Happy New Year! I hope the year has been off to a good start for you.

With every new year, I like to look back at my accomplishments from the previous year and make goals for the new one. So that’s what I’m going to do in this post.

Let’s take a look at what my writing goals were for 2024 to see if I accomplished them. Then let’s make some new writing goals for 2025!

2024 Writing Goals

1. Read 45 Books

Yes, I’m including my reading goal here.

Reading is such an important part of writing. It fills your creative well, teaches you what aspects of storytelling you like, and shows you what works and what doesn’t.

I read 28 books this year. If you’re curious about what I read, you can check out the reviews I wrote about some of them or my Goodreads. Some of the books I read were for clients, so Goodreads doesn’t have a complete list.

I set the goal for 45 because in 2023 I read 46, so 45 seemed reasonable. While I didn’t hit that goal, I still read a lot of books. Shout out to Spotify for including 15 audiobook hours each month (this is not sponsored—I just love this feature). A lot of the books I read this year came from Spotify.

2. Post 1 Blog Per Week

I started this blog near the end of 2023, and I really wanted to grow it in 2024.

Though I didn’t post one blog every week this year, I posted 38 blogs, and it has grown so much since I first started.

Writing these blogs has been one of my favorite things I did in 2024. I love discussing writing and books and connecting with other people who love those things too.

3. Finish Draft 3 of Project Gray

Project Gray is the working title for the high fantasy book I’ve been working on. At the beginning of 2024, I had just started the third draft, and in August I finished that draft!

It took me longer than I’d hoped, but that’s because I ended up rewriting most of the book. I’m super proud of how Draft 3 turned out, even though it’s still not perfect. I found a great revision strategy, which I’m excited to use with future projects.

I also managed to have a few beta readers read and finish the book, which has been somewhat of a struggle with past books I’ve written. I’ve got some things to revise, but overall, the feedback has shown me that I’m close to my vision.

4. Prep Project Gray for Querying(?)

What do I mean by prepping this project for querying? I was hoping to write a query letter and synopsis. And obviously, getting the draft as polished as possible is a big part of the preparation.

You may have noticed the question mark with this goal. When I set it, I knew it was lofty, so I made it a tentative goal.

And I was right to do so, as I didn’t accomplish it. But I did get Project Gray much closer to querying.

Reflection

Overall, I’m very happy with what I accomplished in 2024. I didn’t get to do everything I wanted, but I made a lot of progress and worked hard on these goals.

2025 Writing Goals

I’m optimistic going into 2025, so let’s take a look at my writing goals for the new year.

A Note on Making Writing Goals

Whenever I set goals, I try to create realistic targets that are accomplishable but also stretch me. As my sister reminded me yesterday, it’s better to build habits than to set imposing resolutions that you can’t accomplish.

So most of my goals are focused on making or continuing a habit. I also love quantifiable goals, so I try to include numbers when I can.

1. Read 30 Books

After reading 28 books in 2024, I think I’ll be able to stretch myself and read 30 this year.

Quite honestly, I never know how to predict my reading for a year. Some years I read 45 with no problem, and others I barely make it to 20.

But I try not to be ashamed no matter how many I finish. I’m a reader because I love reading, not because I hit an arbitrary goal each year.

2. Post 1 Blog Every Other Week

I may change this as my schedule changes this year, but for now, I’m setting the goal of writing and posting a blog every other week.

I have some other career goals for this year (which I’m not going into in this article) that will take up most of the time I use for writing blogs. But I still love writing these blogs, so I want to post consistently if I can.

3. Finish Draft 4 of Project Gray

Now that I’ve got feedback from beta readers, I’m going to dive back into this project and complete Draft 4. I’m expecting this draft to be much quicker than Draft 3, so here’s to hoping I’m right.

Draft 4 will include developmental edits with a big focus on the main character’s backstory and arc. I don’t expect to need to revise the main plot much. And I’m really hoping that I don’t have to do much rewriting.

Draft 4 should be the last draft with big edits. After I finish, I hope to have some more people read it. As long as everything goes well, Draft 5 should include any other necessary revisions and line and copy edits, but I’m not expecting to do Draft 5 this year.

4. Prep Project Gray for Querying

No question mark next to this goal this year. While I don’t think I’ll get to querying this year, I do hope to write a query letter and synopsis. Essentially, I want to get my query package ready, so that it’s good to go when the book is done.

5. Finish Draft 1 of Project Blue

What’s Project Blue you may ask? It’s the new sci-fi project I just started in November. After finishing Draft 3 of Project Gray, I wanted a palate cleanser, something more lighthearted and fun—thus, Project Blue was born.

I’m about 27,000 words into the book already. My goal for the first draft is about 80k. We’ll see if that happens because it does have 4 POV characters, which can add some length Since I’m trying to do each character justice. But the story I’m trying to tell shouldn’t need to be much longer than 80k.

The project is going well so far. Just yesterday I wrote about 2,600 words like it was nothing. Don’t you love those days when the writing just flows?

Conclusion

That’s a wrap on 2024 and my goals for 2025. Let me know how your writing goals went last year and what you hope to accomplish this year.

Best of luck with your writing in 2025!