My 2018 Writing Goals

I know it's halfway through the year already, but since I now have time to write, I figured that it was time to make some goals. I need to replace a full-time income, which means I have zero time for fooling around this year.

My family comes first naturally, but I cannot take good care of them if I have no income coming in, it just doesn't work like that. So I'm starting from essentially ground zero and working my way up to my income goals. It may take awhile, but I'm prepared to fight for it this time around—just have to figure out how to make it all work.

Some goals of mine:

• Finish The Emperor's Bride (book one of the Portal series)
• Write Short Stories and Submit
• Write Poetry and Submit
• Write Flash Fiction and Submit
• Produce More Photo Books
• Get More Ghostwriting/Editing/Proofreading Gigs
• Work On My Blog
• Participate In JuNoWriMo
• Participate In Camp NaNo In July

And that's a good start for now, though I'm sure other things will pop up as time progresses. And I also plan to write out more articles for Vocal as well as a few other sites that I'm currently testing out.

I'm not going into this expecting instantaneous results, but I'm building a platform from the ground up that will meet all of my needs and then some in order to do right by my family. I can only handle living in poverty for so long before I go insane—if my 15-year-old daughter doesn't drive me there herself!

Money

So onward and upward, as the nice thing about being at rock bottom is that you only can go up from there. And yes, I am pretty much at rock bottom right now. It sucks, but that's what happens when you have chronic illnesses including mental health issues (thanks to the chronic illnesses.)

My current income goal is 10k per month, before taxes currently. I would love to earn way more than that, but I think that is a good start for now. That would give me roughly enough to pay bills, buy food, etc, and also have some money for my business so that I can invest in myself more and become a better writer—which hopefully means a bigger paycheck.

There are so many things I want to do as an author, never mind my other interests, that I'm not sure I'll be able to complete everything in this lifetime...but I'm sure going to try! I am definitely up for the challenge, and the challenge of making a living while doing this. There is so much yet to learn and ways for me to grow that I'll never be bored, which is a good thing as I tend to get bored very easily.

Plus, writing is a fun escape from reality, making up new worlds with new rules every time I sit down to write. Can't really beat that as a job, now can you?

I just need to stay motivated and focused, which can be really hard when one has chronic illnesses getting in the way of everything. They are the reason I cannot hold a full-time job, and why I'm on disability...maybe for life. Depression and anxiety come with having those illnesses, which makes things even harder than they already are. But I will persevere this time, even if I have to work at a slower pace than I want to. Because I want this to work, and I also want to prove to my daughter that dreams are possible if you work hard enough on them.

With time I will get better and better, and that is all that matters in the long run. It's a job where I can constantly grow, and never outgrow, which is important to me. It's always important to do the things that are important to you, rather than those important to other people, and those are words I am starting to live by.