Remember January 2020? That month, half my writing group (three of six) met for a goals meeting. I set three modest goals. And by December, I’d met every one.

It felt great—and it was a first for me. I’d never met my annual writing goals before because I’d never made any.

On Saturday, halfway through January 2021, all six of us met by Zoom for our 2021 goal meeting. We set not only page count and novel draft goals, but also a new intention to encourage each other. I was floored all over again by how smart, creative and grounded my writing friends are—and how fortunate I am to have allies in art.

No matter what stories get published and novels get drafted (which I believe they will), I know we will all be there for each other this year. Check that one off.

My 2021 goals again are modest, but upped a little based on coming through for myself last year:

• Finish drafting each of the 8-10 stories that together make one novel, titled “Love and Water.” In a letter, my friend Julia Green encouraged me to stay focused: “Write the novel you’re dying to write.” That would be this one.

• Keep my polished stories (from “Love and Water” and others) in circulation among journals and magazines. This new phrasing, rather than the outworn obsession with “submissions,” popped out naturally as I wrote my goals—and the new words re-framed the whole publication game for me.

• Engage with the writing community in Ithaca and online: take an online class, tweet in writing communities, participate in slow-paced, Twitter-based #APStogether readings.

Back to January 2020 for a minute: New York Times columnist Lindsay Crouse wrote that month about “Running Faster Than I Ever Thought Possible” at age 35. For her, attempting to run a 2:45:00 marathon and earn a berth at the U.S. Olympic Trials redefined what she could do with her body and mind.

“After months of work, my physical and psychological reframing had worked,” she wrote. “It wasn’t an idea anymore. It was my plan.”

After a year of focused writing in 2020, working toward concrete goals in the coming 12 months is no longer an idea in my head. It’s my plan.

I feel good about 2021.