A look back and a look ahead

What are your writing goals for 2024? I'd love to help you achieve them.

I love the quiet interlude of this week—the hustle of the holiday behind us, the promise of a fresh start ahead.

My husband and I got away for a long Christmas weekend, escaping the dreary landscape of the north for a lovely time in Mexico with my grown daughter and her husband.

We lounged on the beach, kayaked and paddleboarded in the surf. We played cornhole, a decidedly Midwestern game, on the shore of the Gult. We ate a lot—including a meal that was one of the best restaurant meals I’ve ever enjoyed. We drank frozen tropical drinks by the pool, did yoga by the ocean, bobbed in the salty waves, feeling the gentle pulse of the earth. It was heavenly, especially doing it with my grown kids, who are a delight.

Now we’re home, slowly easing back into “normal” but grateful that this week between the holidays kind of gives us a soft place to land.

Like you, I am looking back at the year as it winds down, and I’m thinking about the year ahead. Where have I been? Where do I want to go? In 2023, I wrote two books, helped edit and publish three others. I coached a handful of writers as they worked on their books. I launched two newsletters and grew the traffic on my website.

The year included some big changes, some unexpected turbulence, a few delays I didn’t expect. But also some serendipitous surprises and occasional joys.

How about you? Have you made progress on goals you set a year ago?

Did you even set goals?

Why should you set writing goals?

Because, my loves, you must chart a course before you can travel it. I’m using this quiet week to write and dream about big goals. But then, getting super practical about weekly and daily tasks I must tackle in order to make those goals a reality.

Maybe this is the year you want to take your business or ministry acumen and turn it into a book. Maybe this is the year you’re hoping to have a piece published in a magazine.

If you are hoping to get a book published in 2024, for example, you have to break that down into manageable steps: clarifying your idea, creating an outline, crafting a proposal or chapter by chapter summary, writing so many words per day or per week. If you think you might need a little help with that, read on.

For example, maybe you read this issue of my newsletter about building your writing resume, and thought you would like to try writing freelance articles.

That goal, by way of example, begins with writing query letters. Query letters require research of various publications, their content, their editors. So before the query comes the research. You need strong, concise, creative ideas that align with a particular publication’s audience and mission. Crafting that takes time.

Breaking down your goals into smaller, doable steps will help you achieve them.

What do you want and why do you want it? What are your writing goals for 2024? What is the next step you must take to achieve those goals? What must you wake up and do each day in order to meet those goals?

Photo by Anna Alexes: https://www.pexels.com/

If you’re not sure, you may want to consider getting a little help along the way—by working with someone to hold you accountable but to encourage and cheer you on. In other words, maybe your next step is to work with a writing coach.

I am taking on a handful of coaching clients this year and have just a few slots available. And if you sign up before the year ends (that’s this Sunday at midnight central time—an hour after the Times Square Ball drops!), you’ll get a 15 percent discount.

What does a writing coach do?

A writing coach comes alongside a writer to help them achieve their goals.

Consider my client Fred, a retired Colonel with the U.S. Army Special Forces who did multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was working on a memoir, not just about his experiences as a Green Beret but also about helping a fellow retired soldier, who just happened to be blind, to run ultramarathons. Not surprisingly, he had a million fascinating stories—some of which he’d writtten down, but some of which were still in his head, not on paper. In offhand conversations he’d mention incredible adventures—which made people say “you should write a book!” But he needed help getting those stories onto the page. So we customized a program to help Fred make progress on his memoir. We worked together over Zoom.

So my coaching for Fred included:

• reading what he’d written so far

• crafting thoughtful questions to ask him to “tell me more” about various parts of his story

• letting Fred just tell stories so we could capture them

• listening carefully so I could circle back and ask for more details and how each event in his story impacted him and the people he led

• recording our conversations, which we got transcribed, so he could turn conversations into chapters

• repeat

Often we’re too close to our own stories or the ideas we hold dear, and we don’t see the gems hidden in all the clutter. A coach helps you excavate your authentic story and guides you in becoming a better writer.

Here’s what Fred said about our work together:

“Collaborating with Keri as my coach enabled me to delve into the core of my narrative, and her skill in embracing my story allowed me to explore its deeper significance.”

Coaching is completely customizable: I can read your work and give you feedback, interview you to pull more of your story out, offer writing advice or direction, hold you accountable to help you complete a project.

 My client Catherine was part of a Powerful Story Writers’ group coaching experience, and as a result, reached her goal of completing a rough draft of her nonfiction book in six months. She said: "Keri is a skilled writer and teacher. The greatest benefit for the writers' group for me was the accountability it provided each month to stay with my writing." 

What are your writing goals for 2024? Leave a comment below so we can cheer you on! If you’re interested in working with me for one-on-one coaching, contact me here. Subscribers who sign up for a six-session coaching package before midnight on December 31 get a 15 percent discount!