I’ve posted one of my Lynn Laws before to New Kids readers. Your goals have to be within your control.

I can dream of Harlequin American buying the manuscript on their slush pile right now, but that can’t be my goal.

My goal is to get the book written and take a chance by sending it off. Goal done.

Now hope sets in.

One of my loops had a woman who wanted to “Goal” how many stories the loop would sell. Of course, I went off and explained, gently, I thought, how you can’t goal for something not in your reach.

She came back with an exasperated, “It’s just a goal.”

I didn’t respond back. But you know I wanted to scream. All caps and everything.

Selling can’t be a goal unless you have control over the results. And as all you writers out there know, we have no control over anything once the manuscript leaves our hands. All we can hope is we wrote the best story we could, and the publication hasn't just published something similar.

So today, we’re backing off goals (because apparently I’m a little testy), and focusing on dreams.

What are your dreams? I read about a writer who listed out her dreams (things not in her control AT all) along with the goals she needed to complete to open herself up to the result. One of her dreams was to be invited to write a novella for an anthology. The key dream word here is INVITED. She could write a novella, get her name out to other authors that she was open to the invitation, but she ultimately had to wait for the universe to grant her wish.

And it did. She was invited to not one but two anthologies that year.

So what do I need to ask the universe for?

Dreams 2012:

*Sell the three romance manuscripts out there on editors’ desks.

*Snag a Great Agent who loves my cozy as much as I do.

*Sell three or more short stories

I have more. But you get my drift here.

In order to sell three or more shorts, I have to write, edit and submit them. There’s my goal to support the dream.

I have to query agents with my cozy because for some reason, they won’t come knocking at my door without me doing my part. (New goal – query five agents a month)

So, New Kid Readers, what are your dreams? And do your goals support them?

Lynn