20 Goals for 2020.

2020 GOALS

1. Write 600,000 words in publishable story related projects.
2. Write every day of at least 500 words making words in a row at 731 days in the road.
3. Catch up on editing allowing no more than 2 manuscripts waiting to be edited.
4. Edit every day of 1 chapter at a minimum.
5. Secure cover art for any book in the editing stage.
6. Publish a minimum of 1 book.
7. Publish a minimum of 3 books.
8. Publish a minimum of 5 books.
9. Publish a minimum of 7 books.
10. Write one blog post a week.
11. Write update blogs at the start of every month.
12. Clean up Tokyo Tempest #1 with a proofread.
13. Write and submit 5 short stories to markets.
14. Publish 7 short stories or novellas to amazon.
15. Set up a Patreon account.
16. Set up proper social media author accounts and a proper newsletter.
17. Have 1 paying client of editing services.
18. Make 100 dollars one month through publishing.
19. Make 500 dollars one month through publishing.
20. Make 1000 dollars one month through publishing.
21. (Bonus) Get back in shape physically by losing 20 lbs.

Breakdown of Goals.

1. Write 600,000 words in publishable story related projects.

As I managed to write 526997 words in 2019, I need to increase that number for this year. This means that I need to increase my daily word goals from 1370 to 1639. This doesn’t seem like it will be a big stretch. This increase will is only slight and will help keep my writing practices from becoming stale. The increase will mean I’ll have a higher risk of burn-out, but I have hope that I can manage to keep it under control through my daily minimum.

2. Write every day of at least 500 words making words in a row at 730 days in the road.

A daily minimum is one of the main reasons I write every day. I have managed to write 365 days in a row, and I plan on keeping that number going. I’m not going to stop now. Increasing the minimum to 500 words is in response to me increasing my yearly number from 500k to 600k.

3. Catch up on editing allowing no more than 2 manuscripts waiting to be edited.

At the moment I have 6 novels either waiting to be edited or in the process. This needs to be corrected. This is due to last year, I edited very little in the first half of the year. I need to catch things up. In my editing process, I do three passes. One as a second draft to clean up the story, and two to clean up the prose. I count second passes and my edits by chapters edited. I don’t count words as I may have to cut words, and I need permission to do so.

To keep up with the number of words being written, I need to edit an approximate 375 chapters by the end of the year. This doesn’t include the additional amount of passes. I will need to edit at least 3 chapters a day to make the number, and I have a process to do just that.

This is probably one of the most time-intense goals to make and will allow for the success of multiple other goals.

4. Edit every day of 1 chapter at a minimum.

Due to the insane number of books to catch up on, I need to make sure I don’t have any off days. I find it is very easy to not edit anything that day in preference to write new words. This is something I need to work on.

5. Secure cover art for any book in the editing stage.

This was another reason I hadn’t managed to get many books published in 2019. Finding cost-effective cover art is hard. I could spend $500 on a cover, but I’d rather hunt and find something cheaper. It’s a business concept. Keep the costs of the product low, then it’s easier to make a profit.

6. Publish a minimum of 1 book.

This is a generic one, as I’ll probably end up changing my plan and write different projects. But at the bare minimum, I want to get 1 book out. Honestly, if this is all I get out, it will be a bit of a letdown.

7. Publish a minimum of 3 books.

A Stretch goal of the previous one. If this is all I get done, it’ll still be a letdown.

8. Publish a minimum of 5 books.

This is where I want to be. With the number of books in the editing pile, this seems reasonable that I can accomplish it.

9. Publish a minimum of 7 books.

The real stretch goal. Getting 7 books published for 2020 would be awesome and more than most authors.

10. Write one blog post a week.

This is a continuation of what I have been doing. I see no reason why I should increase or decrease this.

11. Write update blogs at the start of every month.

I enjoy writing the update posts, and once a month seems to be in the right place. This will continue.

12. Clean up Tokyo Tempest #1 with a proofread.

It needs to happen. It will happen this year if I manage to get things caught up.

13. Write and submit 5 short stories to markets.

With getting two short stories published in 2019, I have an interest in getting more. With the stories so short, it should be easier to get them done. Finding a market to accept them will be a challenge. But I shall try my best.

14. Publish 7 short stories or novellas to Amazon.

Writing short stories is a good pallet cleanser to other projects, and writing them helps keep my name in the new releases on Amazon.

15. Set up a Patreon account.

One defensive of my writing is building a fan base of readers who love my stories. This should help develop that.

16. Set up proper social media author accounts and a proper newsletter.

I have a facebook page and this blog. But to be successful, I will need more. This will help with that.

17. Have 1 paying client of editing services.

Working with other authors on their projects is something I enjoy. Getting paid for it would be better. Editing is what I want to do for a living.

18. Make 100 dollars one month through publishing.

Currently, with no new releases, I’m not making any money through my writing. This is something I want to change. This would be the first step. Make 100 dollars in a month. Amazon has a minimum payout of 100 dollars, and doing is crucial to being able to do this for a living.

19. Make 500 dollars one month through publishing.

Stretch goal. This would be a sizable chunk of my monthly budget and a good step forward.

20. Make 1000 dollars one month through publishing.

This is the goal I had in 2019. I doubt I will get here, but there is a chance. I will try and see.

21. (Bonus) Get back in shape physically by losing 20 lbs.

One issue I have been fighting with is my weight. I’m out of shape and to be blunt. I’m fat. I need to fix that. So my goal for 2020 is to lose 20 lbs and to keep it off. My current weight is 277lbs. This time last year it was 287lbs. That means I lost 10 lbs last year. It’s okay, but I need to do better.

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