And I'm moving down the increments of goals. We have now reached setting weekly goals.
I confess that in January 2005 I joined a online group that Amy Atwell was forming called GIAM: Goal setting, Inspiration, Amity, and Motivation. This group originated with RWA members who had achieved their PRO status of finishing a manuscript and attempting to publish it. This original group capped out at 55 members, about half of which are still active within the group. Sinch then, GIAM now expanded into four online goal-oriented loops, with a new one forming called GoPRO for writers struggling to finish their first manuscript. And I don't know where I'd be without this wonderful group of women--there are guys in the groups, just not in this particular group. This group has offered {{HUGS}} , ***CRAAAACK*** the whip, and a heavy encouragement of BICHOK {Butt In Chair Hands On Keyboard}, and WARM FUZZIES when needed.
Setting goals or belonging to a goals group will not help you get published, but it will help you set goals and deadlines to prepare for the day when you do have solid deadlines to meet. It trains you to work from home, or elsewhere, ignoring distractions to finish your obligations to yourself. Goals can change, but the only way to challenge yourself is to set goals that are slightly out of your reach. You must learn to push yourself to the next level, because no one else is going to do it.
So, for weekly goals, I am obligated to myself and my goals group to share my intentions for the week and recap my previous weeks goals, whether or not I achieved my goals. I think this is the biggest part of stating goals, you have to be responsible for whatever happens. So you didn't make your 5,000 word goal, BUT maybe you wrote 3,000 words. That's still 3K more than you could have done, and if you write in Times New Roman, that's about 10 pages. Not bad! So even if you didn't succeed 100% in your goals for that week, it doesn't mean you didn't succeed.
When I set my weekly goals I take into account what is going on that week.
--what's going on with the family? Health issues?
--am I working at my day job? How many hours?
--is the kid home from school? Do I have to chauffeur her to XX number of activities?
--do I have to get the house ready for company? Is the dust so deep you can make dust bunny poop piles?
--do I have a ton of errands and chores to accomplish? Getting my hair trimmed and colored takes 2-3 hours minimum--not because it's that grey, but it just does.
--did I forget that I volunteered to judge a RWA contest and just got a packet of five submissions, consisting of forty manuscript pages and a ten page synopsis with a detailed five page scoresheet? Been there!
--do you write on the weekends only? Or are your weekends reserved for family?
--is your day so busy you come home so exhausted that you are too tired to even sit at the computer? Or you don't want to even look at the computer because you are inputting information for the day job?
--when are you the most creative? Morning? Night? After everyone goes to bed? Or before anyone gets up in the morning?
-- do you want to keep track of what you write by time? XX minutes/day? by word count? or page count?
These are all the things you need to think about when you set your weekly goals. You might be so new to the writing game that you don't know when you are most creative, or you can only allow yourself 15 minutes a day to write--uh, that would actually be a good goal. :-) Take a look at your Outlook calendar or wall calendar. How full or empty is your week? Once you have that info you can set a weekly goal.
I don't write on the weekends. They are reserved for family. I don't write past three in the afternoon as I go collect my kidlet at 3:20 and the rest of the day and evening is for family. I actually have 9-3 blocked out on my Outlook calendar, but I also have my other appointments alongside my writing. For me, my weekly goal is not to allow my other obligations to take the place of writing--yes, spider solitaire did that for awhile, now I've switched to Farmville and Cafe World. *sigh* if it's not one thing, it's another.
So what does a typical Margaret week look like?
Here's this last week's goals:
--Jog/walk or Wii Fit 4X this week--nope, bunged up knee--Aleve helps
--read--yep, Soul Magic by Jen Lyon
--work on baby afghan for goddaughter--Yep on the weekend
--Christmas candy--YES!! I made over 11 pounds of fudge (4 varieties), 3 lbs. peanut brittle, 3 lbs turtles, 2 lbs English toffee, and over 25 lbs of filled candies (16 different fillings) It took me over 4 10-hour days to make all this! Whew!
