Jagular
Active member
I think goals are important for anyone who is serious about anything so I figured I'd start this thread. Goals. Got 'em? Wanna share them? Here's my goals from last year and how I did and goals for 2005...
My posted goals for 2004 (in quotes with comments following)
I have written 9 or 10 this year so far (I’ll have to recount). It will be hard to make 12 with my schedule but you never know, I still might pull it off. Not all of these are actually “finished” as there is some rewriting to be done. But they are complete drafts and decently written songs IMO. My grade to myself so far is a B-. If I get to 12 I’ll give myself a B . Not an A because I hold that out for exceeding expectations.
I have been playing out fairly regularly. I shoot for once every two weeks, but sometimes I can’t keep that up. I have graduated from open mic nights to getting scheduled rounds with a few different hosts (hoping to pick up one more next Tuesday). I did, indeed audition for the Bluebird. I didn’t pass. Over all grade for the year A- as I was able to get those scheduled rounds.
I have obtained many cards & contacts over the course of the year. I have co-written with or am in the process of co-writing with 7 people. Some here in Nashville and some over the internet. I also have opened the doors for many, many other quality co-writing partners. I give myself and A+ in this category. I feel that I have far exceeded my expectations.
I have had the opportunity to meet or correspond with at least 6 publishers over the course of the year either formally or informally. I was able to sign my first single song contract this year with a Nashville publisher, was offered a single song contract on another song by a non-Nashville publisher (which seems to have stalled), had one song held for further consideration by a well connected Nashville publisher/plugger (nothing came of it and I couldn’t pin him down for follow-up). I also was just able to submit a couple of songs for a “new” (he’s not really – he is the son of a legend in Country Music) artist that has major label interest. He’s cutting in January. I think I have earned an A+ in this category this year as well as I exceeded my goals by a large share.
I have improved noticeably on the guitar over the past year. My playing in public has become proficient and confident. My recordings are showing more skill in this category. I’m still not a great guitarist, but I can strum and sometimes pick along with what I need to present a song well. In fact it was one of my guitar/vocal demos that got the publishers attention who I signed a contract with. I was not able to swing lessons this year. I still want to take them, but I have to weigh the time & dollar constraints I have. I give myself a B+ on this one.
Overall grade for the year I’d say is an A-.
Goals for 2005 in order of importance (many are similar to last year)
1. I will write at least 12 good songs in 2005. I am a slow writer. To do this I will need to partition off more time for myself to write. It won't be easy, but I need to work on my output. This is the same as last year and I have to make this a HUGE priority this year. If I am going to get anywhere close to where I would like to be I need to up my output. I hope this is a breakthrough year for this.
2. I will do a lot more co-writing this year. I intend to set up one 3 hour co-writing session each week on top of my 3 hour solo writing session I schedule each week. Being realistic, there will be weeks that I can’t do both sessions, but I want to make sure I do this the majority of weeks. This also gets me another step up the pyramid in the “Your First Cut” book which I highly recommend if anyone wants to pursue writing commercially. I will write with at least 8 other writers in 2005.
3. I will meet with and pitch songs to at least 5 publishers in 2005. I am looking to take some of the more “informal” relationships I have started and turn them into more “formal” meetings. I know at least 3 I could probably call right now to get a sit down meeting. Getting a pitch meeting with two others will probably mean contacting a LOT of them. I will probably start this more toward the second half of the year because I want to get some more quality songs in my pocket first.
4. I would like to play a writers’ round every other week. Realistically know I will have to miss some, but I would like that to be the target. I would like to play at least 20 writers’ rounds in 2005 (that’s every other week minus a few).
5. I would like to sign at least one single song contract in 2005. I am not going to sign anything shuffled in front of me by any old publisher. It has to be a “quality” publisher as determined by my research of them. That doesn’t mean it has to be EMI, but it does mean they are not a fly by night operation with no contacts in the business. I am willing to sign with young, hard working, small publishers as long as I get a reasonable reversion.
6. I will audition for the Bluebird again this year. I may wait until October again and really work on getting my act together. I will seek out the expertise of some folks I know here in town that are help folks with this sort of thing and work on crafting “the” song that knocks the judges out. I will consider this goal met, again by doing the audition and exceeded if I pass.
That’s it for 2005. Sounds like a lot of work, but it’s a labor of love. I think it is going to be challenging to meet all of these goals. At this point in my life I only have a few hours a week that I can devote. But it's amazing what you can accomplish in a few hours a week if you put your mind to it.
