Happy 2013!!  What a great year this promises to be! Starting a new year, or even a new day is like waking up to a clean slate, or in my case as a writer, to a new word document!  Either way, opportunity abounds each and every day. One sure way to take advantage of those opportunities is to set goals. Setting a goal or a number of goals gives focus, validity, and clarity to your writing. Being the creative type, I sometimes find goal setting confining. To combat that, I keep my eyes on my end result, asking myself what I want to accomplish and how it can be accomplished. I have found that even non-specific goals, such as a goal to be more consistent, can carry great influence. It's easy to take a non-specific goal and make it more specific with a plan.  Even if you're a free-lance writer who does not earn your entire income from writing, you should have a plan, a business plan, for your writing. GOAL - PLAN - ACTION Your next step, after setting a goal and making...

While I am a creative writer and relish in the creative process, I have found the necessity of having a plan for my writing.  To earn any type of money through writing, a plan is essential.  Part of my new E-Publishing 101 class will features details of how to put a plan together. Here's a sneak peek: Success at e-publishing requires a plan.  These 4 steps are a great way to help organize a plan for your own road to success: 1. Have a goal.   Without a goal, you will not have a focus and without focus, your dream can die.  Whether you prefer making a long-term goal, or a series of short-term goals, a goal is vitally important to your success. 2. Have a set of principles by which you operate.  This is helpful in deciding which projects you will undertake, how you will invoice, and payment options you will agree to. A set of principles protects you from being taken advantage of, from taking on more than you can handle and even from taking on things th...