Happy New Year!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Holy cow, can you believe that it's 2008? For real!! I still remember my mother packing away bottles of water and cans of tuna in fear of Y2K. Wow, that was 8 whole years ago.

So what have you accomplished in the past 8 years? Next week, I'm going to be talking more about goals -- what mine were for 2007 and what they'll be for 2008. It's easy to set yearly goals, but sometimes we forget that writing is a long term endeavor and sometimes, you have to look past the next year. Sometimes you have to think about where you want to be in five years or in ten years. When I started writing seriously again two years ago, JP and I created the 10 year plan. It's pretty simple: be able to support ourselves with our writing in 10 years (that will be 2016). Now, this isn't a goal that's really in our control -- we can take steps to get us closer to that goal but, like saying you want to get an agent in 2008, there are just some things that are out of your hands and how much money you make writing is one of them.

But I'm not sure that's always a bad thing. Sometimes, I think you have to go ahead and write down those goals that are outside of your control. Recently, I blogged about an author -- I think it was Debbie Macomber -- who suggested everyone should write down those totally out there goals. Things like "I will make the NYT List" or "I will sell X copies of my books." I think you write these down because it's important to dream, and it's even more important to recognize when your dreams come true! For example, last year I wrote down my "Far Out Writing Dreams" and this list included things I never really thought were possible -- at least not any time soon. Things like "sell my book for X figures." Well, guess what? In 2007 I sold my book for X figures. I've met one of my far out writing dreams and it's important to me that I realize this.

So, start daydreaming and planning long term -- it's actually pretty fun :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe New Year's Eve!