My Writing Goals For 2026

Last year, I had grand plans for my writing career. None of which came to fruition. This year, I want to publish my writing goals for 2026 to hold myself accountable.

Of course, I’ve never written down my goals, especially since I’ve become a stay-at-home dad. Setting goals has felt impossible until recently. Now my kids attend programs 4 days a week, and I get some time to myself to knock things off my to-do list. Achieving goals feels more reasonable.

I’m hoping I’m setting achievable goals, though I’ll treat them as moving targets. Fatherhood will come first after all.

Stay Consistent

I intend to publish on my blog at least 45 weeks this year.

From September 2025 to the end of the year, I published every week but one. I found that doing that brought consistent and improving web traffic. Continuing to publish that way is my primary goal for the year.

Today is the eighth of January, and it is the first time I’ve gotten to sit down to write. We got bombarded with the flu, so I’m already off to a bad start. However, once we recover and get back into the flow of life, I’m going to do my best to publish every week.

Ultimately, my most important goal is to publish more consistently. I don’t know if I can publish more than one a week, but my goal is to try (once we are all well, and I have some time back).

Write More Fiction

I started 2025 trying to write a novel, but my plans twisted. I doubted myself and what would happen if I actually finished the novel. Then I gave up and moved to shorter pieces, hoping to develop a following. I hoped that would give me the skills and audience to publish a book. But I couldn’t ever finish a piece.

Then I got caught up in a scam, and my inspiration to write fiction vanished. While I didn’t lose any money, I lost confidence. I felt taken advantage of, and then the well ran dry.

But it’s trying to come back.

When I was in the zone, I used to see things happen in the world and think about how I could turn that into a story. When I lost my confidence, that stopped happening. I wanted to write, I tried to sit down and write regardless of inspiration, but I just couldn’t produce anything.

But that inspiration is coming back. I see stories in the world again. I love having that spark of an idea, and I’m so thankful that it returned. But inspiration is only half the process. I also need to sit down and have fun writing it, which I hope to return to soon.

Furthermore, I also drafted a ton of stories last year that need editing. It would be easy to edit and publish. I just need to get into a rhythm, keep publishing weekly, and finish these stories.

Some larger fiction pieces have sprung into my subconscious, and I’ve started plotting things out. I would love to work on these and see what I can do.

Work on the Work

I’m proud of all the work I’ve put into my writing. With each thing I’ve posted, I’ve improved. However, I’m not getting enough views or shares to make a business of this yet.

I always imagined writing something so good it would go viral instantly. That hasn’t happened yet, so that tells me I need to keep working on it.

Just publishing something doesn’t help; that’s one reason why I want to stay consistent. The other part is that I intend to continue to work on my work.

I need to hone my craft to earn more views and shares. While I do want to make money from my writing, I’d rather find an audience.

But like all good things, you need practice, patience, hard work, and luck.

So I want to keep improving my work.

More Podcasts and Recording

I hadn’t intended to do podcasts. I struggle enough to make time to write, edit, and promote things. Recording myself writing doesn’t feel like the most entertaining thing to watch or talk about.

But after announcing our plans to go to Disney World on Threads, someone asked to discuss it on their podcast. I had so much fun recounting my trip with the pair over at ourmousecapades that I want to do more of it this year.

Starting a podcast isn’t in my future, as I don’t have enough time to plan, prep, record, and edit. But I would like to guest on more podcasts to elaborate on tech, family, writing, or whatever else might be going on.

I’ve started posting my writing on Substack. I noticed it offers a place to have the article read aloud, which sparked the idea of recording my writing and posting it along with the blog.

After I published my novella a few years ago, a few friends asked if I had an audio version.

With the two combined, I thought it might be a good idea to start recording me reading my writing to accompany the posts. Besides helping those who can’t read my writing, reading your work aloud helps with editing. I’m just worried I would get caught in a recording-and-edit loop.

Plus, adding this to my flow would take time away from the writing and editing I already struggle to accomplish.

Still, I would like to find more ways to achieve both goals. If you have a podcast and would like a guest, I’d love an invite!

More Collaborations

Writing is lonely.

As a one-man operation, I could use some help. Just having someone that I could send my writing to for proofreading and ideation could be a boon. I’ve had some cyber friends offer beta reads and advice, but they’re busy and can’t look over everything. Other than that, I only get hit up for paid online services, which I can’t afford.

In the future, I am eager to collaborate more. I want to help people as much as I ask for help. To that end, I’m active in a couple of Discord groups when I can, building those writing relationships. I also would like to attend my local writers group more, but that is more challenging since I’m usually running the kids around and cooking dinner during their meeting times.

It doesn’t end with writing friends, though. I would like to reach out to companies to collaborate on things. I need a bigger audience, but I also think collaborating on these things can help grow it.

If you are reading this and you have an app, a gadget, or parenting gear you’d like me to test, I’d be happy to give it a spin. I would love to help each other achieve our goals. Shoot me an email or connect with me on Threads.

I’ve reached out to a couple of companies and received a few positive replies, though the timing hasn’t worked out. But once again, if you are looking to get more views on your product, I’d love to help by giving it my honest review.

The Year Ahead

I don’t have numerical goals, although I probably should. It is much easier to know whether you’ve achieved your goals when you have a number to reach. However, since I don’t really own my time, I want to stay flexible.

That said, I intend to be all in on my writing. I hope to stay consistent and try to publish once a week. I aim to publish more fiction, since that’s my dream. Moreover, I would like to broaden my scope by working with others.

What types of goals do you have for yourself? Please let me know in the comments below.

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