Mapping Out Your Writing Life + Marketing Goals, Literary Journals, & Book Banning
Mapping out your fixed, flex, & on-going goals; 2022 marketing predictions; lit journal rankings; public domain media; anticipate books by WOC; banned books; a manuscript mystery; + delicious oatmeal
Greetings readers & writers,
Not sure about the rest of you, but it’s been a rocky start to the year. Anyone else out there feeling a bit… a drift? It pushed me to revisit and revamp a blog post I wrote ages ago (2018!) to share with you. There’s no one right (or linear!) way to organize your life and certainly not right now when, honestly it feels hard to plan anything beyond today. But here’s one approach: a mixed plan of fixed, flexible, and on-going goals to give you a sense of direction, help you stay nimble, and stay on course.
Setting a fixed goal
Fixed goals can be both ones you set yourself and ones set for you by others. Have a book coming out? The various deadlines dictated by your publishing schedule – edits, proofs, pub date – are all fixed goals worth planning for. For those of us without book contracts, it can still be helpful to work under a deadline set by someone else. Signing up for a class, writing retreat, or one-on-one critique can create useful structure.
Action: Populate a calendar, planner, white board, goal list, or pile of post-its with any fixed goals, as dictated by your marketing a/o writing plans for the year. Map out/schedule time to sit with your work and give it the attention it needs to meet these deadlines. If you don’t have any external fixed deadlines, choose one for yourself!
Setting a flexible goal
Flexible goals are ones you’d like to achieve by a set time period, but where you have wiggle room in case of illness, snow days, or new and unexpected deadlines. “Start a new project by the beginning of the summer,” “start querying agents by September,” or “attend a writing conference” fall into this category. As writers, we’re often hard on ourselves, but beating ourselves up over missing a self-set deadline is counter-productive. Keeping clear but loose goals gives you permission to react to new circumstances and opportunities without feeling like you’re failing.
Action: Select 1 - 2 flexible goals and list them at the top of your schedule, beginning of each month in your planner, or on a post-it note on your desk, where ever you’ll be able to keep an eye on them. List 2 - 3 steps you’ll need to take to achieve each goal.
Setting on-going goals
On-going goals speak to your writing mentality and filling your creative well. They can be tangible or in-tangible, but should help set the tone for how and when you write as well as what influences your work. Some on-going goals might be:
Create a habit of morning pages
Set a reading challenge for yourself
Engage regularly with writing prompts
Attend more author events
Engage in more (or less!) social media
Read a daily poem
Develop a personal website
Action: Choose 1 - 2 on-going goals. Brainstorm how you can incorporate them into your regular schedule. How can these goals help you achieve the other ones on your list? Add them to your schedule or desk post-its!
Checking-in
Goals are great, but accountability is what helps you keep them. Schedule some time for self-reflection a/o find a friend you can check-in with periodically. How are you progressing? Do some of your flexible goals need to shift? Have your on-going goals provided fodder for fresh goals? Are you meeting your fixed deadlines?
What are some of your goals for the coming year?
Writing/Marketing Resources:
Narrow down your marketing goals for the new year with this list of book marketing promotions and predictions for 2022.
I am currently obsessed with dragons (was I ever not?) I think everyone should be well-versed so here’s a cool podcast on The Literary History of Dragons!
Wondering which writing magazines are the most “prestigious” as you make your submission plans? Clifford Garstang offers one assessment by ranking journals based on Pushcart Prizes/Special Mentions. Want to sample different literary journals to judge for yourself? There’s a subscription service for that: Journal of the Month
Looking for inspiration for your next retelling? Here’s are some key classics that are sliding into public domain in 2022. Author Scott Lynch has already stepped up to the challenge in this twitter thread:
I. The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the bump, bump, bump, on the back of my head as I am dragged down the stairs behind Christopher Robin. Bump, bump, bump, driving the things I have seen out of my mind. I do not wish to stop bumping. I do not wish to remember!Winnie the Pooh is in the public domain. The entire Lovecraft canon is in the public domain. Do what you will with that information.
Laura Keating @LoreKeating
Reading Corner
Check out author R.O. Kwon’s highly-anticipated annual list of upcoming books by women of color and pre-order/add your faves to your TBR! Some instant adds for me: How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo, Reclaim the Stars ed. by Zoraida Cordova, Fresh Banana Leaves by Jessica Hernandez, and By the Book by Jasmine Guillory. Any titles you’re excited to read this year we should know about?
All I knew then was what I wasn't, and it took me some years to discover what I was.
Which was a writer.
By which I mean not a “good” writer or a,“bad” writer but simply a writer, a person whose most absorbed and passionate hours are spent arranging words on pieces of paper. Had my credentials been in order I would never have become a writer. Had I been blessed with even limited access to my own mind there would have been no reason to write. I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.
—Joan Didion, “Why I Write”
Industry News
Book banning in schools continues to increase across the country, primarily targeting books by LGBTQ+ authors and authors of color. {NBC News}
Politics & Prose is now the first unionized bookstore in D.C. {Lit Hub}, part of a national push by booksellers to organize {ABC News} in response to worker safety and labor rights during the pandemic.
The elusive manuscript thief may finally be in custody: Filippo Bernardini, a Simon & Schuster rights coordinator, has been arrested as part of a bizarre phishing scam {New York Times free link} , in which he allegedly impersonated publishing professionals in order to obtain unpublished manuscripts.
Breakfast
One thing giving me joy right now is re-discovering oatmeal. Sure, sure, I’m an old lady, but hear me out: oats cooked until they’re meltingly creamy with almond butter, sea salt, and sweet dried cranberries that turn juicy and tart when simmered. Top with a generous drizzle of maple and you have a warm, comforting breakfast that tastes like a candy bar. Customize to your heart’s content!
Almond Butter Oatmeal
makes 1 generous portion
½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
1 cup cold water, plus more as needed
2 – 3 generous pinches of sea salt
½ - 1 TBS unsalted almond butter or other nutty butter, to taste
¼ c. dried cranberries or other small/chopped dried fruit
1 - 2 tsp maple cream or your preferred sweetener, to taste
Combine oats, water, and salt in a small, heavy-bottom saucepan. Bring to boil.
Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and add nut butter and dried fruit.
Stir frequently. If the oatmeal starts to stick to the bottom and/or thicken too quickly, lower the heat if you can and add a splash of water to get it creamy again (I usually do this a couple times because I always forget to stir)
Once the oats have broken down a bit and the oatmeal looks creamy (~8 min), remove from heat. Serve in your favorite bowl and stir in 1 tsp maple cream or preferred sweetener. Add more salt, maple, and/or nut butter to taste.
Stay warm and safe. Get yourself a good mask. Read up on intellectual freedom issues. Eat a fresh cara cara orange. And get some sunshine when you can.
~Allison
Writer & Marketing Coach
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