>It’s that time of the year again. Seems like this week between Christmas and New Years is the perfect time for me to contemplate goals. I’ve been rechecking my 2007 Goals and thinking about how I want to set my 2008 Goals differently.
My 08 spreadsheet for tracking my writing progress is ready and waiting to be filled. It doesn’t look like much at this point, but I know how unexpected projects can come up. If I pack it too tightly now, it’ll look insurmountable in a few months. That happened last year. I set rather s-t-r-e-t-c-h goals, then kept adding way beyond what I’m capable of producing. This year, I think it’s going to be much more about editing and submitting: Queries, partials, contests – whatever.
Most of you who check back on a semi-regular basis know how I can flit from one project to another when the mood strikes, sometimes working on three projects at once. But right now I’m working on only one project (the TE meter located under IN THE WORKS, right column) and I need to submit it in the first half of January. So, I’m trying to stick with it and finish it with time to edit, polish and prepare the query and synopsis. Ack!
I think the knowledge that this is going to be considered quickly is adding more pressure than usual, making it harder to keep going at times. Still, I persevere, for that is the attitude and practice by which I will get published.
Back to the planning and writing. When I have final nunbers for ’07 and more concrete goals for ’08 to post, I may share them here.
CAROL BURNSIDE / ANNIE RAYBURN 
