From the Editor:
Welcome to 2006 -- Let the Insanity begin!
By Lazette Gifford
© 2006,
Lazette Gifford
Starting a new year is always filled with
excitement for me. I make it a habit of finishing everything from the
previous year before midnight, December 31st so that I can begin
the next year with the feeling that I can do anything. It's a little
psychological boost that makes me look kindly to the prospect of moving
forward.
This year I've made myself a goal of
sending out more of my novel manuscripts. It's amazing how that works --
apparently spending long hours writing the beasts, and even spending months
editing them, is not quite enough. Somehow publishers haven't quite found
my gems of writing just by their very existence. They seem to think I need
to send them the work.
Setting goals is about looking for ways to
improve what you're doing. I don't make outlandish goals that I can't
possibly keep. I don't, for instance, set a goal that I will sell something
to a publisher. I have no direct control over what the publishers decide
and setting goals that are outside my personal control is a way to create
failure. Instead, I set up a goal to get material out to the publishers.
That's the best I can do.
My suggestion is that if you set goals and
resolutions for the year where it comes to writing, don't look at making
some extraordinary promise that you can't keep. Set good, reachable goals.
Exceed those goals, if possible, but don't set them so high (or out of your
control) that you are destined for failure.
Goals can give you the same sort of
psychological boast that I get by starting each year with a clean slate.
Enjoy the feel of stretching your wings a little... but don't leap off a
cliff if you aren't yet ready to fly!
Good luck. And don't forget to have fun!
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