15 Questions For Writers To Ask Themselves

Take a good look at the 2014 calendar above. A lot of months, even more weeks and a full 365 days. What happened in your writing life during the abundance of days? 

For some reason, looking back over a year when it is about to over irritates me. Every newspaper features articles of the newsworthy things that occurred, celebrities who passed away, accomplishments of federal and local governments and more. I'm a person who prefers to look ahead, not what's been left behind me. I've mentioned more than once an anonymous quote that I dearly love that says: Don't look back; that's not where you are going.

That said, I will concede that we writers would benefit from taking a look back at the 2014 section of our writing journey. Go through your records of submissions and acceptances/rejections to trigger some memories and thoughts of this year. Ask yourself the following questions:

1.  Did I submit a satisfying (to me) number of my writing efforts?

2.  Did I write an amount that makes me feel fulfilled?

3.  Did I have any of my writing published this year?

4.  Did I get more acceptances than rejections? Or vice-versa?

5.  Did I use the rejections as a learning tool?

6.  Did I have a good attitude when the rejections came?

7.  Did I look for and submit to markets new to me?

8,  Was this an inspiring writing year for me? 

9.  Is there any one piece of my writing for 2014 that deserves a gold star? 

10. Did I give my all to my writing?

11. Did I make a real effort to grow as a writer? 

12. Am I happy with the 2014 part of my writing journey? 

13. Did I use my writing time wisely this year?

14. What things in my writing life do I want to do differently in 2015?

15. Did I reach any of the goals I set last January?

Answering these questions will help you set goals for your writing life in 2015. It's going to be here in a very short amount of time. Those early days of January call out to us to set our goals for the year. If you made such a list last January and saved it, do a check to see how many goals you made, how many you came close to and how many evaporated into thin air.