--Christmas cards--done, hubster did most of the work. :-)
--Christmas shopping
My goals are in black and what I did is in red. True, there are no writing goals, but if I showed you my monthly goal you would see:
--NO WRITING RELATED GOALS
I knew I wouldn't get any writing accomplished, so I'm not even attempting it. From about mid-November until the family goes back to work and school, I don't plan to write. I have critiqued for a friend, judged contests, and edited previously written material, but no new stuff as I have too much on my mind and can't concentrate.
Documenting weekly goals. Since I have my goals group to help me, I send my bullet pointed (notice the bullet point pattern?? It's the way I function best, but you need to figure out what works for you.) recap and goals to my group, then I cut and paste this week's goals in a new email document and save it under drafts. I know it's there as it taunts me every time I open my email program.
On Wednesday, I'll discuss daily writing goals . . . uh, it might be a VERY short list since I stink at daily goals. Sorry, but it is what it is.
Write on!
12/11/09
Yearly Wrap-Up (Part 4) Monthly goals
Grr. . . Okay, I think I'm ready to finally sit down and write this blog. It's been one thing after another this morning. And I thought spending four days making candy was hard!
In my previous blogs I discussed in excruciating detail about yearly goals, now I will change it up a little to talk about monthly, weekly, and *gulp* daily goals. I gulp because I'm pathetic at daily goals, so I just might need your help to get me through it!
So the first thing I do is head on over to the free calendars on the Microsoft website. There are a lot of calendars with 'stuff' all over them, but I like the clean and basic calendar for this purpose. Sorry, I have to do links, I don't know how to embed the pictures in my blog. I know there's away, I just don't know how to do it--so there. And since I was there, I downloaded it for next year.
Most months have blank days, since this calendar is on a grid. Click the cells, and merge them. Once merged, you can add GOALS: to the cell. I like bold and dark red as it stands out. Then I arrow down and start bullet pointing my goals for the month. Sometimes I have to tweak and make two columns, depending how extensive my goals are for that month. You can pull and squish the columns and rows as much as needed depending on the month.
For January 2010, I took the large merged area and split them into two to give me enough room for goals without having to put them in an itty-bitty font. Small is good, but sometimes these old eyes have issues with it. Then press enter, and hit your bullet point button and you are ready to set monthly goals. But before you enter January's goals, copy and paste this on every month of the year and save. Now, your months are set up and all you have to do is fill in your goals.
--FYI: in my other merged cell space I put my Tarot card information. This is how remember to go to the calendar every day as I post my Tarot card that I drew. The purpose is to remind me to go to my calendar. Most of the time I forgot to type what I had done the previous day, so this is the perfect opportunity to write it down. And yes, if you spent all day doing errands--put it down. The only way you'll figure out where you waste time is if you document what you did do.
WANDS--Fire/passion
CUPS--Water/moods/emotions
SWORDS--Air/mentality
PENTACLES--Earth/growth/nature/money
MAJOR ARCANA-Spirituality/higher purpose
And no, I don't really believe it, usually because the cards are so very wrong, IE. I tend to have my crappiest days when I'm supposed to be on top of the world. I simply use this technique to remember to enter WHAT I did, just like I type in the books I've read on my yearly goals to remember to look at them and update them as needed.
Onward to setting monthly goals. Tailor your goals to your life. If you work forty to eighty hours a week, you might not get the same goals accomplished that someone who doesn't work outside the home can accomplish. Or even the other way around, because sometimes not having a job gives you more time to goof off, do laundry, clean house, eat, and find excuses NOT to write. Been there, done that, and still doing that--considering blogging isn't 'writing'. When I worked full time and had to be at work at 5 AM. I got up at 3:30 AM, showered and got ready for work. At 4 AM I went downstairs, fed the critters, made coffee and wrote for 40 minutes. Some days I would write a paragraph or two, and other days I'd write three pages.
Figure out what works for you. BUT if something unexpected happens document it on the day on your calendar.
I'll use two months from my 2009 calendar as examples.
