Yay, 2009!

I don't know about you, but I am greeting the new year with arms wide open! Yay, 2009! (Or as my editor said, The Year of the Werewolf.) ;-)

2008 had its ups and downs, but I am ready for the newness of a fresh year. I've got a book to turn in, another one coming out this summer, and a ton to accomplish in other areas of my life. It's goal time...

I know a lot of you have resolutions (see Steph's post from the other day) and goals you've set for the new year, so I will give you some tidbits of advice on goals. Hopefully they will help out all of you who've set resolutions or goals for yourself for 2009.

Number one: Track your progress.

Every time I sit down to work on my book, I set my intention for the time period (revise 2 chapters or write 5 pages etc.) and then at the end of the session I write down how I did. Usually I track time spent, what I accomplished, page and word count. This is very helpful for your record-keeping anyway, but more than that, it helps you see how hard you worked.

Seriously -- there is very little you can control about most goals except for the effort you put into it. So, whether you are planning to improve your health, career, lovelife, or whatever -- at the end of the day write down how you did. Track your steps toward your goals and you will actually inspire yourself to try harder and accomplish more.

Number Two: Set the Right Goals

When you're setting those goals also remember to make them about what YOU are going to do.

For example, you can't *make* an agent take you, but you can write a freaking awesome book that they'll want to represent. You can't *make* a boy fall in love with you (unless you have a love potion, maybe) but you can resolve to talk to him in Science or ask him to be a study partner so you can get to know him. Get the idea?

Make sure you write down the goals somewhere -- and you can even share your goals with a friend to help keep yourself on the right path.

One last thing is to remember to be grateful for what you did toward your goal. At the end of the day, there is nothing more satisfying than looking back at the steps you took -- the things you actually did instead of chickening out or slacking off -- and appreciating yourself for your bravery, perserverance, determination, and guts. Love yourself for trying and don't give up on what you truly want for yourself.

That's it from my soap box, friends. Do you guys have any other good goal advice? Is there anything that has really worked for you? Share away!

Big
Happy New Year
Hugs,

Heather

http://www.heatherdavisbooks.com/

Never Cry Werewolf ~ Harperteen June 2009

The Clearing ~ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Spring 2010