Writing 101 -- Setting Goals -- Monthly, Weekly and Daily

Monthly--

If you’ve read and recorded your Yearly Goals, now you’re ready to break them down into monthly increments. Trying to do all the goals at once is simply mind-numbing. And when your mind goes numb, what happens? You shut down and do nothing, well, except you start to play games on Facebook, or pull out your game console, or find any excuse NOT to work on your goals.

Trust me, I’ve been there. In fact, I was there the latter part of 2011. It happens to all of us, good intentions or not.

For monthly goals, I use a calendar system. I simply looked for Free MS calendar on the Internet and download it. You want a calendar that has enough space for each day to jot down what you did every day.

Okay, I couldn’t find a basic calendar this year, so I had to take last year’s calendar, delete everything and renumber it. It’s basically an Excel worksheet, landscape-style, with one month per page.

Here’s a shrinky-dink version.

January 2012
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

If you shrink the font for each cell (Calibri 8), you can add more information in each cell. You aren’t going to be writing your life story in the cell, just jot down what you did that day.  And I try to write down non-writing stuff, too. Why? Because a blank cell doesn’t tell you diddly-squat, but a cell that says: Dr. appt. ran errands, jury duty, felt lousy, read, etc. will tell you more of the story. It helps pinpoint problem areas, expectations or whether you try to set unrealistic goals.

The place to set your goals will be in the blank spaces. I usually select two cells and merge them to allow for enough room to bullet point my goals. Now, I reviewed what I want to accomplish on my yearly goals and pick one or two items that I’d like to accomplish in January. I’ve been doing hard copy edits on TROLL, so now is the time to change it on the computer.

 

January 2012
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31	Goals: ·          Edit TROLL ·          Write FIRE bullet points ·          Judge Golden Heart--rec’d ??

Just because I have only a few goals for the month of January doesn’t mean I won’t accomplish other items, AND I admit that I have a huge amount of work to do on this edit so one goal is reasonable.

I put down books that I’ve read at the end of the month or in the cells. When I accomplish my goal, I’ll mark it DONE and put the date next to it. When I add new goals during the month, I’ll mark them in red.

One of the challenges is to remember to write your daily tasks down. I solved this by drawing a daily Tarot card. Originally, I was given a book on Tarot and cards as research for a mystery novel. I stopped writing that novel, but I continued to draw a card . . . and write it down, plus what I did every day. If you notice, I try not to do writing stuff on the weekends--those are for my family, but sometimes I would jot something down.

I will continue the Tarot trick throughout 2012 because my Young Adult series centers around the minor suits of the Tarot.

Here’s an example of January 2011:

 

January 2011
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
GOALS: ·          Query FAERIE—rewrote, Q’d 12 agents wk 1 ·          Judge GH entries rec’d 1/8/11, read 1/10, results subbed 1/10/11 ·          Entered Writer’s Digest contest—1/4, posted on blog 1/18, entered FEB contest on 1/24/11 ·          Self publish LOST LEPRECHAUN LOOT—1/20			WANDS—Fire/passion CUPS—Water/moods/emotion SWORDS—Air/mentality PENTACLES--Earth/growth/nature/money MAJOR ARCANA—Spirituality/higher purpose			1 VI THE LOVERS—values, personal beliefs, moral/ethical crossroads
2 Page of Wands-opportun for passion, experience creativity, courage, inspiration Cleaned out closets and drawers	3  Five of Cups—feeling bereft, feeling regret, suffering a loss R in school T off,  ran errands and spent gift cards	4 Nine of Pentacles—discipline, self-reliance, Wrote two blogs Wrote 100 word entry to WD contest #31	5  V  THE HIEROPHANT—pursuing knowledge, fitting in, feeling loyalty Helped Mom with Kindle Ate lunch with Todd Read	6  XII THE HANGED MAN—paradox, move forward by standing still, letting go, Rewrote FAERIE Query, sent 6 queries Worked out	7  Knight of Pentacles—unwavering, realistic, hardworking, 5 queries for FAERIE Wrote Mon. blog	8 Ten of Wands—burdens, struggle, uphill battle Documented and packed 9 trash bags for donations
9  Nine of Wands—down but not out, stamina, perseverance reading	10 XIX THE SUN—vitality, enlightenment, assurance Read five historical GH entries	11 Nine of Cups-wish fulfillment, satisfaction 1 query GIAM recap—2000+ words Worked out	12  Three of Pentacles—getting the job done, teamwork, planning, Read The Hobbit	13  Knight of Wands-full of energy & life, cocky, risky Finished writing Down in the Dregs—WD entry Read The Hobbit laundry	14 Nine of Cups-wish fulfillment, satisfaction Read Worked out	15  V  THE HIEROPHANT—pursuing knowledge, fitting in, feeling loyalty Finished reading The Hobbit and Treasure Island
16 Nine of Pentacles—discipline, self-reliance, Laundry reading	17  Ace of Cups—intimacy, emotional force, spirituality Rachel off school Went to aquarium, ate lunch with Todd	18 Queen of Wands—self-assured, cheerful, energetic, confident Errands—edit Dregs for blog  Laura designed cover for LLL	19  Page of Pentacles—be practical, have an effect, be prosperous Formatted LLL for Smashwords	20  Two of Swords—stalemate, avoidance, blocked emotions Snow day-R home	21 Seven of Wands—take a stand, defiance, conviction Subbed LLL to Amazon	22  King of Pentacles-adept, enterprising, reliable, pursues a goal Subbed LLL to B & N—nope Smashwords already has it
23  XVII  THE STAR—hope, inspiration, serenity,	24  Five of Swords—self-interest, sacrificing integrity Read Dentist—fix tooth fracture	25 King of Pentacles-adept, enterprising, reliable, pursues a goal Laundry read	26  X  Wheel of Fortune—destiny, turning point, ROSE HILL WITH 4TH GRADERS Read on bus	27  Six of Pentacles—have/have not: power, resources, knowledge, 45 min walk Brainstormed w/Laura	28  I THE MAGICIAN—action, concentration, power Research-myth, creatures 40 min walk	29 Queen of Cups—loving, intuitive, psychic, spiritual Zoo Yard work—cleaned by pond
30 XIII DEATH—ending, transition, completing a chapter laundry	31 Four of Wands-celebrating, breaking bonds, excitement T sick Grocery shopping	·          Read 8 books

