Hard to believe, isn’t it? All of a sudden, there is just one month left to get our freelance writing work done and billed before the New Year dawns.

In Freelance Writers Den, we have a forum where members “weigh in” each month and talk about their goals. Then they come back at month-end and discuss what got done, and set new goals for the coming month.

It’s a simple exercise.

It’s also one of the most powerful methods I’ve discovered for keeping your writing goals on track.

Stating your goals to a group tends to create accountability. You don’t want to let people down, so you get it done.

December is always a tough month for productivity, too, with the holidays and school breaks.

Personally, I’m contemplating taking my family on a 3,000-mile road trip and trying to work a bit along the way on a laptop, getting work done on two articles and three book chapters. Wish me luck on that.

As we approach the end of the year, in an effort to help everyone stay on track with their freelance-writing income goals, I’d like to offer a weigh-in opportunity to everyone who reads this blog.

What are your goals?

Leave a comment and tell us:

• What did you get done this year? What accomplishments made you most proud?
• What remains undone that you hope to complete before year-end?

When I talk to successful freelance writers, I find we all have one thing in common.

It’s pretty simple — we have goals. We’re following a game plan for what we want to do with our writing career.

When I take on new writers in my mentoring program, my first questions are:

What is your goal for your freelance writing career? (Or, if you’re a blogger — what’s the goal of your blog?)

I find that lack of goals creates lack of momentum. The big problem with freelance writing is there’s no ‘boss’ standing over you saying, “Get 40 cold calls done this month!”

So you don’t.

Without goals, it’s easy to give in to fears about whether your writing cuts it, and not send that query letter, or make those business calls.

There’s also the chance to dither endlessly about what direction you plan to take. Will you only write for magazines? Write a novel? Target legal businesses? Many writers are overwhelmed by all the options, so they write nothing — or nothing that pays.

The change that happens when you have goals

I find when you start setting goals, there’s a shift in your mentality. You start to view your freelance writing business like a business. Which is what you have to do if you want it to pay your bills.

Setting goals creates deadlines — something freelance writers understand. Start making your own deadlines your top priority, over any current deadlines you have for others. In the long run, they’re even more important.

Setting goals doesn’t mean carving anything in stone. I’m always on the lookout for new opportunities that crop up, that might change my direction. If you’ve been trying one approach a long time and nothing’s happening, it may be time to try a new angle.

Stay flexible — but have a game plan to start.

The most important goals

Here are the three questions I like to ask writers about goals:

Where would you like to see your freelance-writing business five years from now?

One year from now?

Next month?

You need a big picture and a near-term picture. Then it’s time to break it down into a to-do list for this month. What, specifically, do you think you could realistically get accomplished in the next 30 days that would move your writing career forward?

I find the one-month span allows you to avoid overwhelm — after all, it’s only 30 days, so you can only do so much. It frees you to find small steps you can take to try a new marketing angle, get a writing project finished, send a query.

Ultimately, that’s the most important step to take — break down your freelance-writing dream into some actionable, simple steps you can accomplish right away. Then next month, do that again.

Keep doing it until you’re earning what you want.

If you have trouble sticking to it, find a writer’s group, a friend, or a mentor who will hold you accountable for meeting your goals.

You know what’s coming next:

What’s your goal for this month for your freelance writing business? Leave a comment and let us know.

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Like many of you, I set some goals for my writing business for 2010. With one-quarter of the year gone, it’s time to review those goals and consider adjustments.

Personally, I already have that sinking feeling of behinder-ness I get when I see myself not meeting all my goals. I want to be steering the direction of my writing career, not floating along like a leaf on a stream, staying in a rut of familiar clients.

If you’re like me, your to-do list tends to be pretty ambitious. I don’t take things into account like spring break, and kids underfoot, and power outages…which all happened around here last week. I don’t imagine I’ll ever get a bad night’s sleep or be too tired to write. I forget I’ll need to hem my kids’ pants, help them get a science fair project ready…in a word, life will keep happening.

But all those things happen, and the goals start to slide. I also saw my list sort of upended this year by one major goal that I unexpectedly met very early in January…but that dreamed-of new account, while thrilling and lucrative, turned out to need WAY more ramp-up time than I imagined.

So here I am well into the year and I haven’t sent anything like the queries to my targeted new national magazine markets that I thought I would…one of my big goals for this year. And my ebook is STILL NOT READY…and probably won’t be until next month at the earliest.

But a lot got done. Great new clients were signed up. I paid a lot of bills, and this month is set to be my biggest of ’10. The groundwork is starting to pay off.

Now’s the time to forgive ourselves for what we haven’t gotten done. The goal list may need a little judicious pruning — but that’s OK. Breathe and let go of the feeling that we’re behind, that we’re failing. Instead, let’s celebrate the progress.  Every day we can keep freelancing and make enough that we don’t have to look for a job is a day of precious freedom. As I struggle to steer this writing ship where I want it to go, I’m going to try to remember to enjoy the trip, setbacks, bumps and all.

Photo via Flickr user fireflythegreat