Staking my claim on 2024! My big goal for the year: get friend’s first novel published by the end of the year.
It’s 2024 and my biggest goal of the year is to get my friend’s book published.
I’ve been working closely with her since late 2023. We were catching up and she mentioned she’s been working on a rough draft of a coming-of-age/dystopian/romance novel. I immediately took interest in the book, which I thought had a cool premise, and I encouraged her to keep writing and finish the draft by the end of the year.
As someone who has worked with creative people of all stripes (musicians, writers, artists, and filmmakers), I know how difficult the creative process is. It’s common to have an overflow of ideas, but a lack of focus and commitment.
Many projects are started but few are seen all the way through – this is the creative person’s dilemma.
I like helping other people succeed though, it can sometimes be even more rewarding than your own success. Before I even started coaching professionally, I always had an ability to see potential in others and encourage them to be their best self and do their best work.
Entering into 2024, I made a commitment to help my friend’s dream become a reality. She’s always wanted to be a published author – and, most importantly, I know she has the genuine interest, passion, and skill to make it happen. I wouldn’t choose to work with her if I didn’t see it.
However, there are many steps between having an idea for a book → getting it published.
Putting Dreams in Perspective
I’m a hyper realist when it comes to setting goals. I’ve seen far too many projects crash before they take-off. I know how quickly people get burnt when they expect too much too soon.
This is the main reason I wanted to carve out a whole year to working on this project. The rough draft of the novel is already finished, but I want to take our time to really go over it, edit it, fine-tune it, and then prepare the best way possible to start pitching it to publishers.
The only way to achieve big goals is to break them down into smaller goals.
This is the only principle you really need to know to get things done and complete your projects.
Going into January 2024, my current goals timeline (for this project) is…
- January: Read first draft, give feedback and comments to author.
- February: Begin editing draft together with a focus on opening chapters.
- March: Complete sample draft of chapters 1-10, send out “teasers” to at least 5 people to get feedback.
- April/May: Work on editing manuscript, weekly conversations.
- June: Complete edit of manuscript.
- July: Begin pitching to publishers.
The general idea is to dedicate the first half of the year to improving the manuscript and the second half of the year to pitching to publishers.
The expectation is that we can nab some sort of book deal by the end of December, even if it’s just with an independent publisher. At the very worst: we have a finished book on our hands and we can always self-publish.
There’s other mini-goals between these milestones, but it’s not important to go into all the details here. Let’s just say I have multiple Google docs with notes and brainstorming sessions (anything from plot/character development to book cover ideas).
On a weekly basis, we try to edit at least 3 chapters. That’s the pace we are trying to maintain for now. We also schedule weekly calls just to touch base and re-assess our progress.
Of course, these goals are subject to change. It’s hard to forecast more than a few months at a time depending on the project, so you have to be willing to adjust when appropriate.
The most important thing for most projects is to just keep moving forward even if it’s at a snail’s pace.
If you find yourself hitting inertia, then you need to set smaller goals and keep moving, even if it’s just writing for 15-20 minutes per day.
Keep. Moving. Forward. No. Matter. What.
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