Goals or Resolutions?

I’m always asked around this time of year if I have New Year’s Resolutions. And the answer will always be the same. No.

I have goals.

Well, what’s the difference, you say? To start with, I’ve always had goals and I don’t have to have a special day of the year to create a new one. Several times during the year I revaluate where I am, adjust, and in most cases, continue to move forward with my plans.

It just so happens that a time for revaluation is here.

What are my ongoing goals?

Step up my self-promotion efforts. Maybe a redesign of the website and I might be looking for a couple co-bloggers to help me keep my blogs more active. Part of this effort will be to get offline, out into the public in person and maybe get flash made up to give away. T-shirts, bookmarks, book covers and other fun give-aways.

To finish and submit my next two Blown Away stories, Bomb Voyage and Collateral Lives.

To finish two of my planned indie stories. (The titles are a secret.)

To finish the first book in my young adult series and submit to an agent.

I have one other story I want to submit to an agent, that if all goes as planned this year, I should be doing that. But… There’s always a but, isn’t there? I’ll get back to that in a bit.

Finish and submit my science fiction launch story. Got two weeks left to get it in and damned if I don’t keep adding more. At this rate I’ll never finish it.

The bit about the agents has always been a goal. But as the print industry seems to be taking a nosedive, and those high dollar publishing contracts are becoming nothing more than a writer’s wet dream, I might have to make a few adjustments. I have to sit back and ask myself what an agent can offer me. Can they still nail that contract? I do have dreams, so I might still do it, but I’m not putting my entire year behind it. Again, the idea is to keep moving forward.

That’s the difference between goals and resolutions. Goals are real world plans for your future, something you keep in mind every day, you constantly strive to reach, and they are as much a part of your day as say, washing the dishes. They can change, are not set in stone, but one thing remains consistent. You move forward with them.


If you set your goals right, you will have several baby steps you have to take to reach one. Once you reach it, you adjust and start the baby steps again, always moving forward.

Resolutions are things you say you’d like to do, that you may or may not follow through on, but you don’t have fully developed battle plans for. You don’t look at them every day and question if you are on track with your plans. You made them on the spur of a moment, and sometimes after one too many drinks.

So, do you have goals? What are they and how do you continue to move forward with them? Do you look at them every day? Are they attainable? Not necessarily easy, but can you reach them? No? Maybe you should lower them, set baby steps and once you reach that goal, then reach higher.

Whatever they are, you need to do two things to make them work for you.

#1.  Write them down.
#2.  Look at them every day and question if you are on track, or have you veered off course.

Dreams aren't always handed to us. Most of the time they have to be earned, and truly, something you work hard for, makes it all the more sweet when you suceed.

Have a great weekend.

D L