And there you have your monthly goals in a nutshell.

Weekly--

I belong to an online goals group, so I have to come up with weekly goals . . . er, weekly. I’m a fan of bullet points, and I approach this challenge the same way I do monthly goals. I look at my schedule and figure out what I can reasonably accomplish according to my week. Sometimes I accomplish my goals, sometimes I don’t. The key to writing down goals is to be accountable. It also gives you an idea what you can and can’t accomplish in a given week.

I haven’t recapped recently because it’s the end of the year and I have been up to my elbows in making candy.

Here is an example from October:

RECAP:

·                     Finish judging contest entries—DONE and returned

·                     Edit SUGAR one more time—I want to get it up by Nov. 1—WORKING ON IT

·                     Pester Laura about SUGAR cover --DONE

·                     Pull up my big girl panties and read the judge’s comments on one of my contest entries –DONE.

GOALS:

·                     Finish SUGAR edit

·                     Try out various mini-dessert recipes prior to Thanksgiving.  

And here is the week AFTER this posting:

RECAP:

·                     Finish SUGAR edit—DONE

·                     Wrote blurb for SUGAR

·                     Try out various mini-dessert recipes prior to Thanksgiving. –DONE. Plus did some serious cookie baking last week. Made six kinds for two Halloween parties (Lemony Goblin Brains, Minty Fairy Farts, Werewolf Poop, Choco-spider Guts, Cinnamon Toadstools and Spicy Witch’s Cackle), AND I made Cinnamon Rolls for the family along with regular household crap.

GOALS:

·                     Format and publish SUGAR—I meant to format this last weekend, but obligations got in the way.

·                     Have an idea for NaNo—I need to write book 4 in the Goblin’s Apprentice series. Thought about it on my walks. November is always a busy, busy month for me, but maybe I need a tight goal to try to get back in the ballgame.

·                     Oh, crap!—I forgot that I have to give a presentation to our local RWA chapter about writing through the hard times. Guess I’ll be busy doing that this week!

Daily--

I usually don’t write daily goals, but when I need to keep my thoughts organized, I do write down a bullet point list of things I need to accomplish on a sticky note. I don’t have any examples to show you because I throw the notes away when I’m finished, BUT I do record it on the appropriate day on my monthly calendar.

Here is a week taken randomly from February 2011:

6  Ten of Wands—burdens, struggle, uphill battle Editing GNOME pg 31 laundry

7 Queen of Cups—loving, intuitive, psychic, spiritual Edit GNOME to pg 58 Read 1 contest entry SCHOOL OUT-SNOW

8  Ace of Swords—a challenge, fortitude, justice Finish GNOME edit pg 75 send to Meg Read 1 contest entry SCHOOL OUT-SNOW

9 0 THE FOOL-unlimited potential, life is good, keep your faith, follow your heart Did GIAM recap 1 contest entry SCHOOL OUT-SNOW

10  Eight of Cups-deeper meaning, weariness, moving on Returned Winter Rose entries Wrote WD prompt story SCHOOL OUT-SNOW

11 Nine of Pentacles—discipline, self-reliance, take matters into own hands. R and Grace hung out SCHOOL OUT-SNOW

12  Two of Wands-personal power, boldness, originality Errands Followed R while sold Girl Scout cookies

I enlarged it so it would be easier to see. School was cancelled, which meant I had the kiddo home. Hubby was home for a couple of days. I still managed to get a few things accomplished. I should have put on this--that I shoveled the driveway.

When I’m writing new words, I keep track of my word count, but when I edit I edit to a particular page. It works for me.

You need to find what works for you.  

Good luck and set those goals!