Entry #626485, added on 01-09-09 @ 4:47 pm EST
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| Staying on the Write Track | Entry #626485 |
“You cannot change anything in your life with intention alone, which can become a watered-down, occasional hope that you'll get to tomorrow. Intention without action is useless.” --CAROLINE MYSS
With the New Year already under way, let’s talk about our writing goals. What are they? Write the novel? Revise the novel? Write fiction, non-fiction, horror/scary, poetry? Get published? Blog 800 words every day? What’s important to you?
2009 is your year, Let’s get ready to get on track and stay on track during the upcoming months.
Set your goals - Have a few of them, both long-term and short-term, and maybe even a daily goal or two. NOTE: if you have a daily goal, give yourself a break. 365 days in a row can prove overwhelming. Give yourself permission to skip, weekends, or Mondays ,or something. Remember the goal is to get moving, not create a stressful situation.
Create a plan of attack – How will you accomplish your goals? Entering contests? Starting a blog? Emailing an editor? While you’re at it, jot down a few situations that might spoil your efforts; your computer crashes, your internet connection is interrupted moments before the contest deadline. Or personal problems become too overwhelming to create anything literary, much less coherent.
Once you’ve identified the collision makers, you can establish workaround solutions. Not only will your mental attitude stay focused, your productivity during these hurdles will flourish. For example, if one of your goals is to enter one contest per month, you can enter two with different deadlines. If lightening strikes your high-speed internet connection minutes before one deadline, go with your back-up contest. Or, back up the real deadline 24 hours and make your deadline the day before, giving you a full day’s window for submission.
Enlist others – Once you’ve determined your goals, let others in on them. Tell your co-workers, friends, family, the more the better. Nothing like having to explain why you haven’t done something three months from now when your sister asks, “So, hey, Bob, how’s that novel of yours coming along?” Use embarrassment as a motivator here.
Make a date – No, not a real date…a writing date. Meet another writer at a local internet café. Make deals with each other, like you can’t order any coffee until you’ve written 300 words. Then, you can’t take a break until you’ve gotten 600 words down, etc.. One of the fun things about NaNoWriMo for me was the ability to find other local writers and set up write-ins. The sound of all those keyboards clicking pushed me along.
Reward yourself – Order that book you’ve been eyeing, or purchase some writing software. Something fun. Something to look forward to. Something that will motivate you to reach your goals.
See? With a few steps now, you’ll be on your way to creating real action from your writing intentions. Who knows, you just might win a few contests, wdc gift points, merit badges, and maybe even score a publishing gig. Where’s my pen, I need to write down MY 2009 writing goals.
Until next time,
Robin
 
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Comments from Readers
nomlet 
Thank you for the interview. It's always interesting hearing how other writers do their thing.
thanks.  It's the same for me, hearing how others accomplish their writing tasks gives me inspiration and motivation to tackle my own writing tasks.
Franki 
I love to read mysteries, but I haven't written one myself. I couldn't see how to do it without being predictable. This article helped me to have a different attitude about it. My next story will be a mystery. Thanks.
Glad I could help.
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