The MiG's 2013 Goals

Happy New Year! Another year rolls in and we are super excited about  2013. Each January we always make our goals and share them with each other. This year we thought how fun it would be to share our goals with you.

Here they are!

Andrea Mack

1. Finish rewriting Novel #4 (my middle grade novel about a girl on a wilderness adventure).

 2. Finish drafting Novel #5, the middle grade novel I started during NaNo. I'm excited about his project and it's keeping me writing and puzzling about the plot.

 3. Write two picture book manuscripts based on ideas I collected during Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo). I have some good ones and I want to take the time to develop them into stories.

Debbie Ridpath Ohi

 1. I will make regular time for my novel writing every day, no matter what excitement is going on in my picture book career, and even it means just writing a very small chunk or revamping the outline or (in the case of severe deadline crunch for other projects) just thinking about the story and characters and what's happening next. The important goal is to devote some focus on my novel(s) every single day.

2. I will finish my revamped outline for my MG novel and write the first draft.

3. I will come up with 10 new picture book ideas a month (roughly two per week). Halfway through the year, I'll choose the idea I like the most and spend the last half of the year polishing the mss, working on rough visual ideas.

Christina Farley
(whose YA novel GILDED launches from Amazon Children's this November)

 1. Jan- Write and send sequel proposal to agent.

 2. Jan- Write and send new book series proposal to agent.

 3. Jan- Work on revisions of GILDED.

 4. Feb/Mar- Launch new website.

 5. Mar- Aug- If sequel is a go, revise it and send to agent.

 6. July- Work on book launch.

 7. Sept- Nov- Organize for the launch of GILDED.

 8. Nov- Launch GILDED into the world!

  Carmella Van Vleet
(whose EXPLORE ELECTRICITY! launches from Nomad Press in August)

 1. Finish revising my YA and send off to agent. Revise some more. (Hopefully submit to editors by end of the year.)

 2. Fine tune my picture book (with astronaut Kathy Sullivan) so agent can start submitting.

 3. Start outlining a new MG.

 4. Get together a brochure and look for more opportunities for author visits.

 5. Promote my new book, Explore Electricity!, due out in August.

 6. Read. Every day. (I'm inspired by Andrea and her annual 100-books- a-year goal. I need to get myself in gear!!)

 7. Sign some contracts. :-)

  Susan Laidlaw
(whose AN INFIDEL IN PARADISE launches in Feb from Tundra Books)

 I'm going to finish revisions on my second novel well before my March 1st. deadline, so I have time to mull over the changes I've made before submitting it, which means putting in a solid morning of writing, every morning, which is when I'm most creative. If I don't feel I can continue into the afternoon, I'll spend a few hours every afternoon doing something toward marketing my first book, which includes getting back to my blog. I will try to blog once a week.

 I will begin research on my third novel as soon as we get to Mumbai in February, which means volunteering with an NGO working with either street kids, or underage prostitutes. I'm going to finish the rough draft of my third novel before the end of May and try to have the revised version in my agents hands before the summer.

 I will stay on top of my critiquing responsibilities with my critique group because they really are the best and I love being a part of the Migs.

  Kate Fall

 Oh, Lord, manage stress, YES!

 I try to think of one word for the year. This year it's THINK. Think Big. Do my books interconnect? Think of new markets. Should I be writing for adults? Think more before I first draft. Think of what I want and can get from my career, and think on what I'm learning from others.

Looking Back for Inspiration

Lately, I've been feeling like the revisions on my current novel are taking forever. Guess what? I checked my notes and discovered I started writing the first draft last March. So, I've actually only been working on this project for a year (plus probably a few months where the idea floated around in my head and on the pages of my notebook).

Wow! That's hardly any time compared to my first novel.  It took five years before I reached the feeling that I'd completed it, or didn't know what else to do. I must be learning something.

Sometimes it can be encouraging to step back and look at the bigger picture. I often get caught up in the day-to-day details of writing, which have so many ups and downs. Sometimes a lot of downs. But a little over a year seems pretty reasonable for writing and revising a novel. Now I'm inspired to get my revisions finished!

Here are my goals for April:

1. Finish revisions on Novel #4.

2. Polish Novel #4. The feedback I'm getting from critique buddies suggests it might be ready to start subbing soon.

3. Write a query, pitch sentence and synopsis for Novel #4.

4. Oh yeah. And definitely decide on which title I'm going to use.

How is your writing project coming along? Have you ever found inspiration from looking back at what you've accomplished? What goals do you have for the coming month?