Creating an Action Plan

So you have goals and a word of the year... what now?

As regular readers know, Vicky and I set goals every year and talk about them here and here and here. This year we also shared our ‘words of the year’. This is all well and good but how can I take those two initiatives and actually make sure I hit my start-of-year heady aspirations?

In this post I’m going to (attempt to) break down each of my goals and come up with some concrete actions I can take. I’m also looking for ways my word of the year (nurturing) can be applied to them. Wow sounds so easy, let’s go!

Goal 1: Finish my novel

Whew this is a big one to break down. First, what does it mean to me to ‘finish my novel’? I want to have a final draft to send to my agent. For me to do that these are the steps I need to take:

1. Write a new outline. I recently attended a SCBWI webinar about The Sticky Note Plot and it made a lot of sense to me (as a pant-ser) so my first action is to use that method to write a new outline for my revision

2. Write a new draft. For a period I hit 1000 words every week day on the last revision of this novel. Now that I work outside the home at least two days a week this may be a little trickier but I think aiming for 15 minutes a day is doable. An important part of this process will be nurturing my creativity and my time to ensure I’m not getting sucked into social media doom-scrolls (more on that in a bit)

3. Send to critique partners for their thoughts

4. Revise accordingly

5. Send to my agent! Easy peasy. Hahahahaha.

This goal is so daunting but I have completed a full draft once and I can do it again!

Goal 2: Combine my two worlds

This one is a bit trickier to define and break down. I want to find opportunities to do writing work for the museum but also to have my work at the museum inspire my own projects. More to think about here for sure!

1. Speak to my manager about writing opportunities within the museum

2. Nurture ideas that could be made into book projects.

Goal 3: Keep experimenting

My intention with this goal is to spend less time scrolling and more time nurturing my creativity. So far this year I’ve been writing a story draft a day (Storystorm turned to the max!).

1. Write a (very) rough draft every day in January

2. Experiment with the way I write: use paper and pen more (all my January drafts are long hand in my notebook)

3. Analyze my January drafts and revise those that have the most promise

4. Read widely (more below) and think about other genres and categories to write (pssst… the project I hinted about in my goals post is now announced and it’s a board book series!!)

Goal 5: Read with intention

I’m a big reader but I tend to read before I fall asleep and forget half of what I read. I also don’t really analyze books for craft like I did when I was a beginner picture book writer.

1. Find a mentor text for my novel and read with an eye for the craft (annotate as I go)

2. Choose a book instead of scrolling on my phone. I’ve gone back reading in the evenings with my kids (all with our own books) which is much better for all of us! You could say it’s very nurturing

3. Read more widely—pick up books in categories and genres I don’t usually read.

4. Pick up recent picture books from the library using lists like Betsy Bird’s for inspiration.

My trusty notebook where I’ve written all my drafts this month!

Bonus actions

These are a couple more things that I’m planing to do this year that go beyond those main goals and are more related to my word of the year.

1. Do more analog things to cut down my screen time. I’m following along with The Analog Project by Lori Roberts and it’s definitely inspiring me to do more offline things. For example, I bought a new cookbook so I’m baking more (I can’t use my phone while baking!)

   The Analog Life Project

2. Another analog thing I’m doing is puzzles. I bought the Murdle book ages ago and abandoned it. It’s been fun to pick it up again

3. Craft! Again, keeping those hands busy so they don’t end up scroll scroll scrolling. I used to craft all the time so I want to pick up a crafting hobby this year. I just bought an embroidery kit so we’ll see if that sticks.

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I hope this helps you think about your own goals and how to actually make them happen this year. Let me know some of the actions you’re going to take this year to make the start-of-2026-you proud.