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I'm big on writing goals, weekly, monthly and yearly goals not to mention a 5 year plan. I think it's an important part of being a freelancer. If we don't set goals for ourselves than who will? That said, I went back and see how I did at attaining my 2009 goals and guess what? No goals. I've been so busy with my head down, I think 2009 went right by with no goals. Oops! So goal number one this year is to write out my goals and stick them on the wall right above my desk.

There are a few things about goal writing that I learned in a management seminar years ago (back in my cube rat days) that I still find useful. First, I only make goals that are in my control. Getting a book contract from a large publisher would be nice but not something I can control. What IS in my control is creating a picture book dummy and submitting it to publisher X. Secondly, I try to make goals that are concrete. I'm not as good with this one, but I try. Saying I'm going to be more organized is something I say every year, but that could mean lots of things. But this year my goal is to take time to clean off my desk once a week. I think that would be a good start at being more organized.

So here are my goals for 2010...

1. Write my goals and put them some place prominent in my studio.

2. Draw from life, at the very least once a week.

3. Remove personal papers, bills, etc. from my studio. Working out of the house, I've found it easy for home stuff to creep into my work space.

4. Finish listening to the Riven Phoenix drawing CD's (I started going through them last year but I have a lot left)

5. Finish a picture book dummy.

6. Clean off my desk once a week. (I don't have high hopes for this one.)

7. Promote the new Alfie book when it comes out in April. (I've got a few ideas.)

8. Update my website/on-line portfolios at least once per quarter.

9. Give the best presentation I can at the New England SCBWI conference. (My talk will be on Photoshop techniques for illustrators in case anyone is interested in attending.)

10. Back up all my data files at least once a week.

I posted this on my blog and thought I would post it here too:

This seems a good time to look back over the last year and look forward to new ventures in this one.

Below are a few highlights from last year: My Little Red and the Wolf were featured on the cover of Stuffed magazine, some books that I illustrated were published, we got to visit Scotland to attend my sister's wedding which was so much fun and I discovered a new love (obsession) of needle felting, and even made a calendar from the characters that I created.


1. Stuffed cover, 2. My Mom and Me, 3. My Dad and Me cover , 4. Pink Lady, 5. Pumpkin Baby, 6. Wildflowers Edinburgh Botanics, 7. Dornoch beach, 8. Day 15 , 9. Day 5, 10. March , 11. Day 21 , 12. Day 30, 13. 2010 calendar cover, 14. William , 15. Octave , 16. Happy Holidays

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Here is my list of goals that I originally posted at the beginning of 2009:

1. Get involved in Illustration Friday again and at least take part once a month. I am scared to look back on a similar post I wrote a year ago, as I was probably saying the same thing then! I do really miss the chance to work on something just for it's own sake, so I will make the effort. I think I often feel guilty if I have a lot of work and feel if I am painting, it should only be for work, but I think it is good to take a break and do something different.

2010: Well, I didn't do very well with that one! But once again, I am going to give it a go. I am determined to start participating in Illustration Friday on a regular basis this year.

2. Learn to stop feeling guilty about taking a little time out for other creative endeavours.

2010: I think I did manage to do that and want to continue experimenting with different media.

3. Blog a bit more.

2010: my blogging picked up over the year, especially when I set a project to do something creative every day in the month of September.

4. All of the above are non-work related. I think it shows that last year I felt a little overwhelmed with work at times and whil

This seems a good time to look back over the last year and look forward to new ventures in this one.

Below are a few highlights from last year: My Little Red and the Wolf were featured on the cover of Stuffed magazine, some books that I illustrated were published, we got to visit Scotland to attend my sister's wedding which was so much fun and I discovered a new love (obsession) of needle felting, and even made a calendar from the characters that I created.


1. Stuffed cover, 2. My Mom and Me, 3. My Dad and Me cover , 4. Pink Lady, 5. Pumpkin Baby, 6. Wildflowers Edinburgh Botanics, 7. Dornoch beach, 8. Day 15 , 9. Day 5, 10. March , 11. Day 21 , 12. Day 30, 13. 2010 calendar cover, 14. William , 15. Octave , 16. Happy Holidays

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Here is my list of goals that I originally posted at the beginning of 2009:

1. Get involved in Illustration Friday again and at least take part once a month. I am scared to look back on a similar post I wrote a year ago, as I was probably saying the same thing then! I do really miss the chance to work on something just for it's own sake, so I will make the effort. I think I often feel guilty if I have a lot of work and feel if I am painting, it should only be for work, but I think it is good to take a break and do something different.

2010: Well, I didn't do very well with that one! But once again, I am going to give it a go. I am determined to start participating in Illustration Friday on a regular basis this year.

2. Learn to stop feeling guilty about taking a little time out for other creative endeavours.

2010: I think I did manage to do that and want to continue experimenting with different media.

3. Blog a bit more.

2010: my blogging picked up over the year, especially when I set a project to do something creative every day in the month of September.

4. All of the above are non-work related. I think it shows that last year I felt a little overwhelmed with work at times and while I felt very grateful for all the contracts that I got, this year I would