Writing Goals: Building on What I’ve Already Accomplished

This week, I set some writing goals for myself, namely to:

1. Continue creating content for the organizations I work with now
2. Identify more blog-writing opportunities to help expand my portfolio
3. Develop a plan for maximizing the potential of Paper Crow Blog

This list of goals outlines a plan for keeping up with my current commitments while also seeking to branch out and find ways to “grow” my writing career. I am very happy with the progress I have made in the last few months and want to make sure I don’t lose that writing momentum.

I am sharing some details about my goals to provide other writers with information that I have learned and writing opportunities that I have found. You may find that you want to contact some of these organizations yourself to submit your writing to!

Continue creating content for the organizations I work with now

I currently am writing posts for TheMindReset.com and WorldEnvironmentalConservancy.org. Both of these groups offer several opportunities for me to post my writing. My latest post with the MindReset can be found here. It discusses ways to remain social while living on a budget. Some of you writers out there may find some tips to balance that notoriously tight writer budget, so feel free to check it out. This week, I signed up to write another post for the MindReset, so I will be sharing that link soon as well.

For the World Environmental Conservancy, I am still at work helping to summarize some articles originally written in Portuguese and to clean up their English translations. The group is working to post these updated pieces and have recently included me in their credits as their Environmental Writer. As a new writer, it is amazing to see my photo and name credited as such on their website! I think of how just recently, writing for others was simply a daydream but is now part of my daily life.

I’ve also recently guest posted on a site for my friend Hannah Bauman. Hannah runs an editing business called Between the Lines Editorial. She asked me if I wanted to write a post for her, and naturally I said yes. You can read my post which discusses my experiences with writing groups by clicking on this link. Hannah does great editing work, so you may want to contact her if you have a manuscript you would like professionally edited.

Identify more blog-writing opportunities to expand my portfolio

Over the past few weeks, I have been getting into the groove of writing for both myself and for these organizations mentioned above. I feel that I have reached a good balance in terms of getting to know the expectations from the sites and for determining the time it takes for me to produce a post for each of them.

I am now looking to include more opportunities for writing into my pool of writing possibilities. I scheduled research time into my planner this past week and found time on both my lunch break and after work to do some internet browsing. I have discovered a couple leads including:

• Practical Wanderlust – a site that provides budget-friendly travel advice. There are opportunities to pitch for posts, and I am interested in developing some ideas for hiking guides and travel destinations.
• WOW! Women on Writing – A site that calls themselves “an ezine promoting the communication between women writers, authors, editors, agents, publishers and readers.”

If any of you readers have more recommendations, feel free to share them in the comments section of this post or contact me at papercrowblog@gmail.com. I love sharing opportunities and networking with other writers!

Develop a plan for maximizing the potential of Paper Crow Blog

The phrase “maximizing the potential” sounds a little silly, but it really is what I would ultimately like to do with this blog. I started Paper Crow when I was unemployed and had more down time than usual, but I have had so much fun with it that I have kept it up while working 40 hours a week.

Today marks my 53rd post which signifies that I am capable of keeping up with this blog semi-regularly. I am finally upgrading to the paid WordPress version this week, a step in a more “professional” direction. I do realize I need to take some online courses on website building and management, so I will be sure to pencil time in for those in the near future as well.

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I know I have a busy couple of months ahead of me, but I am glad to have my time filled with writing. If you have any tips, feedback, or suggestions for achieving any of these goals, please feel free to send an e-mail or leave a comment. Thanks for stopping by!