops into my head. So, I plan to fully commit for three months.

*In October I will see where I am with these goals and see where I need to go. My hope is that I will have two finished books in the submission stage—which is like a lottery ticket waiting for the correct numbers—and a third book sailing toward the finish line. Ideally.

For my fifth writing goal, I’m going to make a list of 50 procrastination projects with the intention to accomplish one a week. Some of them aren’t terribly labor intensive, like sweeping the ceilings for cobwebs, but others might be, like organizing Legos. But they’re things that keep me distracted from writing. Not that I actually do the things but they’ve become mental roadblocks to the process of writing.

So, there you go, my hopes and dreams for writing in 2023. Maybe I’ll do a quarterly check-in just to keep myself honest 😊

Until next time, have a healthy and happy new year!