January 2009 goals:
--send partial of Demon Spawn to Deb Dixon at Belle Bridge Books--Done
--judge Golden Hear--Done--6 paranormals
--Crit when needed--Done--4 crits
--Start DS1 from scratch--Done 17 pages, 5127 words
MLK Holiday: 1/19/09--kidlet out of school. any writing should be considered icing
Ice storm: 1/27-29/09--kidlet out of school for three days
June 2009 goals:
--Judge WHRWA Lone Star contest--Started
--Edit, edit, edit MOGG--Done
Summer vacation--kidlet out of school, therefore I lighten my monthly goals as I do stuff with her.
Mac Soccer camp 8:30-4:30--one week she was in soccer camp, minus travel time, I had six hours a day back for writing
6/30/09 Delacorte Yearling contest deadline highlighted--which is why I spent all month editing MOGG
I'm tired of writing about monthly goals. I'll hit weekly and daily goals next week.
If you have any questions or comments, ask away.
And if you know how I can take a calendar and put it on this silly blog let me know, 'cause it's ticking me off.
Write on!
In my previous blogs I discussed in excruciating detail about yearly goals, now I will change it up a little to talk about monthly, weekly, and *gulp* daily goals. I gulp because I'm pathetic at daily goals, so I just might need your help to get me through it!
So the first thing I do is head on over to the free calendars on the Microsoft website. There are a lot of calendars with 'stuff' all over them, but I like the clean and basic calendar for this purpose. Sorry, I have to do links, I don't know how to embed the pictures in my blog. I know there's away, I just don't know how to do it--so there. And since I was there, I downloaded it for next year.
Most months have blank days, since this calendar is on a grid. Click the cells, and merge them. Once merged, you can add GOALS: to the cell. I like bold and dark red as it stands out. Then I arrow down and start bullet pointing my goals for the month. Sometimes I have to tweak and make two columns, depending how extensive my goals are for that month. You can pull and squish the columns and rows as much as needed depending on the month.
For January 2010, I took the large merged area and split them into two to give me enough room for goals without having to put them in an itty-bitty font. Small is good, but sometimes these old eyes have issues with it. Then press enter, and hit your bullet point button and you are ready to set monthly goals. But before you enter January's goals, copy and paste this on every month of the year and save. Now, your months are set up and all you have to do is fill in your goals.
--FYI: in my other merged cell space I put my Tarot card information. This is how remember to go to the calendar every day as I post my Tarot card that I drew. The purpose is to remind me to go to my calendar. Most of the time I forgot to type what I had done the previous day, so this is the perfect opportunity to write it down. And yes, if you spent all day doing errands--put it down. The only way you'll figure out where you waste time is if you document what you did do.
WANDS--Fire/passion
CUPS--Water/moods/emotions
SWORDS--Air/mentality
PENTACLES--Earth/growth/nature/money
MAJOR ARCANA-Spirituality/higher purpose
And no, I don't really believe it, usually because the cards are so very wrong, IE. I tend to have my crappiest days when I'm supposed to be on top of the world. I simply use this technique to remember to enter WHAT I did, just like I type in the books I've read on my yearly goals to remember to look at them and update them as needed.
Onward to setting monthly goals. Tailor your goals to your life. If you work forty to eighty hours a week, you might not get the same goals accomplished that someone who doesn't work outside the home can accomplish. Or even the other way around, because sometimes not having a job gives you more time to goof off, do laundry, clean house, eat, and find excuses NOT to write. Been there, done that, and still doing that--considering blogging isn't 'writing'. When I worked full time and had to be at work at 5 AM. I got up at 3:30 AM, showered and got ready for work. At 4 AM I went downstairs, fed the critters, made coffee and wrote for 40 minutes. Some days I would write a paragraph or two, and other days I'd write three pages.
Figure out what works for you. BUT if something unexpected happens document it on the day on your calendar.
I'll use two months from my 2009 calendar as examples.
