2022 Writing Goals
Like many writers, I take a change of season as an opportunity to think about the phases of my various writing projects. 2022 feels like a moment of particular transition and hope. My 2021 writing life—heck, also my life-life—was disrupted by a bout of breakthrough COVID-19 as well as rolling daycare closures. As a result, there were several projects I let go of or postponed.
As I head into 2022, I am carrying with me some of 2021’s lessons about the need to be flexible with goals and the way family and work may need to shift in and out of central focus. However, I also found that my desire to roll with the many challenges of 2021 left me feeling a little adrift. To continue the water metaphor: 2021 reminded me that I like a good plan to navigate by.
Drawing from the last year, I have developed a list of writing goals that reflect my desire to complete and begin some significant projects, to have pleasure in my writing, to continue learning and growing as a writer, and to have room in my schedule. I’m also including a bit of the supporting thinking behind my list of goals, in case anyone finds this useful.
My goals are:
1. To complete my book Hollywood’s Others in Q1. This is a big one. I’ve been working on this book for several years and it is the book I’ll use to pursue my next promotion. At this point, I’ve drafted and substantially revised six chapters. I still need to draft an introduction and conclusion and make a final pass over smaller edits. I’m planning to work on this goal through a combination of a writing sprint and a methodical jog through a list of final tasks.
2. To write a conference paper about screenwriter Anita Loos for the major film studies conference. The conference is at the beginning of April, so I need to be mindful of this goal following so closely on the heels of finishing my book. However, I often write about Anita Loos and am very familiar with the secondary literature as well as her main works, so I’m not too worried about this. The conference paper also draws on different energy because it represents the start of something, whereas the book project feels energetically quite different. I find that I can balance two writing projects, but only if they are at different stages.
I can balance two writing projects, but only if they are at different stages.
3. To begin in earnest researching and outlining my next book, Anita Loos: A Life in Work. This is a new project that nonetheless draws on years of writing and research for various conference papers and journal articles. Even though the subject is familiar, thinking about Loos as the subject of a book is new. I am planning to write this as a trade biography, rather than a scholarly monograph, which is also new to me. Finally, because the project is early in its life, it has that special new project energy (Is it gross to coin NPE as a phrase?). This work will likely begin in summer and continue through the rest of 2022.
4. Finally, I’d like to write an essay about parenting in the burning west. I often write popular essays as a way of processing my life. For me, writing is a way of discovering how I feel about something. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about raising my two daughters in a place that burns seasonally and the broader matter of parenting on a warming planet. This summer, I’m planning to draft and pitch a personal essay on the topic for a popular outlet. Besides helping work through my messy feelings about various issues, more creative and journalistic writing helps my prose style across genres. As I’ve gone along in my academic career, I have found myself caring more about writerly matters such as setting scene, rhythm, and crafting nice sentences. I also appreciate writing for faster deadlines. Producing for news outlets, magazines, and blogs helps me not be too pokey or precious with my writing.
And that’s it. Four writing goals. You’ll notice that I don’t have much scheduled for the second half of the year. This is intentional.
It’s taken years, but one thing I’ve learned is that writing, especially academic writing, acts like a boomerang.
It’s taken years, but one thing I’ve learned is that writing, especially academic writing, acts like a boomerang. You send it out into the world, blithely move on to other projects, and then—WHANG—it’s back again. Often, I forget this and end up whacked in the head, plans disrupted. When I submit my book this year, I’ll be throwing a pretty big boomerang out into the world, and when it comes back with revisions, copyedits, and so forth, I don’t want that big mofo knocking me out.
For me, creating ambitious goals along with room to adjust feels right for 2022. What are your writing goals for the year?
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