My posted goals for 2004 (in quotes with comments following)
I have written 9 or 10 this year so far (I’ll have to recount). It will be hard to make 12 with my schedule but you never know, I still might pull it off. Not all of these are actually “finished” as there is some rewriting to be done. But they are complete drafts and decently written songs IMO. My grade to myself so far is a B-. If I get to 12 I’ll give myself a B . Not an A because I hold that out for exceeding expectations.
I have been playing out fairly regularly. I shoot for once every two weeks, but sometimes I can’t keep that up. I have graduated from open mic nights to getting scheduled rounds with a few different hosts (hoping to pick up one more next Tuesday). I did, indeed audition for the Bluebird. I didn’t pass. Over all grade for the year A- as I was able to get those scheduled rounds.
I have obtained many cards & contacts over the course of the year. I have co-written with or am in the process of co-writing with 7 people. Some here in Nashville and some over the internet. I also have opened the doors for many, many other quality co-writing partners. I give myself and A+ in this category. I feel that I have far exceeded my expectations.
I have had the opportunity to meet or correspond with at least 6 publishers over the course of the year either formally or informally. I was able to sign my first single song contract this year with a Nashville publisher, was offered a single song contract on another song by a non-Nashville publisher (which seems to have stalled), had one song held for further consideration by a well connected Nashville publisher/plugger (nothing came of it and I couldn’t pin him down for follow-up). I also was just able to submit a couple of songs for a “new” (he’s not really – he is the son of a legend in Country Music) artist that has major label interest. He’s cutting in January. I think I have earned an A+ in this category this year as well as I exceeded my goals by a large share.
I have improved noticeably on the guitar over the past year. My playing in public has become proficient and confident. My recordings are showing more skill in this category. I’m still not a great guitarist, but I can strum and sometimes pick along with what I need to present a song well. In fact it was one of my guitar/vocal demos that got the publishers attention who I signed a contract with. I was not able to swing lessons this year. I still want to take them, but I have to weigh the time & dollar constraints I have. I give myself a B+ on this one.
Overall grade for the year I’d say is an A-.
Goals for 2005 in order of importance (many are similar to last year)
1. I will write at least 12 good songs in 2005. I am a slow writer. To do this I will need to partition off more time for myself to write. It won't be easy, but I need to work on my output. This is the same as last year and I have to make this a HUGE priority this year. If I am going to get anywhere close to where I would like to be I need to up my output. I hope this is a breakthrough year for this.
2. I will do a lot more co-writing this year. I intend to set up one 3 hour co-writing session each week on top of my 3 hour solo writing session I schedule each week. Being realistic, there will be weeks that I can’t do both sessions, but I want to make sure I do this the majority of weeks. This also gets me another step up the pyramid in the “Your First Cut” book which I highly recommend if anyone wants to pursue writing commercially. I will write with at least 8 other writers in 2005.
3. I will meet with and pitch songs to at least 5 publishers in 2005. I am looking to take some of the more “informal” relationships I have started and turn them into more “formal” meetings. I know at least 3 I could probably call right now to get a sit down meeting. Getting a pitch meeting with two others will probably mean contacting a LOT of them. I will probably start this more toward the second half of the year because I want to get some more quality songs in my pocket first.
4. I would like to play a writers’ round every other week. Realistically know I will have to miss some, but I would like that to be the target. I would like to play at least 20 writers’ rounds in 2005 (that’s every other week minus a few).
5. I would like to sign at least one single song contract in 2005. I am not going to sign anything shuffled in front of me by any old publisher. It has to be a “quality” publisher as determined by my research of them. That doesn’t mean it has to be EMI, but it does mean they are not a fly by night operation with no contacts in the business. I am willing to sign with young, hard working, small publishers as long as I get a reasonable reversion.
6. I will audition for the Bluebird again this year. I may wait until October again and really work on getting my act together. I will seek out the expertise of some folks I know here in town that are help folks with this sort of thing and work on crafting “the” song that knocks the judges out. I will consider this goal met, again by doing the audition and exceeded if I pass.
That’s it for 2005. Sounds like a lot of work, but it’s a labor of love. I think it is going to be challenging to meet all of these goals. At this point in my life I only have a few hours a week that I can devote. But it's amazing what you can accomplish in a few hours a week if you put your mind to it.
). I typically have only a few hours a week that I can dedicate to songwriting. However, I do one thing EVERY day to push in the right direction. It can be a simple thing like stopping at Office Depot to pick up blank CD's. A steady drip of water will eventually make a hole in a rock 
.
] and Ive done alot to clean up my tone and my playing in the last year.
still so much to learn.