January 2009 goals:
--send partial of Demon Spawn to Deb Dixon at Belle Bridge Books--Done
--judge Golden Hear--Done--6 paranormals
--Crit when needed--Done--4 crits
--Start DS1 from scratch--Done 17 pages, 5127 words
MLK Holiday: 1/19/09--kidlet out of school. any writing should be considered icing
Ice storm: 1/27-29/09--kidlet out of school for three days
June 2009 goals:
--Judge WHRWA Lone Star contest--Started
--Edit, edit, edit MOGG--Done
Summer vacation--kidlet out of school, therefore I lighten my monthly goals as I do stuff with her.
Mac Soccer camp 8:30-4:30--one week she was in soccer camp, minus travel time, I had six hours a day back for writing
6/30/09 Delacorte Yearling contest deadline highlighted--which is why I spent all month editing MOGG
I'm tired of writing about monthly goals. I'll hit weekly and daily goals next week.
If you have any questions or comments, ask away.
And if you know how I can take a calendar and put it on this silly blog let me know, 'cause it's ticking me off.
Write on!
12/9/09
Blog Delayed
Sorry--
but today's blog will be delayed. I'm right in the middle of making massive amounts of candy and I want to get it finished! I'm shooting to have a blog about Monthly, Weekly and Daily goals up on Friday!
Thanks for your patience!
Write on! Or in my case--Make Candy!
. . . today's chores: make three kinds of fudge, make six different types of filled candies {(fillings already made) Filling candy molds takes a special kind of patience--trust me}, trimming aforementioned candies and putting in little paper wrappers that LOVE to stick together!
but today's blog will be delayed. I'm right in the middle of making massive amounts of candy and I want to get it finished! I'm shooting to have a blog about Monthly, Weekly and Daily goals up on Friday!
Thanks for your patience!
Write on! Or in my case--Make Candy!
. . . today's chores: make three kinds of fudge, make six different types of filled candies {(fillings already made) Filling candy molds takes a special kind of patience--trust me}, trimming aforementioned candies and putting in little paper wrappers that LOVE to stick together!
12/8/09
Delacorte Yearling Rejection
Well, I got my Delacorte Yearling rejection in the mail yesterday. Though I expected it, I'm still bummed about it. It feels like I've done all I can with my gnome story. *sigh*
Guess I'll make Christmas candy to cheer myself up.
Guess I'll make Christmas candy to cheer myself up.
12/7/09
Yearly Wrap-Up (Part 3)
Alrighty then, we covered reading goals and how to keep on top of your yearly writing goals by jotting down the books you've read ON your goal sheet.
And we covered writing goals, knowing full well that they could change at the drop of a contract. *hint, hint* Hey, I'll try for all the karma I can get. :-)
So what other goals can you put down on your yearly list? Remember, this is a list that you will be referring to every time you put a book you read on the list--skim the goals.
Here are a couple of my 'other' type of goals:
--Attend one conference--I went to a local SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) conference in town. Next spring, it will be in Oklahoma City
--Return to a healthy lifestyle: eat smaller, eat healthier, and kick the kidlet's butt on the Wii Fit exercises! And exercise 3-5 days a week. --I did all of this, but not consistently. I was exercising on the Wii Fit until the kidlet got out of school for summer vacation, and then, PFFTT! After that, the Wii console was exchanged and I just started unlocking the levels again when I started jogging.
--Critique when needed--I don't belong to a critique group any longer, but if one of my online friends needs a quick crit, then I'm available.
--Judge three unpublished writing contests (online only) and the Golden Heart--I judged eight contests, plus the Golden Heart, plus one published one.
--The Golden Heart is RWA's contest for unpublished writers. I love this contest as all you do is read the submission (roughly 50 pages & a synopsis) and award the entry a number between 1 and 9. I really enjoy judging the GH because I can sit down and expect to be wowed!
--The published contest is harder because you have to read the entire book, though it is a simple numerical score.
--The eight unpubbed contests take the most time as you have to read the submission and judge it according to the criteria set up by the contest committee for each particular chapter. The submissions run the gauntlet of publishable to newbie writer just starting out, but I've always come away from the judging experience learning something. Try it you might enjoy it, too!
