What *Were* Writers’ Goals In 2013?

In January this year, I asked a bunch of writers what their writing goals were for 2013. Was their focus going to be novels, short stories, non-fiction… what? I was interested to see what everyone was planning to achieve, so conducted a poll on my Facebook page. Here are the results I collected:

As at January 2013

As you can see from these results, novels/novellas and short stories were highest among the votes. But I never expected the ‘work/life/writing balance’ option to get so much attention that it scored third place! Over finding a publisher! Over finding an agent! I only threw that option in because my personal priority this year was going to be looking after my health more.

Of course, I should have known better. Most writers today have to balance writing against work, family, relationships, etc. The irrepressible passion for writing that fills us writers up, also strains us – and as we get older, that strain takes its toll.

So I made a deal with those writers who answered my poll – that we should all put our health first this year. I asked them to take a minute to make a list (in their heads or on paper) of all the health issues they felt creeping up on them – whether that was because of old age, genetics, writing, or simple bad luck. Would your writing suffer, I asked them, if those issues escalated? Of course it would! So I told them to look after themselves.

Did they do as I asked?

To find out, a few weeks ago I contacted as many of those original writers as I could track down, and asked them: What Was Your Writing Focus for 2013? I gave them the same set of options. Here are the results:

As at 19 December 2013

Thanks to Kate Forsyth, Sophie Masson, Kirsten Tranter, Ian Andrew Irvine, Jason Fischer, Andrew J McKiernan, Margo Lanagan, Martin Livings, Nansi Kunze, Imelda Evans, Alan Baxter, Kirsten Krauth, Kirstyn McDermott, Laura E. Goodin, Leife Shallcross, Leigh Blackmore, Deb Kalin, Catriona Sparks, Chris Andrews, Catharina Sheely, Graham Storrs, Geoff Brown, Elizabeth Ottosson, Füzzy Mijmark, Anne Swan, Robert Michael Easterbrook, Bridie Leetch, and Rowena Specht-Whyte for answering my poll – again!

Now, although this survey involved fewer writers (since Facebook recently disabled Pages from asking questions), what’s immediately clear is that ‘networking’ and ‘online interactivity’ have both increased in importance for writers throughout this year. So this time, I’m not surprised to find that ‘perfecting a work/life/writing balance’ is still up in writers’ top three priorities… after all, the internet can drain what little time a writer’s has for writing, let alone time for family, friends or work! And with all the noise on the internet these days, time spent networking or increasing your online interactivity is only going to become more and more important.

So, as we sail into 2014, I feel that asking writers to take care of themselves is a nice but ultimately sentimental gesture. Instead, I think I’ll simply recommend my Health Tips for Writers, and wish everyone luck. We may never find the balance we’re seeking, we may always have to lean a little to one side then a little to the other, but at least we’re all in the same boat!! Happy sailing, everyone – these writery waters can sometimes get a bit choppy but at least the horizon looks beautiful 🙂