Setting SMART Goals for 2024

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SMART Goals

Preparing SMART Goals

In preparation for the new year, I am making several SMART goals professionally as a writer and personally. If you’re unfamiliar with what a SMART goal is, I’ll briefly describe what they are.

SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Based. A SMART goal has all these qualities, making it much more likely to be achieved than goals that are not carefully thought out with a time limit involved. Goals need to be concise and as specific as possible. A goal that is too broad in scope is hard to define and achieve. The goal outcome should be measurable—there should be some way to tell whether you have achieved your goal. That leads to the third element, achievability. It might not be attainable if the goal is too broad or too big. The goal must also be relevant—there must be a good reason for the goal that will motivate you to work toward it. Finally, the goal should have a due date and a time limit—a point at which you will meet your goal. Without one, it’s easy to procrastinate indefinitely.

A Quick Review of 2023

2023 was a year of beginnings and challenges for me. It hasn’t turned out exactly as I hoped, but it’s been a year of measured progress for me as a writer and human being. I began the year intending to start an author’s website and blog and query literary agents about my first ‘official’ novel, Ashes of Injustice. With my husband's help, I accomplished both of those tasks. Paulinejgrabia.com launched in April of this year. I post a blog once every week and have also posted a full-length novel, Filling the Cracks, Chapters One through Ten, available to the public on my blog site. Chapters Eleven through Twenty-five are available exclusively for those who subscribe to my email newsletter and can be found on the Subscriber Content page on my website. If you haven’t read Filling the Cracks, you should start today.

I also began to query literary agents for my novel Ashes of Injustice as soon as my website was functioning. I ended up querying over one hundred agents without success. To say that I am disappointed would be an understatement. However, I saw the rejections as an opportunity to review my manuscript and see if I could improve it. I’ve spent the past two months working on my manuscript, including changing the working title to From Sackcloth and Ashes. I’ve tightened it up, shortening the length and improving the prose. Other changes to the plot were made so that the story better aligned with the obligatory scenes and conventions of a thriller. I classify From Sackcloth and Ashes as a romantic thriller, and I look forward to submitting query proposals for it to agents again early in the New Year.

This past year, I also attended two virtual writers’ conferences where I learned a lot and gained experience in pitching my manuscript to agents face-to-face over Zoom. The experiences were invaluable to my construction of proposals and query letters.

As 2023 approaches its end, I am writing my last blog post for this year and preparing a list of blog ideas for 2024. If you have anything writing or reading-related that you would like me to write on, please let me know in the comments section at the end of this post.

My Writing SMART Goals for 2024

1.     I will query literary agents for my manuscript From Sackcloth and Ashes, completing the task by February 28, 2024. I will begin with agents openly accepting religious/inspirational manuscripts, twelve per week. I will assess the kind of response I get from these agents. Suppose I do not receive replies or receive nothing but rejections by February 1. In that case, I will expand my search to agents who do not expressly advertise they are open to religious/Inspirational works of fiction. I will be very selective of the agents I query and will likely limit myself to a list of 75 agents.  I will wait three months from the date of sending the last query before I reassess my situation and decide on my next move—assuming I do not receive an acceptance by an agent in that time. Success will be measured as follows: I will be successful simply by sending the queries. The best-case scenario would be acceptance and signing with a literary agent.

2.     I will revise and edit my second manuscript (not part of the Ashes Trilogy) called The Sacrifice and submit it to at least two more beta readers by March 1, 2024. Based on my response, I will either begin revisions or copyediting the manuscript after receiving the reports from the beta readers. I aim to complete revising and editing this manuscript by August 2024.

3.     I will attend at least two virtual writers’ conferences in the summer of 2024. I will attend the in-person Writer’s Guild of Alberta Annual Conference in Edmonton at the beginning of June 2014.

4.     I will complete the first draft of my novel idea, On Winnifred. My goal is to complete a workable first draft by June 2024. At that point, I’ll look for alpha readers to give me feedback on this first attempt. If you want to be an alpha or beta reader for this or other manuscripts I produce, please let me know in the comments section.

5.     I will continue to produce and publish interesting and relevant blog posts at least once per week for all of 2024.

6.     I will investigate and apply strategies to grow my Newsletter subscription list and social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. I will begin by researching Facebook thread groups beginning in January 2024.

 My Personal SMART Goals for 2024

1.     Begin and successfully complete the two upcoming 2024 semesters of my master’s studies at Yorkville University. I am pursuing my Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology degree. Success will be measured by both completing and passing the courses.

2.     I will continue to watch my diet and log my meals and eating habits daily in preparation for future bariatric surgery.

3.     I will exercise thrice a week at the gym for at least one hour each time.

4.     I want to lose at least twenty pounds by July 1, 2024.

5.     I will travel with my husband this coming summer to Ontario to visit my daughter and her boyfriend—the date to be announced once we have finalized our work and educational schedules.

6.     I will paint the kitchen and repair/paint the bathroom in preparation for a potential future sale of our house and move. I will complete these tasks by September 30, 2024.

7.     I will read at least two non-school-related books a month beginning January 2024.

Those are my professional and personal goals for 2024. I don’t know if I will successfully meet each one, but I will put the effort into doing so. I believe they all meet the qualifications as SMART goals and are attainable with hard work and determination. I look forward to the challenge.

Do you have any SMART goals set for 2024? I would love to hear about them in the comment section below. Thank you so much for reading this post and visiting my blog. Please sign up for my newsletter for a monthly update about the website and blog and exclusive access to the material on my Subscriber Content page at www.paulinejgrabia.com. I am honored that you have taken time out of your day to read what I have to offer, and I will endeavor to continue to post blogs that are worthy of your continued attention. May God bless you richly, and I wish you a very Happy New Year!

Pauline J. Grabia

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