--Use online calendar to record Tarot daily draws, chores, reading and writing goals --A couple of years ago I bought a Tarot deck and book. One of my characters used the Tarot in her plans of revenge--I never finished that story, but I keep drawing my daily Tarot card. One--it's just fun, Two--it forces me to go to my online calendar to record my card. . . and I have a list of my monthly goals posted on this calendar. Plus it reminds me to document what I have been doing with my day if I haven't been writing. It forces you to be accountable for your writing or lack of.
On Wednesday, I'll post how I deal with monthly and weekly goals.
Until then . . .
Write on!
And we covered writing goals, knowing full well that they could change at the drop of a contract. *hint, hint* Hey, I'll try for all the karma I can get. :-)
So what other goals can you put down on your yearly list? Remember, this is a list that you will be referring to every time you put a book you read on the list--skim the goals.
Here are a couple of my 'other' type of goals:
--Attend one conference--I went to a local SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) conference in town. Next spring, it will be in Oklahoma City
--Return to a healthy lifestyle: eat smaller, eat healthier, and kick the kidlet's butt on the Wii Fit exercises! And exercise 3-5 days a week. --I did all of this, but not consistently. I was exercising on the Wii Fit until the kidlet got out of school for summer vacation, and then, PFFTT! After that, the Wii console was exchanged and I just started unlocking the levels again when I started jogging.
--Critique when needed--I don't belong to a critique group any longer, but if one of my online friends needs a quick crit, then I'm available.
--Judge three unpublished writing contests (online only) and the Golden Heart--I judged eight contests, plus the Golden Heart, plus one published one.
--The Golden Heart is RWA's contest for unpublished writers. I love this contest as all you do is read the submission (roughly 50 pages & a synopsis) and award the entry a number between 1 and 9. I really enjoy judging the GH because I can sit down and expect to be wowed!
--The published contest is harder because you have to read the entire book, though it is a simple numerical score.
--The eight unpubbed contests take the most time as you have to read the submission and judge it according to the criteria set up by the contest committee for each particular chapter. The submissions run the gauntlet of publishable to newbie writer just starting out, but I've always come away from the judging experience learning something. Try it you might enjoy it, too!
--Use online calendar to record Tarot daily draws, chores, reading and writing goals --A couple of years ago I bought a Tarot deck and book. One of my characters used the Tarot in her plans of revenge--I never finished that story, but I keep drawing my daily Tarot card. One--it's just fun, Two--it forces me to go to my online calendar to record my card. . . and I have a list of my monthly goals posted on this calendar. Plus it reminds me to document what I have been doing with my day if I haven't been writing. It forces you to be accountable for your writing or lack of.
On Wednesday, I'll post how I deal with monthly and weekly goals.
Until then . . .
Write on!
12/4/09
Yearly Wrap-Up (Part 2)
Okey-dokey pokey, onward to the setting of writing goals.
One thing you need to remember is that goals change, goals evolve, so don't feel frustrated or upset if you didn't meet your original goals. Adjust your goals as your writing needs change.
A year ago, I was at a writing retreat with Deb Dixon-yes, THAT Deb Dixon, the Queen of GMC, Goal, Motivation and Conflict-and she pointed out that your character doesn't necessarily have to have the same goal by the end of the story as the character did at the beginning of the story. It's okay for them to change goals. Therefore, I feel the same way about writing goals.
This is your yearly goals list, not anyone else's goals so don't get nit-picky.
For example, I wouldn't do this:
--write every day
I hate it when writers put this down as a yearly goal as it's unrealistic, life tends to get in the way so I use this sort of goal in a week-by-week basis or as a 100-words a day challenge. I can look at my weekly calendar and figure out what a realistic goal is for that week. I can add or delete the amount accordingly. In the summer months my kiddo is out of school, and if I get any writing accomplished then that's just icing. But I do know that I can edit. For me, I need quiet, uninterrupted time to write, but I can take innumerable interruptions while editing. It's what works for me--go figure.
