You Don't Always Need A Plan...

Ah yes. The New Year. The time when I've traditionally thought about what I might accomplish in the year, drawn up wildly optimistic plans and then, over the year seen my life head in a completely different direction from where I thought I would go.

Take 2017 for example. Although I hoped I would get a publishing deal, I wasn't banking on it, and my writing plans focussed on finishing books, and getting them edited and self-published. Having been signed by Joffe Books last year, I ended up doing none of the self-publishing stuff I had anticipated doing. I also didn't envisage doing so many author events (in fact, I didn't envisage any!). When I look back on last year's plans, they seem faintly ridiculous in places.

Most productivity guides tell you that you have to have goals in order to achieve things. That you should have 5-year goals and yearly goals and that these should be broken down into quarterly goals, then monthly goals etc. So many goals. And in the past, I have done that. Sometimes these plans have been really helpful and kept me focussed. But at other times, they can be pointless, for example, when I'm nursing an Achilles injury and yet I'm supposed to be up to running 8 miles. Or when I'm supposed to be investigating cover designers and yet I have a publisher who is sorting that out for me.

I could make lots of plans for what I want to achieve in the year, and I do have some writing goals for the year ahead, and several personal ones too (I'm still determined to run a marathon before I'm 50 for a start), but this year, I think I will try to just breathe, trust, let go and see what happens a bit more.

What's everyone else doing?



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