Goals for 2011

[mount_oregano]

My goal for 2011 is to finish the next novel, tentatively called Trespass. It's the sequel to Transplants, which will be released in September 2011. I'm sure you'll love it so much that you'll want more.

I hope to do a few other things, too, but over the years, I've found that the fewer goals, the better. Just as a novel can lose focus if it has too many characters and too many plot threads, a plan can be too complex and its most important elements can become overwhelmed.

I think this makes sense. Our lives are stories, and we even think about them that way: "How I met your father," for example. We can't control everything in our lives, but in the same way that planning makes a work of fiction more coherent and successful, planning can make our lives more coherent and successful, and a good plot is the first step.

For me, there is one specific writing goal this year because I'm working towards one specific happy ending for 2011: finish the novel. I think I can do that.

Why do I want to do that? Because writing novels is fun. My goal is to enjoy 2011, and I plan to do that by finishing a novel.

— Sue Burke