So, here is an example of my writing goals. The dashes (--) are really bullet points since I can't seem to make them work on the blog.
--Send partial of Demon Spawn to DD at BelleBridgeBooks (Jan.)--Done 1/24/09--dumped it and started over--decided to write younger
--Finish @#$%^& manuscript (Yes, I cursed on my yearly goal list), Demon Spawn, including synopsis & query--NOPE
--Broadly plot UF 7-book series idea (Demon Manifesto)--NOPE
--Write a few Peter stories (easy readers) and pimp the ones already written--1 DONE
Farther down the list were new goals that I accomplished:
--Wrote middle grade story--Missing: One Garden Gnome 5/29/09 (date finished) 47000 words--query written 7/15, synopsis written 7/16, submitted to Delacorte Yearling contest 6/30/09
--Wrote chapter book story, The Faerie Who Lost His Wings 5/13/09 --1742 words
--Started writing The Fast and The Faerieous--MG novel
And, of course, there were a few false starts on a couple of paranormal suspense's that I didn't include on this list.
So I didn't end up finishing the goal that I had in January, but that's okay because I revised my list according to where I was with my writing.
I know writers who simply put: Write X number of books. And that's okay as it is a goal that works for them. I like a little more detail in my goals.
I have one more goal oriented post before I start working on my list for 2010. I hope you'll join me, but until then . . .
Write on!
One thing you need to remember is that goals change, goals evolve, so don't feel frustrated or upset if you didn't meet your original goals. Adjust your goals as your writing needs change.
A year ago, I was at a writing retreat with Deb Dixon-yes, THAT Deb Dixon, the Queen of GMC, Goal, Motivation and Conflict-and she pointed out that your character doesn't necessarily have to have the same goal by the end of the story as the character did at the beginning of the story. It's okay for them to change goals. Therefore, I feel the same way about writing goals.
This is your yearly goals list, not anyone else's goals so don't get nit-picky.
For example, I wouldn't do this:
--write every day
I hate it when writers put this down as a yearly goal as it's unrealistic, life tends to get in the way so I use this sort of goal in a week-by-week basis or as a 100-words a day challenge. I can look at my weekly calendar and figure out what a realistic goal is for that week. I can add or delete the amount accordingly. In the summer months my kiddo is out of school, and if I get any writing accomplished then that's just icing. But I do know that I can edit. For me, I need quiet, uninterrupted time to write, but I can take innumerable interruptions while editing. It's what works for me--go figure.
So, here is an example of my writing goals. The dashes (--) are really bullet points since I can't seem to make them work on the blog.
--Send partial of Demon Spawn to DD at BelleBridgeBooks (Jan.)--Done 1/24/09--dumped it and started over--decided to write younger
--Finish @#$%^& manuscript (Yes, I cursed on my yearly goal list), Demon Spawn, including synopsis & query--NOPE
--Broadly plot UF 7-book series idea (Demon Manifesto)--NOPE
--Write a few Peter stories (easy readers) and pimp the ones already written--1 DONE
Farther down the list were new goals that I accomplished:
--Wrote middle grade story--Missing: One Garden Gnome 5/29/09 (date finished) 47000 words--query written 7/15, synopsis written 7/16, submitted to Delacorte Yearling contest 6/30/09
--Wrote chapter book story, The Faerie Who Lost His Wings 5/13/09 --1742 words
--Started writing The Fast and The Faerieous--MG novel
And, of course, there were a few false starts on a couple of paranormal suspense's that I didn't include on this list.
So I didn't end up finishing the goal that I had in January, but that's okay because I revised my list according to where I was with my writing.
I know writers who simply put: Write X number of books. And that's okay as it is a goal that works for them. I like a little more detail in my goals.
I have one more goal oriented post before I start working on my list for 2010. I hope you'll join me, but until then . . .
Write on!
