Reassessing My Writing Goals

A few months ago, I tried setting and sharing writing goals for each month on Vocal. I wanted to make $1 from reads and go a full month with at least one read per day in my stats. I made some of these goals when I hoped, but it became easier to reach my goals when I stopped focusing on them so much.

I managed to make $1 from reads in the month when I wanted to reach that goal, but I did not manage to get through August without a single day of zero reads. However, without trying, I did achieve that goal in October.

From October 1, I had at least one read in my stats every single day until this past week when the streak stopped on November 21. This is the longest streak I have ever had on Vocal, and I was not trying to maintain any kind of consistency.

Instead, I let all my goals go. I went back to writing only because I wanted to or needed to write something. I let go of intentionally writing daily. I only published stories when I had a poem completed that I was ready to share.

This approach still resulted in several pieces being published weekly, and I have learned my lesson. When the pressure is off, I am writing more and creating better work.

When I am not forcing myself to write, I gravitate toward writing naturally. I start drafts with no pressure to finish them quickly, and I make revisions when it feels right rather than sifting through everything piece by piece, looking for something I can work on to meet an arbitrary deadline.

Looking back a little further, I made four goals for myself at the start of 2024. Some of these were lofty and inconsiderate of the rest of my life. I planned to make that stereotypical commitment to writing daily, to post on Vocal weekly, to select and revise a full collection of poems from my previous work, and to get more involved in the Vocal community. This leaves me with a 25% success rate (because I do feel like I have gotten more involved compared to 2023).

Going into this new year, I am shifting the way I look at my writing goals to match what I have learned over the last few months. Instead of unattainable aspirations like a commitment to write every day even when I don't want to or stressing over stats, I am switching gears to focus on building connections, getting my work out there, and creating a body of work I am passionate about.

This approach is mindful of my other commitments and plans for the year. I am a writer with a full-time job, a master's degree to finish, a long-distance relationship to maintain, and a bad habit of not returning my library books on time. The goals below won't take over my life or my free time, and more importantly, they are meant to help me grow.

1. Attend at least one event per month focusing on writing or sharing my writing.

At the start of January, I browsed through 36 pages of events hosted at my local library. I registered for every writing workshop and poetry open mics I could fit into my schedule for the next month. I will be keeping an eye out for additional library events, events hosted by the National Writers Union, and other opportunities to share or hone my craft.

Attending a few of these events over the summer last year was a source of new inspiration and a start to connecting with other local writers. By planning to attend at least one of these events per month, I am aiming to give myself some more consistency without over-committing.

2. Create business cards for my writing with my Vocal and Medium pages as QR codes.

This has been on my agenda for an unreasonable (and inestimable) amount of time, and it ties in perfectly to my other goals for the year. It's a simple addition to the list, but it's about time I get this done.

If I am going to claim to be a writer and attend events to connect with other writers, I need to share my information in a better format. I need something I can use to connect people with my work.

3. Start writing articles, essays, and stories again, not just poems.

While the majority of the writing I share on Vocal is poetry, that is not how I started out as a writer. I have a journalism degree that I haven't used since I graduated in 2020, and I want to flex those muscles again.

In 2025, I want to start doing interviews again. I started a list of ideas like I used to before student newspaper pitch meetings in college. I want to write reviews, features, and travel articles. The skills I developed in unpaid internships and long weekends of editing and layout have been going to waste, and this is the year (hopefully) that I fix that.

4. Submit to a contest or publication/publisher at least once per month.

This may not seem to align with the way I am shifting my writing goals, but I am hoping it will be the solution to my writer's block in the moments when I truly want to write.

Writing to a prompt or researching literary magazines to find one that feels like a good fit for my work can be inspiring. It's a challenge that I want to utilize for the days I sit in front of blank pages or screens with a desire to write but an inability to start.

As I work on this goal, I am counting January as a checked box (Vocal challenges count, of course).

Once again, I know I may not maintain these four goals by the time we reach 2026, but they are my motivation now. They are a hopeful look to the future while I balance the lessons I learned in 2024.

I can't call myself a writer if I'm not writing, and I won't want to write if I try to force myself into unsustainable habits.