Holistic Goal Setting for Authors

If you have a complicated relationship with goal setting, this post is for you.

There are many different schools of thought when it comes to goal setting, and while there are benefits to each type...they often fall short of addressing the unique needs of novelists. 

It can be hard to predict what books we'll be working on any given month since so much of our workflow depends on other people.

The commercial success of our projects is largely outside of our control. 

Many of us juggle the full-time workload of writing books alongside other jobs (whether a traditional 9-5, freelance, and/or raising a family). And even when authoring is the main thing on our plate, the emotional ups and downs of the industry (and life in general!) can have a major impact on our ability to create.

So whether you've already set writing goals for 2026 or you've been putting it off because goals "stress you out," I invite you to spend some time with these journal prompts to give yourself a more holistic and helpful way to plan your author career.

Center Your Mission and Values

Before you dive in and start setting goals for your career, it's important to take a moment to remember WHY you're doing this whole author thing and define how you want your career to fit within the context of your personal values. 

Consider:

Why does writing fiction matter to you?

What do YOU get out of writing?

What impact do you want your books to have on READERS? What impact do you see your books having on the world?

Hint: No matter what you write, it has an impact far greater than you can see. I promise.

What are your priorities overall in life? How does your current author career support or conflict with those priorities?

If - on balance - being an author currently conflicts more than it supports your other priorities, what is one small thing you could shift this year so writing does more to support the rest of your life?

Why is publishing worth it to you despite the industry's flaws? 

(This is a good time to get out your journal and answer those questions.)

 
Assume Success is Available to You

This step can be a bit tricky because it requires you to balance believing that the success you want (in the WAY you want it) is possible without slipping into feeling entitled to easy success.

Even though this step is tricky, it's still incredibly important. 

I'm going to get nerdy for a second about why this matters from a cognitive behavioral standpoint (aka how believing this impacts how you show up for your career) but stay with me.

Let's assume one of your long-term goals is to make enough money from fiction to write full-time.

How quickly you achieve that goal - and how much you enjoy the journey to getting there - is going to vary wildly depending on what you believe about what's required of you to achieve that. 

For example, if you think you'll need to write in a genre you hate, publish 3 books a year even though publishing once a year already feels like a lot, and go on massive book tours despite hating travel in order to achieve that goal...

It's going to be hard as hell to stick with the work long enough to achieve that goal without burning out. You're likely to throw in the towel when what you believe is required of you is antithetical to how you want to live your life and run your career. 

On the other end of the spectrum, if you believe that writing full-time is impossible for someone who doesn't like to travel / isn't a social media influencer / writes X genre / who only publishes every 2 years / [insert whatever restrictions you have that you think prevent you from achieving your big goal], that will ALSO make it harder to show up to your writing and approach your career in a way that will help move you closer to the dream of writing full-time. 

Instead, when you let yourself believe that success is not only possible but possible on your terms, that belief becomes a sustainable source of motivation and energy that will help you continue to show up to the page and put in the work. 

Success often takes longer than we expect it to, but believing that it can be done is an important first step. 

 
Define How You Want to Achieve Success

Don't panic. I'm not asking you to plot out every single step you need to take to get where you want to go. (Which is, by the way, an impossible task. All you really need to know at any given time is your best guess at your next step.) 

Instead, I want you to question your assumptions about what's required of you and let go of the things you think you "have to" do that sound miserable.

For example: I don't like to travel. I low-key hate flying. Which means I've removed "go on a major multi-city book tour" from the list of things I "have to" do to be successful. It's not even on my bucket list. 

Starting from the assumption that it IS possible to have success on your terms, consider:

What popular advice or "rules" about writing / marketing / publishing are NOT part of your success plan?

How often would you prefer to publish new books? (Again, assume that publishing on a schedule that is sustainable to you is good enough. This isn't about what your publisher would prefer you do.)

What would your ideal writing schedule look like? Do you take weekends off most of the time? What kind of longer vacations/breaks do you take during the year / between projects? 

Again, this isn't what you think you SHOULD do or HAVE TO do. What would actually FEEL GOOD for you creatively? (It's okay to take a guess - you probably won't know for sure until you test out a few options - and that's okay!

