Goals in a Brand New Year? by Jana Richards


Since January 1, my inbox has been full of emails extolling the virtues of setting goals for 2025, both writing and otherwise. It’s usually something I enjoy doing. Getting dreams down on paper helps to make them more concrete. More real. 

But I’m not sure if I’ll being setting concrete goals this year. It puts a lot of pressure on me. And It’s deflating when I don’t meet a goal.

My goal all through 2024 was to finish a first draft of the third (and final) book in my time travel romance series. I was working hard to get to the goal line, and then bam! I got sick. Twice, once in November, and then again in December. Nothing serious, but enough to knock me off track.

And is it ever a good idea to try to finish something during the busy Christmas season? Between decorating, shopping, baking and wrapping, I set myself up for failure.

I definitely want to get things done in the coming year. I want to finish that three-book time-travel romance series, and hopefully self-publish it in the first half of 2025. I’m still waiting to formally get the rights back for five of my books, but when I do, I want to repackage and relaunch them in 2025. There’s a load of other things I’d like to do in 2025 for my writing career, but I can only do so much and continue to maintain my sanity. 

I’m only one person. It’s tough to be a writer and an authorpreneur. There’s never enough time or energy. And I’m not exactly a spring chicken anymore. If I need a break, I’ll take one. 

So, if my time-travel romance series doesn’t get published until the second half of 2025, okay. If I don’t get print copies on all my self-published books sorted out this year, that’s the way it is. 

My goal for 2025 is simply to do the best I can. 

How about you? What are your goals for 2025?


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