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How to Stay Abreast of Your Writing Goals

writing in the journal

The beginning of the year is a great time to set new goals, or cut and paste last year’s goals onto the “new” list. I mean, that’s how it works sometimes, right? We all have good intentions come January 1st, but there are always certain goals that get pushed around but never accomplished. I’m tired of moving the same goal around into list after list, feeling the weight of it push down on my shoulders and smother my muse. So, this year, I have a different plan. I’m still setting goals, but I’m approaching them in a new way.

1. Make sure goals are reasonable and measurable.

Sarah Callender wrote a wonderful post on Write It Sideways about the difference between Dreamers and Goalers, saying writers must be a little of both:

A dream is shiny and pretty and probably quite heavy. Like a coconut cream pie. Or an ocean at sunset. Dreams sit on our shoulder and whisper things like, But what about me? Don’t forget about me! . . . But if you dream of getting published in a prestigious publication, in any publication at all, then create a SMART goal, something over which you have total control.

Writing a novel is my dream. One goal I set in the past to help me reach that dream was to get the draft ready for Beta readers. By March. Okay, June. Um…by the end of the year, dammit. My original goal wasn’t specific enough. Now, I know that I need to break down the idea of finishing the draft into more reasonable, bit-size chunks, like “write the next chapter by the end of the week.”

And speaking of weeks….

2. Use whatever tools you can find to organize weekly goals.

I read about Jane Friedman’s weekly goal sheets long before I started using them, but since I’ve been filling them out, my brain feels more in tune with where my heart wants to go. I love these worksheets for two reasons. First, they are weekly. Period. As Friedman says in her post about the sheets, “If you have to-dos that stretch out further than a week, it can become overwhelming and meaningless.” Overwhelming and meaningless, that’s when I start crying and feel like quitting. The second reason I love these worksheets is because they allow space to write down what might be stopping me from achieving the goals and space to write down long-range goals that I can’t work on in that one week but don’t want to forget. On this, Friedman say, “Writing them down helps free my mental energy, so I can focus on other things.” Be gone, Overwhelming fiend.

So, I have reasonable and measurable goals and a nifty worksheet. Now what?

3. Join a writer’s group. Stat.

Attending a writing group, bi-weekly or monthly, isn’t always an option because of time or money or location. But, when I have the resources, that’s where I go. Those groups make me accountable, push me forward on writing projects, large or small, and feed me with an energy that I can’t ignore. By the time you read this, I will have attended my first Roundtable in too long of a while. All the anxiety of reading out loud and sharing a rough story is worth it if it means this next project, a collection of flash fiction, will move beyond an idea.

Your turn. What’s your secret to staying on top of your goals? Spill it here, because if anything, we will learn from each other.

* Photo credit: redcargurl on Flickr.com
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One Key to a Writer’s Success: Find Your Community

Recently, I hung out with a group of women for a few days, on retreat. There were Fall colors, belly laughs, and snacks sprawled out on a long, buffet table — salty and sweet, free for grazing at all hours of the day or night. Someone stuffed a 12-pack of Cherry Coke in the refrigerator.

“I’m in Heaven,” I said.

At home, I stock apple juice and goldfish. Cheese-its on a good day. Oh, the thrill of Cherry Coke, and of seeing the bag of mini Heath bars in the mix on the table, too…I carried a candy bar around in my pocket, just for fun, until it melted.

I didn’t just laugh and eat, though that would have been enough. I also woke up two mornings in a row, at 7am, for Yoga, if only to balance my gluttony with a little meditation. On Sunday, I drove home with a full belly, a satisfied spirit, and a quiet reminder from a sign posted just outside the main building.

At the retreat center, running alongside the building and out into the woods, is a nature trail. The trail is mostly paved, as the center also caters to people with disabilities, but one part of the trail opens up onto a grassy path not as easily accessible by wheelchairs. Just before you step off of the pavement, there’s a sign: Trail may not be suitable, it says, travel with a friend.

I’m sure whoever made that sign didn’t think of the power behind those simple words, but I did. It hints at community.

What’s funny is that in the week following the retreat, I read a few blog posts that mentioned the same idea in regards to writing or publishing: the path is difficult, but it isn’t impossible, especially if we ground ourselves in community.

Anne R. Allen says in her recent post, that “Aspiring writers…make friends with each other. We get support. We network. A lot of us talk about writing and publishing. Because, um, that’s what we have in common. . . .Friends are very important in this business.”

In Natalia Sylvester’s interview with Erika Marks, Erika talks about the importance of social media to a writer’s psyche:

I know I’m supposed to see it as an extension of the business of writing, but honestly, I can’t see it that way. The friends I have made on Twitter, other writers and readers, are truly people I’ve come to feel I know and want to check in with. I never would have imagined having that sense of genuine community through social media. I am so grateful for it and for everyone I’ve met through it. As you well know, Natalia, writing can be such an isolating endeavor. It has to be, somewhat, but I think that is the appeal of something like Twitter—that it allows for communication, even if it seems brief, it can provide some much needed interaction in the midst of so much quiet.

Travel with a friend.

Almost a year ago, I wrote a post on four reasons why writing groups were critical for my success, whether that success comes in a finished story or a published book. Those reasons still hold true, especially the last one:

…I benefit from more camaraderie and support. I could tackle this novel alone, huddled over my laptop in the cold basement of my house. But, I focus better and am more driven to finish when I’m surrounded by the warm bodies of other writers.

Pack some snacks, stock up on Cherry Coke, and whatever you do, don’t go it alone.

Where do you find your community?