12/2/09
Yearly Wrap-Up (Part I)
What did you accomplish this year? Writing-wise, that is. Though I do tend to include exercise and eating healthy on my list--it doesn't always happen, but it's a good reminder.
I know that it's only the beginning of December, but when January blows around the corner we need to know where we are with our writing, and where we intend to be at the beginning of the year so we can start off with confidence. Wow, that sentence was a mouthful, wasn't it?
The first question that I'll pose to y'all is this, have you even LOOKED at your goals from last year? I know it's hard to remember to open that document . . . uh, I'm going to assume everyone uses a computer for their goals--don't waste paper on this, because that's just silly.
My list of bullet-pointed goals, including add-ons and deletions, covers a couple of pages. This sounds like a lot of goals, but considering my goals changed mid-year I simply added to them.
One of my tricks, that I'll share today, is keeping track of the books I've read throughout the year ON MY GOAL SHEET.
Why?
Because it forces me to glance at my goals as I add each book to the bottom of the list. I've read from various sources--therefore I couldn't quote or credit it if my life depended on it--that to keep your goals fresh in your mind is to periodically go over them. It doesn't do you any good if you make goals in January, but don't look at them until December. Sometimes we go off on a tangent, such as veering off in totally unexpected way. For example: writing a middle grade novel. Ooops. :-)
So back to my list of books that I've read. This was my goal:
--Read 35 books, including craft books (keep log on this page)--DONE
I made this goal at the end of August, and I'm in the middle of reading book #48. I usually put the title, author's name, and date I finished the book. But I also added MG novel if I was reading a middle grade book--gotta keep up with the current trends, especially in the genre you write! I also highlighted the books that I couldn't finish, or if they were excruciatingly boring, but felt compelled to finish reading it.
I didn't read any craft books this year as I seemed to have exhausted the interesting ones. Now, I just skim the information to figure out what I need to know and then move on with life. The same goes for research books. Either I thumb through the books, or simply look up the information online.
So for my 2010 goals, I'll up my reading goal to 50 books.
I'll deal with writing goals on Friday. Remember to be flexible with your goals adjusting them accordingly.
Until later. . .
Write On!
I know that it's only the beginning of December, but when January blows around the corner we need to know where we are with our writing, and where we intend to be at the beginning of the year so we can start off with confidence. Wow, that sentence was a mouthful, wasn't it?
The first question that I'll pose to y'all is this, have you even LOOKED at your goals from last year? I know it's hard to remember to open that document . . . uh, I'm going to assume everyone uses a computer for their goals--don't waste paper on this, because that's just silly.
My list of bullet-pointed goals, including add-ons and deletions, covers a couple of pages. This sounds like a lot of goals, but considering my goals changed mid-year I simply added to them.
One of my tricks, that I'll share today, is keeping track of the books I've read throughout the year ON MY GOAL SHEET.
Why?
Because it forces me to glance at my goals as I add each book to the bottom of the list. I've read from various sources--therefore I couldn't quote or credit it if my life depended on it--that to keep your goals fresh in your mind is to periodically go over them. It doesn't do you any good if you make goals in January, but don't look at them until December. Sometimes we go off on a tangent, such as veering off in totally unexpected way. For example: writing a middle grade novel. Ooops. :-)
So back to my list of books that I've read. This was my goal:
--Read 35 books, including craft books (keep log on this page)--DONE
I made this goal at the end of August, and I'm in the middle of reading book #48. I usually put the title, author's name, and date I finished the book. But I also added MG novel if I was reading a middle grade book--gotta keep up with the current trends, especially in the genre you write! I also highlighted the books that I couldn't finish, or if they were excruciatingly boring, but felt compelled to finish reading it.
I didn't read any craft books this year as I seemed to have exhausted the interesting ones. Now, I just skim the information to figure out what I need to know and then move on with life. The same goes for research books. Either I thumb through the books, or simply look up the information online.
So for my 2010 goals, I'll up my reading goal to 50 books.
I'll deal with writing goals on Friday. Remember to be flexible with your goals adjusting them accordingly.
Until later. . .
Write On!
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