What kind of relationship do you want with your publishing team? With other authors? With your readers? 

What role do events have in your author career? (Including virtual, local in-person, events that require travel) 

As an example, here are some of my answers to those questions:

• I choose to believe that I don't need to be on TikTok or post reels to be successful -- I'd rather put my focus on connecting with readers in ways that fit my strengths. For me, that looks like making myself available for book clubs, doing local events, and giving my readers what they actually want: more of my books
• Now that I write full-time, and generally write fairly quickly, my (best guess!) ideal scenario would be:
  • 1 witchy romance title per year PLUS
  • 1 romance novella (self-pub) per year OR an additional trad pub title (in another category like YA or fantasy) every 18-24 months
• As far as schedule, I do best when I'm writing Mon-Fri, taking weekends off, and giving myself 1-2 weeks off between projects 
  
  

Celebrate Last Year

We're almost ready to set goals for 2026, but first, we need to take a look at 2025 and mine for nuggets of wisdom that can guide us in the year ahead. 

Also... if you're anything like 99% of my clients, you probably under-celebrate yourself. So yes. We're going to celebrate 2025, no matter how much of a shit show you think it was. 

No matter how far "under" your goals you came for the year, I promise you there is something to celebrate. 

The simple fact that you're still here, still trying, is worthy of celebration -- especially if 2025 was an emotional kick to the face. 

Here are your super simple (but super effective) prompts to journal on:

What worked well for me this year? (Consider writing, marketing, self-care, the way you talked to yourself, reader interactions, times you advocated for yourself, etc.)

What good habits or tools will you continue in 2026?

What didn't work? 

What can you do differently next year to address the things that didn't work? (This may mean simply not doing certain things again or approaching something with more support or a new tool.) 

Please, please, please do not skip this step. Celebrating 2025 - even if the wins feel teeny tiny - is so important. 

Set Your Goals for 2026

You've made it! Now it's time to actually set your goals for the year.

We'll go ahead and start with the types of goals you're probably most accustomed to setting: outcome goals. These are the "this is what I will accomplish by the end of the year" goals. 

When setting your outcome goals for the year, consider:

What contractual obligations do I have this year? (Drafts due, releases planned, etc.)

If I could only finish one major project, which is the most important? How can I prioritize that?

If I have extra time/energy, what other projects do I want to pursue? (Rank them in a tentative priority order)

At the end of 2026, I will be really proud of myself if ____________. 

Once you're clear on what you'll be doing this year, it's time to consider how you want to feel as you do those things. These are sometimes called "process goals," because the focus is on how you spend the journey rather than just the destination.

For your process goals, consider:

How do I want my writing process to FEEL this year? (Choose your top 3-5 emotions) 

What do I need to believe about my writing skills or the stories I'm telling to feel that way?

How do I want to feel as I navigate the publishing industry? (Choose 3-5 emotions)

What do I need to believe about myself and my career to feel that way?

How does rest fit into my schedule this year? Consider both micro rest (weekly) and macro rest (breaks between books and vacations)

Are there any big life events I need to remember to plan around? 

At the end of 2026, I will be really proud of the time I spent __________.

Once you have all your answers, save them somewhere you can revisit them often. I recommend setting a reminder in your calendar to review them at the beginning of each month. 

As a bonus, you can also put sticky notes in your writing space with the types of thoughts and feelings you want to fuel your writing for the year. This could include why writing is important to you, reminders about your decisions around rest, and anything else from this holistic goal setting process that gave you a little "ooh that's good - I need to remember that" feeling. 

Final Thoughts

Effective goal setting is just the first step of a successful year. Actually keeping those goals in mind, letting them guide your decisions, and staying committed through all the ups and downs of writing, publishing, and life is the hard part.

If you want help staying committed to your goals, pivoting when things don't go as planned, and bringing more fun to your author career, click here to learn more about private coaching. We'll spend the first six months of 2026 together building the skills and support you need to make major progress on your goals. 

Happy writing,
Isabel 

PS - I currently have 3 spaces open for new private clients. Click here to learn more and schedule your free enrollment call. 

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