Given that December is full of holiday activities, I’m going to pare down my writing goals even more this month.

1. Blog 10 to 12 times.

2. Finish some more filing/organization of writing material. I thought I had finished this, except for buying file folders and filling them. Last night I bought those and filled them. However, I remembered I had a stack of writing stuff at work that I need to bring home and file. So I guess I’m not done yet. Writing seems to be a kind of paper chase.

3. More work on Life on a Yo Yo Life Group lesson series, which I begin teaching January 4.

4. See if I can flesh out the brainstorming work on the short Life Group lesson series from the Apocrypha. I looked at it a little last night, and unless I get something down on paper, I’m not sure I’ll have a legitimate series.

5. Buy one writing magazine, as a Christmas present to myself, and read it.

6. Continue to work down my reading list. Since the book I’m currently reading is 736 pages, and I’m only on page 165, this may take all month.

Edited to add:
7. Complete the review I’ve started of Macaulay’s essay on Ranke’s History of the Popes.

Time to check in, and see how I did relative to my goals.

1. Attend critique group once (it meets every two weeks), and present the next chapter in my work-in-progress novel. I did this. I actually came close to attending the second time, but life got in the way.

2. Blog 10 to 12 times. I’d like to do more, but will settle for that. Did this one too. I posted 13 times, so slightly exceeded my goal.

3. Update my submissions log. I filed a few papers last night, and discovered I haven’t entered in my log the last several submissions I made. That may be important come tax time. I only partially finished this. Entered a few of the missing submissions, but not all.

4. (If I finally decide to market it) Submit Documenting America to about twenty newspapers as a possible self-syndicated column. As I posted last week, I have decided, for the time being, to shelve “Documenting America”, due to not wanting to commit to the time it would take each week. My loss, or the nation’s loss? Who knows.

5. Work on, and complete if possible, the proposal (with four sample chapters) for the Bible study requested by the editor. I did very little work on this project. Did some hand writing of the first sample chapter, and typed that, but then laid it aside while in the throes of decisions about DA. Maybe some in October.

6. Wait (patiently) for a response on the two projects I currently have out with an editor and agent. How else can one wait? Next week will be the week to follow up with the editor, and the first week in November for following up with the agent.

7. Continue to work on my reading list, the writing help book and the next one, whatever it is. I did fairly well on my reading list. I completed two books, and reviewed them both on this blog. I am more than half-way through the next book, Totem by David Morrell. I may be able to review that either late in the weekend or early next week; it will take a couple of posts. I don’t even remember what the next book is on my list, but I think it’s non-fiction.

One thing not on my September goals list, but which should have been, was:

8. Lead an on-line discussion group about “The Line as a Poetic Device” at the Absolute Write poetry discussion forum. I did this. Completed the research in early Sept, and began the workshop on Sept 5th. I let it lag after awhile, but will likely pick it up again, if not in October then probably in November.

My writing goals will be few this month, as I start the month away from home and will have other things to distract me during the month and prevent me from spending as much time on writing as I’d like. Here are my goals.

1. Complete the book proposal, requested by an editor, on the Elijah and Elisha Bible study, and mail it.

2. Complete the planning phase of my next two Bible studies

3. Complete the research I need before undertaking an on-line poetry workshop in September (may start in late August). It is a workshop I will lead at the Absolute Write poetry forum, with a limited scope.

4. Attend one critique group meeting; present the prototype for the Documenting America newspaper column.

5. Read in some writing how-to books.

6. Wait for the editor and agent to respond to the two proposals I have out right now.

This will be the first month in a long time that I set writing goals, and the first time I’ll post them here. This may be a progressive post, edited several time today as these goals come to mind.

• Type final edits on the Screwtape Letters study guide proposal; mail to the editor by July 3.
• Complete proposal on In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People; edit; mail to agent by July 10. This will include work on the first 30 pages of the book, which are to be included.
• Begin work on proposal on the Elijah and Elisha small group study guide. By the end of the month I would like to see the proposal essentially complete, and the weekly study sheets I prepared for Life Group expanded into chapters. If I can have it ready to mail to the editor by then, fine, but I’ll be satisfied mailing it in August.
• Attend critique group twice. At the first one present the synopsis for In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People; at the second present the concept for the Documenting America newspaper column, including marketing letter and one or two sample columns.
• Finish organizing the scattered piles of paper about the house. Actually, I’d be satisfied to simply bring improved organization to this, even if I don’t finish it. At least I want to have all papers of all works in progress filed together, and drafts of all poems put in their assigned places.
• Organize the business end of writing, including establishing a mileage log so I can get rid of the scraps.
• Continue to post to this blog, at least 10 posts this month, and preferably 15 to 18.
• Begin outlining the next life group lesson I’ll teach, and prepare it in a way it can become a small group study guide.