My Annual Writing Goals for 2026 (Tell Me Your Goals, Too!)

Happy New Year! We’re just over a week into 2026 … and there’s a good chance you’ve been thinking about your writing, and what goals you might want to set for the year.

I’d love to hear what you’re working on: just pop a comment below (or if you prefer, drop me an email at ali@aliventures.com). Whether you’re developing a regular writing habit, entering short story competitions, trying a new form/genre, or writing a full novel, I’d be thrilled to cheer you on. 🙂 

My Writing Goals for 2026

I’m taking a slightly different approach to some of my goals this year (I’m trying to follow my own advice to stick to one big project at a time)!

So in 2026, I’ll be tackling:

Big Fiction Project: Finish My Rom Com Novel and Send Out to Agents

In the second half of 2026, I drafted a rom com novel (a new genre for me to write, but one I’ve been really enjoying as a reader recently). My big goal for 2026 is to finish this and send it out to agents. 

While my self-published novels are contemporary fantasy, I discovered when sending Reaper around to agents last year that there just aren’t many agents in the UK who represent fantasy fiction. So I’m interested to try something more mainstream and see how it goes!

How I’m Making it Happen

Any big project needs a decent amount of time and focus, so I’ll be:

• Blocking out chunks of time each week for writing, on my calendar – much of this will be during the Writers’ Cafe writing hour slots.
• Taking one “at home” writing retreat each month – again, this is something I’m doing as part of Writers’ Cafe.
• Deliberately making time to step back and brainstorm or rethink plot elements as I redraft. It’s always tempting to rush forward when a scene feels “good enough”, but I want to make this novel as strong as I can.

I’m hoping to keep up the momentum and get the novel finished in the first few months of 2026: if so, I’ll then choose another big project to focus on for the rest of the year.

Other Fiction Projects: Short Stories, Reaper, and a Writing Streak

This year, I’ll also be working on:

Publishing Reaper

I sent my contemporary fantasy novel Reaper to five agents last year (it was hard to find agents in the UK who were open for submissions and who were willing to represent fantasy). None responded positively, so I’ve reverted to the original plan of self-publishing Reaper.

There’s not much left to do (a final proofread of the manuscript, commissioning a cover design, then formatting & uploading the book to Amazon) so I’m hoping to block out a day or two to work on Reaper, then get it out into the world!

Writing Four Short Stories

Short stories are a great change of pace from novel-writing … and it’s always satisfying to be able to finish something and send it out! 

My January Writing Magazine subscription came with their annual competition guide, so I’ll be going through that and finding at least four competitions that I want to enter throughout the year.

Maintaining A (Very Easy) Writing Streak

In previous years, I’ve tried for a 500 word/day or 250 word/day writing streak, but this often ends up with me too focused on drafting new material… at the expense of all the other stages of the writing process.

This year, I’m going for the easiest writing streak possible – writing something every single day, even if it’s just a sentence. (This idea is sometimes called “no zero days”). 

Obviously, most days I’m writing more than a sentence (I’m aiming for a minimum of 5 minutes of fiction writing, which usually nets me 100+ words), but even a sentence counts!

Non-Fiction: Aliventures Blog, Newsletter … and More!

As with previous years, I’m aiming to keep up a rhythm of publishing one Aliventures blog post and one newsletter every week. If there’s a topic or question you’d like to see me cover, just let me know.

I also want 2026 to be the year where I try out new mediums! I’m most comfortable writing … but a lot of the online content I consume is now in the form of podcasts and social media posts. The same might be true for you. (If so, thank you for continuing to read the Aliventures blog!) 

You can find my fledgling Instagram account here.

And my LinkedIn account is here.

And I’ll also be putting out some YouTube videos soon, plus maybe a podcast later in the year.

What have you got planned for 2026? Is there a big writing project you’re focusing on? Would a writing habit or writing streak suit you? I’d love to hear from you, either in the comments below or by email to ali@aliventures.com.

Whatever projects you’re tackling – I hope 2026 is a fantastic year for you!