A goal without a plan is just a dream. – Dave Ramsey

Every year a few days after Christmas you start hearing about new years resolutions. Everyone has an ambitious resolution for the new year. “I want to lose weight” “I want to write a book,” “I want to exercise more” “I want to read more.”

Every year those same people start toward their goals. They do good for a week, maybe two. Then they fall back into the same habits that prevented them from achieving those goals.

For writer’s “Write More” is a common new year’s resolution. It’s a great sentiment. It’s also a useless resolution.

SMART GOALS

Specific: The more specific your goal the easier it will be to reach. “Write more,” is vague. What are you going to write more of? How much are you writing now to write more than? What do you consider writing? Does your journal, blog, twitter, or Facebook posts count? Or does write more only mean write more creative projects? “Write a book,” is a much more specific goal than “write more.”

Measurable: “Write a book” is still vague, what do you qualify as a book? Does a novella count? Does a chapbook of poetry count? To be measurable you need a number, something that you can track. “Write a 50,000-word novel,” is a measurable goal, “Write a three-hundred-page book,” is a measurable goal.

Attainable: “Write 200 books” isn’t a goal that can be achieved in a year. Setting a goal, you know you can’t reach with reasonable effort is setting yourself up for failure. Self-sabotage is no one’s friend. To start with set a goal that you can reach with some effort, but you know you can realistically achieve.

Realistic: A common writer’s goal is: “Become a New York Times Best Seller” This is a dream not a goal. It’s possible, but it’s a one in a million shot. You’re more likely to be struck by lightning. It’s okay to dream big. It’s encouraged. But you want to set your goals with your feet on the ground. “Sell 500 copies of my book,” would be a realistic goal.

Time Sensitive: “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion” - Parkinson’s Law

To achieve a goal, it needs a deadline. Without a date to have it done the work will continue indefinitely. There must be a cutoff point. Most of new years resolutions come with the unacknowledged deadline of December 31st. Acknowledge the deadline or create one that works better for your projects.

Write x number of words this year

Reverse engineer this, if you expect yourself to be able to write five hundred words a day. Your goal for the year is 182,500 words. If you expect to write a thousand words a day that number doubles. Five hundred words a day is change when it comes to writing and yet, it adds up.

Finish x number of projects this year

If you write books you may set a goal of 1 book per quarter, that’s 4 books in a year. If your goal is to write blog articles and post 1 a week, then your goal is 52 projects in a year. If your goal is to write short stories and you know it takes you two weeks to do them. That’s 26 in a year. Set your project goal based on what you want to achieve.

Query X number of agents or publishers this year

If your over arching goal is to be traditionally published you must take the steps toward it, no matter how scary it is. If you have a polished project and you think that this is the one that you can sell. Make it a priority to get it in the hands of possible representatives. Querying 12 agents or publishers in a year gives you twelve more opportunities to have your work selected.

Improve one area of your writing

This one is a little harder to quantify because it takes some self-reflection. What area of your writing needs the most work? Are you having trouble with beginnings? Endings? Keeping character’s personalities consistent? If there’s something you know you need improvement on, but you’re not sure where to start make this your goal.

Example, By the end of the year I want to learn to write stronger conflicts in my stories. The goal would then be to identify various ways of practicing that aspect on a daily/weekly/and monthly basis.

Attend X writing related events this year

Attending writing related events isn’t necessary. You can write for the rest of your life and never attend one. You’ll be missing out. Whether it’s a writing panel at a convention, an author’s book signing, a NaNoWriMo write in, a writing group meeting, or a writer’s conference, find something that appeals to you and plan on attending. Most libraries offer free events, as well as many bookstores. This one will help you connect with others that share your passion. Writing is a solitary practice, having other writers even as passing acquaintances will help keep you motivated when you feel like you can’t reach those goals.

Goal Evaluation

Many goal setting sites will tell you, “check in frequently.”

What this means is not look at your goals and go, “yep sounds good” and move on.

What this means is daily/weekly/and monthly sit down and look at your long-term goal and where you are in relation. Have you met your daily goal the past 5 days? Have you met your weekly goal for the past month? Have you met your monthly goal for the past 3 months? If you have, Great job! What worked? What did you have trouble with? What would you do differently in the up coming period? Do you need to adjust your goal?

Let’s say your goal was 500 words a day, but you have a week when your computer is on the fritz. You can’t access your work. You get it fixed and now there’s a whole WEEK where you didn’t get anything done. You have a few options. You can take that 3500 words and subtract it from the yearly goal. So, 182,500 becomes 179,000 instead. You can increase next weeks word count goal to a thousand a day to get back on track, or you can take however many days are left in the year increase the daily goals to make up the difference. Let’s say it’s March 18th and you haven’t written for a week. You only need to increase your word count per day by 12 words.

Setting aside a time to check on your progress helps you spot problems early in the year and keeps you motivated.

With the new year starting it’s a good time to start planning on how to move forward in your dreams. Starting something new or continuing a journey when you’re not sure what direction to take are scary. Setting goals isn’t something that you have to do, you can always choose to write simply for the pleasure of writing. If you’re looking for inspiration for writing goals, I hope this helps.

If there’s something you’d like to see in a future post hit my inbox or askbox.