Can you believe it? 2020!

When I was kid, way back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, just the year 2000 seemed impossibly far off, and here we are in the Roaring 20s! Be on the lookout for Flappers!

The beginning of a new year is a time for goal setting. Imagine the kinds of goals you can make at the beginning of a decade?

I have a few humble suggestions for writers:

Begin and/or finish your book! (That’s a no brainer.)

Focus on building your platform!

• Consider the subject of your book, or in fiction, your theme. Can you pitch a radio program your subject/theme as a segment or interview? If your book is about romance, you can use current events to pitch a producer around Valentine’s Day, for example, or when a celebrity is getting married. Maybe it’s about politics, so election time is your time!

• Write articles or letters to the editor to get your name out there.

• Be active in social media (take care to post well, never in anger, never in judgment).

• Start a blog.

• Follow blogs of interest and comment regularly. Eventually offer to do a guest post (bloggers always want content. I accept guest posts here.)

• Seek low-impact speaking engagements. Schools, for example, may welcome writers for class lectures. Eventually, seek higher-impact.

Cultivate your expert relationships. If you write thrillers, you should have some police officers in your contact list who can check your facts. History writers need to know some old people! Sci-Fi writers would do well to know some scientists.

Learn about Graphic Design. Even if you don’t create your own book covers, you should be able to identify what makes a cover good and speak the basic language of the designer.

Learn Scrivener (no I don’t get paid for new buyers 😊). Low-cost writing software that facilitates most writing processes can spur you to new heights IF you know the program and don’t have to struggle with it.

Stock the pond! Get out there and live so you have something to write about with confidence and accuracy!

My goals include finishing a novella and making major progress on a non-fiction book. I hope (not a goal, an aspiration) to publish 4 new books this year (of other people).

So, what are your goals?