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I believe self-imposed deadlines and well-defined goals are a good thing in for a writer. Self-imposed deadlines keep me accountable to my readers, by ensuring that I am continuing to put out my style of fiction. It keeps me accountable to myself, to keep writing. I don't have contracts that tell me I have to produce a specific amount of work. I haven't been paid in advance for unwritten projects. So, if I don't make goals and deadlines for myself, I generally fall behind.

I try to make deadlines that are a bit tighter than I can manage to finish. I know my life well enough that I can predict when my energy will be low and when I'll be pestered by kids. I work with those constraints and come up with a yearly plan. It's broken down by month, identifying what projects I should be working on.

How do I do it? I make a list of "need", "should" and "would be nice". The "need" gets high priority. Whatever time I think it will take, I double. I take half of the "should" and add those. Then, I take 1-2 of the "would be nice".

I have 2011's goals and deadlines drawn up. I don't like to talk openly about all of my projects and often even just refer to things as "untitled paranormal mystery set in Newfoundland" (current project) or "Road to Hell, my SF". I lose my steam for a project the more I talk about it. So, I limit the chatter on what I'm doing.

With that said, I can give you an idea of where I'm hoping to go in 2011.

Tranquility Series

I get a number of private questions about this, so I wanted to give as vague of an update as possible. J

I submitted Tranquility's Blaze to a published back in 2009. Sadly, I opted to withdraw the novel from them last week. They hadn't accepted or rejected the book yet (so, it wasn't like I dropped a contract), but rather I felt that the series wasn't the best choice there. If it was going to remain standalone, then I would have kept it in consideration.

So, Tranquility's Blaze is sitting on my hard drive at the moment. I'm hoping to finish the second book in the series, Tranquility's Grief, late next year. I hope to begin submitting Blaze again, after having two parts of the series done. High fantasy isn't trendy right now, so I'm going to take advantage of that to work on the series.

Novellas

That doesn't mean I'm not planning anything else to submit. I plan to complete three novellas in 2011. Their first drafts are done, so that helps!

The other stuff

I'm also aiming for two new short stories and to try to sell two more reprints. I also want to try to sell the audiorights to one of my stories.

I have other projects planned in 2011, but those are all first draft writes and/or outlines, so they won't be done until 2012. Or, ever, depending how bad they turn out.  History dictates that I'll finish about 75% of my goals for the year. Without goals, I finish about 25% of the list. I perform best with a little pressure.

If you are a writer, what goals do you have for yourself for the coming year?