Big plans, amazing plans, for 2012

Tip of the day: Think literature needs more cats? Check out this hilarious Kitty Lit article at AbeBooks.

Last week, we talked about our writing life in 2011. This week, we're talking about 2012--the Apocalypse! The apocalypse of laziness and being unfocused, I mean. And the apocalypse of negativity. Welcome to a new world of positive productivity!

Normally, I pick a word to be my theme word of the year, and my 2012 word is POSITIVE. Positive thoughts, positive actions. But in addition, I also wrote out goals for the year, something I rarely do. But I wanted to do it this year as part of my positive thoughts, positive actions mantra. With thanks to Margie Lawson's Defeating Self-Defeating Behaviors, I have divided my goals list into sections:

Writing the Books--first priority
Networking
Career Planning
Self-Promotion
Self-Image
Growth
Business
Wild Card (stuff that would just be fun)

So, my number one goal is to finish the novel I'm working on by Valentine's Day. I'm finding success in this by working on my own writing first--putting it at the very top of the day's to-do list.

I'm also writing a to-do list! Seriously, I've been telling myself to do that for months. I'm also writing down how long I think it will take me to accomplish a task as part of the list. This should stop me from trying to cram 12 hours of work into a 6 hour day. Also, before I worry too much about the to-do list, I try to think of positive things. For example, my 13-year-old daughter has actually been waking up herself in the morning instead of me putting the cat on her head while her alarm goes off. Now I can put the cat on her head at a more normal hour.

So, what are your planning strategies for 2012? What do you want to accomplish just in case the world ends?

-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages