The WriMo Blog: 2024 Plans & Goals | Esther Hadassah

Welcome to The Write Monthly Blog where I share my monthly writing goals, project progress, and more! Today's post is the first of the new year! I want to share my goals and plans for my 2024 writing. If this interests you, keep reading!

This year, I'm trying something very new. It's becoming rather repetitive on this blog, but the last several years of my life have been so random and unpredictable, making big plans always seemed in vain. But for 2024, and I think I mentioned this in my last post, I'm going to try actually planning out my writing goals. 

What I usually do at the start of a new year is make a list of small goals that I want to achieve. It is likely I will still make that list, but let's stick to the cemented plans. Keep in mind, I will be sharing posts as I always do and I will go into deeper detail as I go through them.

January: First of all, I recently had a major epiphany in one of my projects. Normally, I would share the project with hope of accountability, but I've decided to keep it on the down-low until I know more. What I will tell you is that it is a book I've shared publicly and I have been stuck on it since NaNoWriMo 2020. Hint: Purple.

This month, I will also be going over all of my ongoing projects and deciding which ones to really focus on, later in the year. My thought process is that putting certain ones aside and not looking at them all the time will help re-spark the desire to see them completed. This is where the Heart Breathings 2024 Writing Planner workbook will come in handy because there's a section for projects. I'll use those pages for this.

February thru May: Open Novella Contest 2024: I'm participating. The Ambassadors haven't even announced it yet, but I'm making the decision now. The last two years were amazing and participating has truly built my confidence. Per usual, I won't know what kind of story I will be writing until the prompts are released, so there isn't much else I can say about it right now.

A big part of ONC, for me, is using the prompts to write something new and actually finishing it. But there is the option to 

ONC2024 will hold three months of my writing time, so I won't be making any other goals or plans during this period. That means no surprise side projects, no Camp NaNo in April, unless I stumble until another flash contest. I'm always open to giving them a try. But the main "goal" is to avoid getting distracted.

May thru June: Little Women inspired projects are resurfacing. I'm not going to be writing, not really. What I hope to do is pull out my notes on the stories I started and take my time plotting them better. Because I will taking one of those projects into July for Camp NaNoWriMo.

Camp NaNoWriMo July: At this time, I do not know which Little Women project I'll be working on, so part of my plan is to use July as additional plotting time. And maybe, just maybe, I will write a few chapters. I'm not going to have big word count goals or making it a big deal. I'm just gonna do it.

August: This is going to be a down month. I'm not planning to do anything major, but I am going to let the days happen and move forward from there. It is safe to say I want August to be one of my take it easy months because in....

September: I'm going to be doing a Sci-Fi September challenge. I've been thinking about this since September 2023. And I will be inviting others (including you!) to join me. All the information about this challenge will be shared toward the end of August. Just know that it's not going to be just writing.

October thru mid-November: I won't be doing PreTober or NaNoWriMo this year. I have grown as a writer and yes, the 30 day challenge was really good for me 5-7 years ago. I learned how to fast-draft and write 50,000 words in a month. But my process has changed and now I need find a new DMO (daily method of operation). Don't misunderstand this decision as a result to the scandal. I am still a fan of NaNoWriMo and will certainly participate in the years to come. It's just not going to be this year.

I will, however, use these months for my own form of a writing challenge, it just won't be 50k in 30 days. What I will do is keep these 6 weeks open for any project I feel inspired to work on. Like my personal Jack Frost project. *gasp* I don't think I've shared anything about this, and I probably won't share anything about it until I'm ready.

Mid-November thru December: No writing allowed. I know, what? I am taking into account the fact I know by the time I reach the end of the year, I need a break. I need to acknowledge the fact I feel burned out and taking the whole month off is the best thing for me. As I am writing this post, I've just come out of vacation mode fully refreshed and revving to go.

But wait! "Esther, you didn't talk about preparing any books for publication!" I know, I know! It's because I don't have a book ready. The ones that are the closest to being ready still need MAJOR editing. If I do find myself at a place where I have a book in the end stages of editing and early stages of publication countdown, I will make sure to post about it.

Of course, I am still working my virtual assistant job, thriving with my side-hustles (mini business ventures), and keeping my days open for possible changes. I'm not expecting huge events, such as moving or taking a surprise trip to visit family, this year. But those are still possible.

That's all for now. Stay safe, and stay awesome. See you in the funny papers!