Invisible Goals

At the end of year I think many people are making New Year’s resolutions. I’ve never done so, but I do like to end the year thinking of what I’ve accomplished the previous year and finding ways to grow or improve as a writer.

When writing, it’s easy to set a goal and to see that goal to get accomplished. Not that writing is easy, but every time you open that document on your computer and see your manuscript grow—even if it’s just one word—you can see growth. You’re one word closer to seeing your goal being accomplished—a finished book.

But when you’re book is finished and it’s been revised, and revised, and revised again, then your goal changes. Now you want that goal to change into something new—a published book. Having your book published shows people what you’ve been doing all these years, it shows your hard work has paid off into something tangible.

But what if you don’t have anything tangible to show for all your hard work?

I finished my book this year. I finally have a book I’m proud of, and eager for my readers to get their hands on. But that goal has not been realized yet, as of yet I can count on my hand how many people have read my book.

To many on the outside it may seem I’ve accomplished little on the writing end in 2012. But re-writing my book really changed me, and taught that nothing worthwhile in life can be had without a lot of hard work and sacrifice.

So for all those writers out there who may feel bad when they open Facebook and see another author happily announcing that their book will be published in Turkey, or that they found an agent, or that they received their ARC’s, don’t despair! Books get built one word at a time. So if 2012 wasn’t the year that a book was published for you, do what you do best—keep writing. And remember that the goal you’re working on in the wee hours of the night or the early hours of dawn, will one day become visible. Keep writing and that book will be published.