Been busy writing today. Also herding small people, making breakfast, lunch, sorting laundry, and other business. I’ve made great progress on my to do list and also on organizing my goals and workflow for 2008. So. Deep thoughts as the New Year approaches: you really have to define your own success, and redefine it often.
I wrote a business plan for my fiction career five years ago, and in that plan I projected selling to Harlequin Blaze. You will note that hasn’t happened. But I ended up in the right place for me, and I achieved my goals, if not the way I imagined I would. So a degree of flexibility always has to be involved when you set goals. You can have a goal that could be met in multiple ways. When one way opens up, even if it’s not what you expected, it can be the perfect opportunity for you.
I keep revising and revisiting my business plan, and setting new goals, but still things change. Markets change, opportunities come up, priorities change. So every year it’s time for an overhaul. And usually around the six month mark I find myself revising my goal list again, to adjust course for the rest of the year.
One thing I’m making a priority this year is getting ahead. I need to be working on future proposals, future books, not just the ones that are due next. I didn’t allow nearly enough time in the schedule for that last year, and I’ve seen how painfully that can bite me in the butt. I started to move in that direction this fall, but it’s the kind of thing you have to keep at and slowly the results start to accumulate.
Lots of steps towards goals are like that; little changes, little daily or weekly efforts that eventually lead to big results.
I think it’s interesting how you can end up going in different directions than you’d ever thought you’d take. I agree…I think the key to any buisness plan is flexibility, especially in the writing biz. Hope you have a Happy New Year, Charli. 🙂
Someday I’m going to have to take a peek at your business plan. I get freaked out just thinking about them. *g* I do agree that 08 will be the year of getting ahead if possible. I’m formulating exactly what that will take now. 🙂
Patrice, lots of twists and turns on the writing path! *g* But I always wanted to write single title, and I thought it made sense to start in category. Only instead I started in ebooks, which served the same purpose. (I haven’t given up on the category idea entirely, either.)
You definitely can’t be too rigid about how to achieve your goals, and sometimes time frames need adjustment, too. But I’m a firm believer in having a plan. Happy New Year, Patrice!
Jordan, a business plan is pretty straightforward. It’s a set of goals and a plan to achieve those goals. I.e., if you want to earn X amount of money, how will you do that? What part of your budget will go to marketing, and what marketing steps will you take? What books will you write and who will you sell them to. And so on. Some projects I plan to write get shelved and others get written instead, but I’m looking three books and a couple of novellas ahead as a starting point.
Here’s to getting ahead in 08!
I think having a plan is key as well — and we’re of a mind on changing it, being flexible. Also patient. I have planned to write single title since the start, but it’s taken me 3 years to find out what I wanted to write, and then to work on writing it… and who knows what will happen? Maybe it will take three more. Then there was adding another category line to Blaze… I had to figure out which one, finally decided on Supers after some trial and error, and then had to work for 2 years learning the line — hopefully I’ll be a Super author soon, but maybe not, it could take another year or so… In the meanwhile, have to plan for what keeps things going while you’re working on this other stuff. I may try some epubs, too, just for fun, and the flexibility they seem to provide. I think variety has to be the most interesting, but also the most secure way you can come at a writing career — the more you can do, the better off you are…
Sam
Patient, yep! Many goals take time to achieve. Sometimes years.
Epubs are really awesome for variety, and you don’t have the anxiety of numbers attached; i.e, if you write a comedy caper and it bombs, bookstores won’t refuse to carry your next book. *g* Really, the creative freedom in epublishing is well worth pursuing!