My Annual Writing Goals for 2025 (Plus Support for Your Writing Goals)

Quick announcement, in case you don’t read to the end: 

During January, you can get Writers’ Cafe membership for just $5 for your first month. If you’d like to get 2025 off to a great start, we’re here to help and cheer you on.

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Happy New Year! We’re now a couple of days into 2025 … and perhaps, like me, you’ve been thinking about what writing goals to set.

However 2024 went for you, chances are, you made some progress with your writing. Even if things went badly, you may well have figured out what doesn’t work for you. 

My 2024 was a little mixed. 

Some things went well:

• I wrote over 80,000 words during the year (even though I stopped on my daily writing goal part way through September).
• I tried an “at home” writing retreat for the first time and really liked it as a practice.
• I published blog posts and newsletters pretty regularly on Aliventures.
• I launched two new Aliventures products: How to Write Faster and Editing Essentials.
• I started up Writers’ Cafe, my online community for writers.

Other things didn’t quite go as I’d initially planned. 

I changed tack on some goals: after completing my novel Reaper late in the year, I decided to look for an agent, instead of self-publishing it.

The biggest area where things fell down was with my freelance work. The disruption that AI began to bring in 2023 hit full force in 2024, and I lost two long-term clients. By the end of the year, I’d replaced those clients with two new ones, albeit at a slightly lower rate of pay.

I’m entering 2025 feeling hopeful! I’ve got lots of different writing-related projects I’m excited to work on, and my freelance work is going smoothly and steadily.

Here are my goals for the year.

My Writing Goals for 2025

Most of these are building on progress I made last year. If, like me, you didn’t hit one of your goals in 2024 (but you took steps towards it), then 2025 is a great time to give it another go.

Goal #1: Write 250+ Words Every Day

I made it through nine and a bit months of daily writing last year before stopping with this goal. I’ve found that writing a little bit of fiction each day suits me well right now … so I’m restarting this goal this year.

The main struggle I had last year was that I hadn’t allowed for brainstorming and planning time: during my writing sessions, I was busy getting words down, but I often felt like the story wasn’t progressing well. This year, I want to build in more “pre-writing” time into my week.

Goal #2: Get a Publishing Deal for Reaper OR Self-Publish

Reaper took me a lot longer to finish than I wanted. Looking back at my goals from last year, I’d been hoping to finish and publish it by the end of June … I was still making tweaks pretty much up to the end of the year!

I also changed my mind on this goal: I’d like to try the traditional publishing route with my fiction (I’ve been traditionally published as a non-fiction author and I’ve had short stories published in magazines, but placing a novel with a publisher would be new for me). 

Towards the end of 2024, I drew up a shortlist of agents to approach, and wrote my cover letter and synopsis. During January, I’ll be contacting those agents.

If I don’t get anywhere with traditional publishing, I’ll revert back to my plan to self-publish Reaper. I’ve self-published three novels and a novella before (you can find them on my author website) so I feel this would be a great option too.

Goal #3: Write Six Short Stories

Between 2023 and 2024, I wrote and submitted four short stories and a flash piece to competitions. In 2025, I’d like to write more, so I’m aiming for six short stories and/or flash pieces this year.

The great thing about short stories is that you can finish something—which can be really encouraging if you’re working on a big project like a novel and the end feels nowhere in sight! I also like being able to experiment with ideas, voice, and form in short stories.

Goal #4: Write Weekly Posts and Newsletters

My blogging in 2024 was more consistent than in 2023 (which in turn was better than previous years) … but I’d like to stick with this in 2025, trying to put out weekly posts and newsletters for the majority of the year.

I’m always very open to topic suggestions if there’s anything you’d like me to cover here on the blog or in the newsletter.

Along with the blog posts and newsletters, I want to put out some new free resources for newsletter subscribers, along with updates to some of my slightly older products (Get Writing in particular).

Your Writing Goals for 2025

Have you set any specific writing goals for 2025 yet?

We’re right at the start of the year, and even if you don’t have a lot of time to spare each week, you could make huge progress before 31st December.

For instance, if you write twice a week, producing 1,000 words each time, you could finish a 100,000 word novel draft by the end of the year. (That’s a good-sized novel, too!)

If you’re working on shorter pieces or just exploring writing, you could write a short story every month (perhaps drafting it across a couple of weeks then spending the rest of the month editing it). You’d finish the year with 12 complete short stories.

Don’t let a lack of time hold you back, either. Even if you have just 10 minutes a day to spare, that’s enough to write 100 words or more. You could complete a 35,000 word novella by the end of the year, or write 20 or so blog posts.

I’d love to help support you with your goals, and a couple of ways I can do that are with one-to-one coaching and through my Writers’ Cafe community.

My one-to-one coaching is a great way to kickstart a new or stalled writing project. It costs $250 for an initial 20 minute chat about your writing, then two 45 minute coaching sessions. (You can then opt for ongoing support, either through weekly novel coaching or ad hoc coaching sessions as needed.)

Writers’ Cafe is a fantastic option too … and you can try it out for just $5 during your first month. We’ve got a lovely bunch of writers in there to cheer you on and to help if you get stuck. You can join live writing hours, share your work for feedback, tackle our weekly writing prompts, or simply “check in” with us each week to share how you’re getting on and get support.

If you’ve got any questions about my coaching or about Writers’ Cafe, just drop me an email (ali@aliventures.com) or pop a comment below, and I’ll be glad to help.