2015 Goals Wrap-up, 2016 Goals

Welcome to 2016! No flying cars yet, and hoverboards only sort of made it. Meanwhile, I'm planning my writing and reading goals for the year.



First, here's a peek at a fun thing I tried out this year. A jar where I wrote and collected accomplishments or promising moments. I first heard of this through writer Jaime Morrow. Sometimes we get so impatient with where we want to be, we blur past all the points that brought us where we are. It was fun to look through my collected moments, which I kept all related to writing. I added a few moments at the end, and I'm looking forward to adding more!


As for goals, I'm going through last year's goals to see how I did:

2015 Goals:

Writing:

1. Finish rewrite of contemporary YA from Nano 2013.
2. Edit and develop Nano 2014 manuscript.
3. Potentially revisit historical YA MS, and/or develop new idea
4. On the freelance front: starting tomorrow, I'll be posting a joint chat-review of Downton Abbey season 5 over at pop culture site The Stake. Please go visit their site and follow on twitter!

Updates:

1. I did finish that rewrite! The story, SUNSET SUMMER, took first place in Toronto Romance Writers Catherine contest in the YA category and netted an editor request!
2. I did not do anything with my Nano 2014 project and instead wrote a new MS which I'm editing now (and SUPER excited about), and I did Nano 2015 with another new contemporary YA story.
3. Speaking of the Downton Abbey recaps, I will be joining my writer friend Catherine for the final season of Downton and our recaps will go up on The Stake once again! We also recapped Outlander last year and are planning to do so again when the series starts up.

Blog:

1. Keep an active blog.
2. Continue to host book tours and cover reveals.
3. Feature a guest post.
4. Potentially find a group blog to contribute to.

Updates:

For the most part, I kept an active blog. I plan to keep this blog running when I upgrade to my new website, though I may be blogging less frequently. You can find more consistent posting on twitter and Instagram, both places I'm @StephScottYA I love the visual aspect of Instagram and the very fun book community there. 

As for a group blog, I joined The Sweet Sixteens group of 2016 debut YA and Middle Grade authors! They have a lot of great content, so please check them out! I'll make sure to share any posts related to my own 2016 release! 

Plus, another group blog I'll be contributing to will launch this week. Details coming on Wednesday!

Professional (writing):

1. Expand YARWA's online presence through my VP Communications role.
2. Attend local RWA chapter retreat craft workshop feat. agent and author Donald Maass (March)
3. Plan & attend Day of YA at RWA Nationals in New York City (July)
4. Attend and network at Lady Jane Reading Salon (Naperville, every other month). Also network and attend author signings at Anderson's Bookshop.
5. Attend a Chicago North RWA meeting.
6. Submit to contests with editor final judges, including the Golden Heart.

Updates:

I was voted in for a second term on the YARWA board! We started hosting twitter chats and we'll see where those go in the coming year. The Donald Maass workshop was awesome, and I had such a great time at RWA Nationals in NYC including Day of YA. I attended probably half or more of the Lady Jane Salons in my area featuring local romance writers, went to a few signings, and also met a totally different cadre of writers at Chicago Writers Conference. I did not go to Chicago North's chapter at all, but a number of their members joined our chapter and I know more of the group. 

I subbed to the Golden Heart and a couple other RWA chapter contests, including the one where I placed first :)

Reading:

2015 Reading Challenge

Stephanie has read 1 book toward her goal of 50 books.

1 of 50 (2%)

view books

Updates: 

Here's my year in books on Goodreads. I read 71!

2016 Goals:

Writing:

1. Revise current YA manuscript and get it to agent and editors this spring!
2. Revise a NaNoWriMo project (2 to choose from)
3. Write a short story for a secret project!
4. Possibly craft an older Nano novel for a serial release on Wattpad (novella length)
5. Nano 2016 because I can't help but draft something new! 

Reading:

1. Goodreads standard goal: 50 books
2. Read 5 classics
3. I'm joining a book club! It's with in-person friends of mine including a spouses & significant others. All of our choices will be authors who are women or persons of color. We're starting with my choice, Mindy Kaling's new memoir!

Professional (Writing-related):

1. A goal I thought I'd written was to be on a panel at a conference. I'm slated for two this year: RWA Spring Fling in Chicago suburbs in May, and RT Booklover's Con in April in Las Vegas (!!). The first is YA Publishing panel with 3 other authors, and the RT is Pitch Wars Road Show to help writers prep for an RT pitch event. Related goal is to book more panels based on networking from these events.
2. Go to Book Expo America which will be in Chicago this spring!
3. Continue to finish manuscripts to send out for editor submission.
4. Support other 2016 debut authors by reading and reviewing their books, and promoting them online and personally.
5. Possibly mentor again in 2016 Pitch Wars.
6. Develop quality programs for my home RWA chapter (program committee) and promote the chapter and YARWA on social media.
7. MY OWN BOOK DEBUT! A million related items fall under this, but my main goal is to plan ahead where I can and enjoy the ride. Many updates to come!

What are your goals for 2016?