@Mary – thanks for sharing your goals. Best of luck in making those a reality!

You helped me a year or two ago get involved in Hubpages. So, first of all, thank you for that. But I wanted to list my goals here to, as you said, put them out there.

I’ve been pursuing fiction writing for several years. My first novel was read by four agents (none of them in NY, one even under investigation for not properly paying her clients). My second novel was read by 6 or 7 agents (almost all of them based in NY or with impressive credentials, many of whom said it was a near miss). Having just finished the third draft of my third novel, I have two basic goals:

1) Get an agent.
2) Sell the novel.
3) Start the next novel.

I also have some freelance writing goals. Recently it has become necessary to supplement my income as a high school English teacher, so I may increase my attempts to get some freelance work. During the period that I pursued freelance when you helped me with Hubpages, I was averaging about $100 month, which I thought was pretty good. So getting some more freelance work would be another goal.

Thank you for your “Real Words” blog. It really helps to check in and see what’s going on with someone who freelances for a living.

Dan Tricarico

@Dan – Thanks so much for the update on your writing and for putting your goals out there on my blog. Persistence seems to be one of the most important things for writers to have so I’m glad to hear that you’re sticking with the writing. Best of luck finding and agent and getting that novel published! Re: freelance writing – HubPages is the best site that I’ve worked for so far but there are lots of other content sites to try as well. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help!