2007: the writing year that was 
I know, 2007 isn’t quite over yet. But aside from some planning and outlining, my writing for the year has been done. It’s a good time to look back at 2007.
Overall, it was a good year. I was able to accomplish most of my goals, had a few pleasant surprises, and fell short on a couple of things.
The good
As I mentioned in a previous post, I managed to break the 200 published articles barrier. That’s a psychological wall that I’d been trying to push through for a while. Believe me, it felt really good doing that.
Overall, 2007 was the second-best year I had for placing articles — 38 published works in total. That was only surpassed by 2001, which I had 48 articles published. I think that I could have beaten my 2001 total by a decent margin if I hadn’t made a conscious decision to focus my energies on technical and corporate writing.
My business partner and I decided to make a concerted stab at taking our company to the next level. We redesigned our Web site, incorporated the company (say hello to DMN Communications Ltd.), and managed to snag a couple of small but interesting contracts at the beginning of the year. Around the summer, we both landed lucrative contract gigs that will sustain us for a while and be nice additions to our portfolio of clients.
The not-so-good
As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t quite accomplish all of my goals for 2007. My participation in the 2007 Inkthinker Query Challenge didn’t go all that well. I only managed 68 queries. Mainly because of my focus on other writing. Kristen, I’ll send you my final numbers in the next few days!
A couple of pet projects also languished in 2007. I never really found the time or energy to tackle them. Which is unfortunate, seeing as how those ideas could be somewhat commercial. Regardless, they’re quite interesting and I think I may be able to revive them in 2008.
What 2008 holds
Yes, I do have my writing goals for 2008 mapped out. People tell me that I should make my goals public, in order to “make them real” as one person put it. I don’t like to do that, because I’ve always felt that my goals are my own, they’re nobody’s business but my own, and that by putting them out there I’m setting myself up for small failures and some ridicule.
That said, I can mention two goals in somewhat vague terms. I plan to update my Web site and convert it to something more of an online portfolio. In addition to trying to revive the pet projects that I mentioned earlier, I’m going to devote a lot more time and energy to helping make DMN Communications Ltd. a success in 2008 and beyond. It’ll be a lot of work, but I have a smart, driven business partner who has a lot of ideas.
Other than that, keep checking this space. I’ll reveal more of my goals as I accomplish them!
So, how was 2007 for you as a writer? Feel free to leave a comment.
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