New Year's Resolution #5: work!

New Year’s Resolution #5: Write!

This is the place to consider our goals for our jobs. It might be a work-outside-the-home gig, or work-at-home, or homeschooling, or SAHM’ing – whatever it is, this is the place. For me, it’s writing and editing.

My specific plans:

1) Treat my work like what it is: real work. Specifically, during school year, clock in and clock out while kids are at school. And when summer comes, figure out a writing schedule that works for that time.

2) Query, then do the work. I’m not sure exactly which projects I’ll work on this year, because the nature of the job is to query first, and then find out whether or not you have work. So I have a list of projects and places to query, and I’m planning on just working my way through those, and doing the work as I get assignments. I can’t control which jobs I get, but I can control how I go after them, and how professionally I do the work that I get. (You can look at this as, "I promise to get X many rejections." Which is, ironically, one of the best ways to get acceptances!)

3) Pray about the work. Most importantly, pray about various opportunities, and try to listen to what the Lord is giving me to do.

4) Keep track of what I earn. For taxes, first of all! But this will be my first full year with all the kids in school, so I do want to pay attention to the financial side of my work. I’m not sure what to expect or what to aim for, because this is the first time I’ve had enough time to treat writing and editing as a substantial part-time job. So this year I want to keep track, and pay attention to how things go, so that I’ll have the information I need to make sensible goals in the future.

5) Keep track of how much time I spend working. Much like the above point, I just want to pay attention and collect data, so that when next year comes around, I’ll have an idea of how to set sensible goals for how I spend my time in this work.

6) Keep working on making a good blog. I’d like this to be a good place on the web – a place I would enjoy finding if it were someone else’s. My favorite blogs are two things: interesting and encouraging. That’s what I’d like this space to be.

What about you?

Talk about your work-related goals in the comments, or link to your post about your goals. I’ll add any links to the body of this post, so they’re easier for others to see and visit.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell