Here There Be Promises: Writing Goals for Q3 2023

Apparently, Squarespace has an AI feature that helps people write. Always curious to toy with new tech—even if I don’t intend to continue using it—of course I tried it. I asked it to sum up my goals from Q2. And according to AI, I spent a lot of time “taking online courses and attending webinars, which significantly enriched my knowledge base.” I absolutely did none of these, so my guess is the AI is summarizing another me from the multiverse, and this other me has a much vaster “knowledge base” than me. Go, other me.

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Y’anyway, time to look at how Q2 panned out, and where I’m heading in Q3.

If you ignore some of the deadlines, I hit a number of my goals.

• I journaled about writing with a CDA in mind.

• I wrapped query edits with an editor.

• I restarted sending the novel manuscript to agents, along with a picture book manuscript.

• I wrote an unplanned sci-fi/fantasy poem and sent it to publications.

That said, I missed my big goal. I failed wrapping the third draft of my TLS novel manuscript. There are a few reasons.

• The query edits took longer than I expected.

  • I stressed about the query and overwrote it, which took a lot of time away from working on the newest manuscript.

• I began work on some of my design stretch goals, which often sent me down rabbit holes of research.

  • And I did not finish these stretch goals, once I noticed how much time they were eating up.

• See the “unplanned sci-fi/fantasy poem” note above.

I am a little bummed about not finishing the third draft of the novel manuscript, but I understand why, and I don’t regret putting extra time into my query; the query is often your first interaction with someone you hope will fall in love with your story, and you want to ensure the write-up best represents your work and youself. I do wish I had pushed off some of the design work, but at least I better understand the scope of those projects, and I am not making them stretch goals this quarter.

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This quarter is all about wrapping the third draft and sending stories. So my goals for July, August, and September are:

• Finish the third draft of TLS by August 31.

• Start the fourth draft of TLS or a short story or nonfiction piece by September 1.

• Send stories and pitches weekly to new publications and agents.

• Connect with writers on:

  • Twitter / X / Whatever it’s called when you’re reading this.

  • Discord

  • Writing Meetups

And that’s that. I’m focusing on fewer things this quarter, and every focus is about writing. In theory. I’m sure I’ll get distracted by the odd design idea here and there, maybe another unplanned writing project, but as long as I enjoy them, I won’t be too upset.

For reference, again, here’s how the goals look in the iOS Reminders app, where I track them—minus some of the personal health goals, which are mostly about stretches, biking, traveling, and dealing with some chronic pain.

Feel free to let me know if and how you set goals for projects—and share them if public declarations help you hold yourself accountable.

Happy creating.