At the beginning of 2020, I wrote a post entitled New Year Reflections in which I shared several of my writing goals for this year. Since 2020 is now half over, I’d like to take a few minutes to talk about the work I’ve done toward those goals.
One of my goals was to complete the 7th grade ELA curriculum that I was contracted to write. According to my contract, I was supposed to finish the curriculum by June 1st, and I’m excited to share that I actually finished it in mid-May. As I mentioned in my post, A Reflection on Planning Lessons, I faced some challenges while writing these lesson plans. I learned a lot from this experience, and I am pleased with how the curriculum turned out. With that being said, I will not be writing another one any time soon.
Another goal I set for myself was to complete the young adult fantasy novel that I have been working on and begin submitting it to literary agents. Although I have not reached that goal yet, I have made significant progress. I completed the first draft of that novel a couple of weeks ago, and as I predicted it contains just over 60,000 words. Currently, I am taking a break from working on it, so I can go back and revise it with fresh eyes. I’m hoping to have it ready to submit to literary agents by some time in the fall.
My third writing goal was to revise my Christian young adult novel and submit it to either agents or small presses. I am in the process of revising it now, and I must say it is quite difficult. For the betterment of the overall story, I am deleting some scenes that I truly love that take away from the overarching plot. As an author, I think that is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I believe it will be worth it in the end.
I have continued to submit my short stories and poems to different magazines, but I haven’t written any new ones. I’ve decided to focus more on my longer works instead. That plan could always change if inspiration strikes me.
I feel good about the progress I’ve made toward my writing goals so far this year. By December, I hope to be able to say I completed them.
How are you doing with your writing goals? Let me know in the comments. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to see more like it.
