Past and Future Writing Goals — Success and Failure

The Goals That Were Successful in 2018 & My Future Goals for 2019

At the start of 2018, I completed and published a post on my goals. I thought I had done well until I looked back and saw how little I had accomplished. Although, this is the first time I looked at the post since I published it, so it shouldn’t be a surprise.

The lesson in this, if you want to work towards yearly goals it is an advantage to have the goals close by to refer to.

My 2018 Goals Were Simple

1. Write daily using Ferne Cotton’s Happy Journal as my inspiration
2. Work and expand my new blog — Bookworm Sanctuary
3. Post four times a week
4. Finish the two manuscripts I was writing

How many did I accomplish — none.

Does this mean my year has been unproductive? Far from it, I have had my best year writing. My writing evolved, so my goals became obsolete early on in the year.

What I did Accomplish in 2018

I have started journalling again. Not with a prescriptive book like Happy but in a plain journal. I dabbled with bullet journals, didn’t like them so went back to journaling my thoughts. A brain dump system.

My personal blog has expanded over the last year. I now have 200 followers. Not a huge milestone by some blog standards, but a good result for me. Bookworm Sanctuary continues to grow, although more as a sub-blog from my main site than a space on its own. I have also started a Bookworm Sanctuary publication on Medium.

I post on average three times a week. My biggest achievement this year, has been completing a post for a 30 days challenge. This month of posting, had the single biggest increase in my followers.

As detailed in a post last month, my manuscript writing has not been great this year. Next year I am determined to change this.

Three Surprising Achievements

Over Twitter and Medium, I now have 2000 followers. I have grown these organically, without adopting a follow for a follow system.

I have also set up and grown a very supportive Facebook Community for writers and bloggers. This group of people have become my support network and are always available for advice and a chat.

My writing has grown and improved to a level I never thought possible. I have become proud of what I write. I no longer hide my head when people read my work.

My Goals for 2019

Post every day to Instagram

I am determined to increase my Instagram following. To do this, I am going to post once a day for a year. Some of these posts will find their way onto Twitter and Facebook as well. Hopefully, this will help grow followers across all three platforms.

Create and Publish a Children’s eBook

The manuscript is complete, all I need is a cover and final edit. I plan on self-publishing this book and using it as a learning experience into eBook publishing.

Complete My Crime Novel

At present this is at its second editing stage. I plan this year to complete this, ready for querying in 2020.

Post a minimum of two posts a week

My website will become a portfolio of writing tips and my short stories. I plan to continue using Medium to explore different types of posts and see where these take me.

Finally

Happy New Year 

What are your goals for 2019?