Vision boards sound like a wonderful thing; if that’s what floats your boat. But I’m not really one to stare at a piece of cardboard and sigh with longing for all the pretty pictures of things that are supposed to represent my dreams.

 Several years ago, when all my friends from my Life Make Over group started creating vision boards and I wanted in on the action.  But me being me, I wanted something that was uniquely made for my way of thinking; I developed a Dream Book. Oh sure there were the odd photos of my family in there, a map of Europe,  and other key symbols, but for the most part, it really is a book filled with written  lists of things I hope to achieve or experience and descriptions of places I want to go or  things I want to make. But I haven’t ever thought of it formally as a plan. 

But I don’t dream.
                          I usually plan.
                                                       - Joumana Haddad.

Isn’t that the most compelling, inspiring statement?

Dreams are often thought of as unobtainable wisps of fancy that we carry around in our heads to see us through the dark winter days of our lives. But if you have a plan, it becomes real, concrete, something that will be truth. It is the promise of spring after the hard cruel winter.

So  in the spirit of not dreaming, but planning;

Finish typing the manuscript to my first novel, edit and get it to the point of being ready to send out to professionals with the goal of publication.
Write a killer query letter for agents and publishers for my novel.
Plan, develop and write my second novel.
Continue to write here at Kinda Sassy about my growth, failures and more importantly successes in my journey towards publication.
Work hard with my writing group and learn everything I can from four ladies whose writing blows my mind.
Find markets for my work and learn to write for magazines and newspapers.
Attend workshops to learn new skills to improve my writing.
Keep reading. Books, magazines, internet websites, whatever takes my fancy and whatever I can learn from.
Use the Draft in 30 Day’s planning method and apply it to my writing and see what develops.

That plan should keep me going for a year.