Each December, in that week between Christmas and the New Year when nobody knows what day it is and time seems meaningless, I set aside some quiet time to think about my writing goals. I begin by taking a look at the goals I set for the past year. Then I look ahead and reflect on what I'd like to do with my writing in the coming year. This ritual is my way of embracing the end of the year, and it nicely sets the stage for a thoughtful assessment of where I'm at with my writing and where I'd like to go. Some of my goals are big, and some are small. Some I meet, and some I don't. But it's always good to write them down and make them concrete. I focus on setting goals within my control. For example, this year I set a goal to apply for a writer's residency. Just to apply, not to get one. The applying is in my control, the getting not so much. (Did I get the residency? I don't know yet, because I just applied last week! But in doing that, I met one of my goals.)
This year I've decided to make my goal setting ritual a little more communal, by inviting you - my newsletter subscribers - to join me. On Thursday, Dec. 28 at 11 am central time, I'll host a Goal Setting for Writers workshop via Zoom. We'll meet for one hour. I'll spend the first 5-10 minutes sharing my approach to goal setting and describe the different kinds of writing goals that you might want to set for yourself. (Hint: it's about so much more than just the products of your writing.) Then you'll have the rest of the hour on Zoom to work quietly on your 2024 writing goals. That's it! Just a free, informal opportunity to take some time for your writer self during the busy holiday season. If you're feeling social and want to stay after to share and discuss your goals with me and other attendees, there will be an option for that. But you can also just show up, keep your camera on or off, quietly work, and leave after an hour with a better sense of what your writer self would like to do in the coming year. And no matter what kind of writing you do -- academic, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or any other kind of writing you're up to these days -- you're welcome at the workshop.
To join us, please register at this link: https://forms.gle/LJBWW9AqJv6RvpHz6. Once you've registered, I'll get you on the list and send a Zoom link plus a few reminders ahead of the day. (Did I mention we'll be meeting during the week when no one knows what day it is? Yeah, I got you.)
If you've found it hard to make time to write, the workshop is a low-key, low-stakes way to spend an hour reconnecting with your writer self.
What’s up around here?
I'm reading and pre-ordering . . . books written by my book coaching colleagues! I'm in the middle of Susanne Dunlap's new novel The Adored One, an engaging piece of historical fiction about Ziegfeld Girl Lillian Lorraine, who lit up Broadway and caused a stir in the early twentieth century. And I just preordered Suzette Mullen's forthcoming memoir, The Only Way Through Is Out, a story of coming out in mid-life and finding new ways of being in the world. Good stuff!
I'm grading . . . all the things! It's that time of the semester. Student papers and presentations galore! I joke with them that this is the time of the semester when they are working harder than I am. 🙂 This generation of undergraduates has been through some stuff (most of my current students graduated high school in the spring of 2020, so...yeah, stuff). They are strong and kind and smart and funny and I learn a lot from them.
I'm decorating . . . for the holidays. We go a bit overboard around here, with an aesthetic that I like to call "mid-century mish-mash." No tasteful white lights and matching decor around here, no sir! We decorate with retro colored bulbs, goofy ornaments, and all those styrofoam-and-pipe-cleaner baubles you made as a kid in Sunday school. And Santas. Lots of Santas! My husband has collected them for years. When my mom died last year, I inherited several really old ones to add to our collection. Here's one of my favorite vintage guys:
Happy writing to all of you! See you again next month here and, I hope, on Zoom on Dec. 28th for the goal setting workshop.
Bunches of thanks, Cara. You made my day smile.
What a great prompt. Thank you, Cara!