TECH: The Write Goals for You (moldy oldie)

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting 2 August 2011

Writer's Digest, February 1993, pages 28 to 31, have an article by Carolyn Cutler about setting realistic goals. It starts out with some discussion of what we mean by goals -- our explicit goal such as wanting to write sometimes stumbles on our implicit goal (writing the great American novel without any effort?). I think of it as realistic planning versus just dreaming.

Deadlines, tentative plans, they're all ways to deal with goals. What we need to be careful about are unrealistic, unattainable goals. Writing is a big job -- setting achievable goals can help keep it under control. Here is what Carolyn suggests:

1. Make a list. Put down all the projects you've worked on in the past year. Note their start and finish dates. You can include other jobs besides writing. Then for each project think about the following questions:

-- what got you started?
-- What happened? Did you finish it? Submitted for publication?
-- What did you like about this project, and what did you hate? How hard was it?
-- How did you work on the project? A little bit of it at a time, one intense session? What techniques did you use?

You may not answer every question for every project. Do the ones that seem most important to you.

2. Step back and take a look at your list. Are there patterns there? Is there anything you notice? Then think about whether there is a pattern about how you start projects, whether most of your projects are at the same stage, and how comfortable you are with that, what you enjoy, and what techniques you use.

3. Understand the two different kinds of goals. Output goals have a certain quantity of stuff that you have to do in a certain time. So many words, so many pages, so forth. But sometimes that's not the right measure. That's when you need process goals. How much time, or what are you going to do. Give yourself credit for spending 30 minutes researching. Be careful -- process goals don't focus on output, and sometimes you need both.

Some examples? Write four hours a day, six days a week (process goal). Write a poem a month (output goal). Complete a chapter of my novel in the next three months (output goal). Get five rejections in a day (output goal!) Spend two hours a week writing, 30 minutes on a specific project. Write five pages a day. And so forth and so on...

4. Take a look at your list. See if you have got some goals already written down. Then think about these questions:

-- which projects need output goals, which need process goals?
-- Are there goals to help you get started on things?
-- Are there stages that you have trouble with, and which goals could help?
-- What kind of goal supports the writing you like best?
-- What do you consider a reasonable set of goals? Push yourself but don't kill yourself!
-- Where would you like to be in a year, five years, 10 years? What big projects do you want to accomplish? What is your dream?

Set yourself reasonable, small goals that let you progress.

5. Put your goals to work. Keep track of your progress, make yourself accountable to a friend or your writing group, don't worry so much about quality. Schedule your writing time as appointments. Keep a variety going. Push yourself to meet your goals. Oh -- give yourself some breaks. Both planned and unplanned. Vacations are one way to recharge so that you can tackle your goals. And every little bit, stop and look at your goals again. Are they too easy now? Set the mark up. Having trouble? You may need to back off a little bit.

"As writers, we have to decide on our own what we want to accomplish and when we will get it done. Few other jobs demand this level of self-discipline. There's no substitute for the sense of pride and accomplishment you get when you complete something that is important to you. Through effective goal setting, you can create, and finish, meaningful projects even when the going gets tough."

There you go. Set yourself some goals. Make them explicit -- write them down. Then hold yourself accountable.

What did you say you are going to write, now?