Goals

For me, success relies on goals to aspire and work towards. Without goals (short or long term) procrastination halts all progress and excuses are acceptable. But a reasonable goal can effectively show how far you’ve come and how far you must go. Nanowrimo is a 50,000 word goal in one month with excellent tools to help promote success amongst its participants.

My goal is something different and reasonably suited to the factors that affect my writing; work, travel, husband. Although I am a planner, my life is not. Often plans change at the last minute and my time to write is the first thing sacrificed to accommodate changes to my calendar. However, although I might not have access to one of my computers, not a day passes without me giving thought to the stories I’ve devoted my attention to.

The goal: MAKE PROGRESS EVERYDAY!

What is progress? On Monday my goal might be to research a census from 1880 for character names. Tuesday I update my outline to reflect a minor change to chapter four, Wednesday I write 500 words, Thursday I collect images to assist with a description I might not be familiar with, Friday I organize my sloppy handwritten notes, Saturday I sit at my desk and write for one full hour, and on the Lord’s day perhaps I discuss my story with someone for feedback. Be it a small goal or a big goal, everything combined will help me to write and complete a novel.

Of course there will be those days when I don’t have enough time to even scribble a note for myself, but if I am disciplined and maintain steady progress the occasional day will have little to no effect on the outcome of my story. It’s important to note that when you are making steady progress, it’s also easier to make said progress. If you don’t have days in between writing, you’re not trying to figure out where to go from your last sopping point or what were you thinking when you wrote that.

What happens when there’s writer’s block? Do something… Think of a new title, watch a movie that might be a good source of inspiration, write a rant about what has you stuck. If your new goal is to overcome writer’s block, it might be reasonable to totally step away to gain new and fresh perspective on your work.

Goal Number One: Ask yourself what goals you have in mind and what you hope to achieve on a long term and/or short term basis.

Happy writing and God bless.