Setting Writing Goals
Happy birthday to me! I had grand plans for a day out, followed by an evening out, but I think the big day out will be postponed until tomorrow because I might as well celebrate a birthday week and because this will allow me to work at least a little bit each day. There will be some shopping today, though, as I need milk and I might as well get a present for myself while I'm at it (I have birthday money to spend, plus I got a larger-than-expected royalty check). But first, a writing post.
I got some questions after the earlier post on writing with a day job about setting goals, so I'll address that topic today. As usual, this may or not apply to the way you work, so try out the advice and use what makes sense to you. Everyone functions a different way. There may be people who can just sit down and do the day-to-day work without any goals or measurements. I am not generally one of those people. I like to have a target to shoot for and a way to measure my progress.
Start by setting a deadline for the completed project or for that draft, even if you don't have a contracted deadline. I like to pin that deadline to an external event so that I'm not tempted to shift it -- like finishing a draft before I go on vacation so that I won't lose momentum and can let the project rest while I'm out. Other good deadline triggers might be a contest you want to enter or a conference you'll be attending where you want to be able to tell editors you have a completed manuscript.
To come up with a daily or weekly goal, count the number of days or weeks you think you'll realistically be working (and I like to subtract a few, just to give a cushion), and divide that by the number of words or pages you anticipate the project will be. I generally think of the weekly goal as my "hard" goal that I have to achieve, while the daily goal is more of a soft target. That way, if things aren't going well one day, I don't feel like I'm under so much pressure and I know I can make it up later, but I still have something I'm aiming for. I may also set little goals for each writing session -- I'm going to write 1,000 words before I get up and take a break.
When it comes to those smaller goals, either daily or for a session, you can measure yourself either by the amount of time you've worked or by how much you've produced. That depends on the phase of your work or your situation. It's hard to set productivity goals for revisions because the idea is to make it as good as possible, not to just get through it all, and some pages you can speed through while other pages may take a lot of work. A time goal is also good when you have a hard stop on a writing session, like if you're writing during your lunch hour at work. You have to stop when the time comes, whether or not you've written a certain number of words, so it doesn't make sense to set a production goal.
It helps to track your progress, and if you're deducting writing expenses from your taxes while still taking a loss on your writing business, it's good to have something to show the IRS to prove that you're seriously pursuing this. You can chart your daily progress in time, word count or page count by just writing it down, marking it on a calendar or making a chart. It's also good to have a system of rewards in place. Have something big that you want for when you meet your final goal and finish the book and a few other little things along the way for milestones. When I set weekly goals, I allow myself to take off early for the week once I've met that goal. If there's something I want to do on Friday afternoon, that's a lot of motivation for Monday through Thursday. On a daily basis, I let myself take off and relax once I've met my daily goal (unless I'm on a roll and want to keep working). I take breaks and do something fun throughout the day when I've met a goal for each writing session. When I've been really struggling, I've used the method of counting out candies or grapes and eating one when I finish each page. I've even done silly things like putting a gold star on the calendar when I meet the daily goal. Sometimes I resort to quasi punishments, like not letting myself do something I want to do until I've met my goal for the day.
I generally find that I don't need all these tricks at the beginning of a book, when I'm still enthusiastic about the story, or at the end, when I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but in the middle it sometimes takes every trick in the book to keep myself engaged.
I got some questions after the earlier post on writing with a day job about setting goals, so I'll address that topic today. As usual, this may or not apply to the way you work, so try out the advice and use what makes sense to you. Everyone functions a different way. There may be people who can just sit down and do the day-to-day work without any goals or measurements. I am not generally one of those people. I like to have a target to shoot for and a way to measure my progress.
Start by setting a deadline for the completed project or for that draft, even if you don't have a contracted deadline. I like to pin that deadline to an external event so that I'm not tempted to shift it -- like finishing a draft before I go on vacation so that I won't lose momentum and can let the project rest while I'm out. Other good deadline triggers might be a contest you want to enter or a conference you'll be attending where you want to be able to tell editors you have a completed manuscript.
To come up with a daily or weekly goal, count the number of days or weeks you think you'll realistically be working (and I like to subtract a few, just to give a cushion), and divide that by the number of words or pages you anticipate the project will be. I generally think of the weekly goal as my "hard" goal that I have to achieve, while the daily goal is more of a soft target. That way, if things aren't going well one day, I don't feel like I'm under so much pressure and I know I can make it up later, but I still have something I'm aiming for. I may also set little goals for each writing session -- I'm going to write 1,000 words before I get up and take a break.
When it comes to those smaller goals, either daily or for a session, you can measure yourself either by the amount of time you've worked or by how much you've produced. That depends on the phase of your work or your situation. It's hard to set productivity goals for revisions because the idea is to make it as good as possible, not to just get through it all, and some pages you can speed through while other pages may take a lot of work. A time goal is also good when you have a hard stop on a writing session, like if you're writing during your lunch hour at work. You have to stop when the time comes, whether or not you've written a certain number of words, so it doesn't make sense to set a production goal.
It helps to track your progress, and if you're deducting writing expenses from your taxes while still taking a loss on your writing business, it's good to have something to show the IRS to prove that you're seriously pursuing this. You can chart your daily progress in time, word count or page count by just writing it down, marking it on a calendar or making a chart. It's also good to have a system of rewards in place. Have something big that you want for when you meet your final goal and finish the book and a few other little things along the way for milestones. When I set weekly goals, I allow myself to take off early for the week once I've met that goal. If there's something I want to do on Friday afternoon, that's a lot of motivation for Monday through Thursday. On a daily basis, I let myself take off and relax once I've met my daily goal (unless I'm on a roll and want to keep working). I take breaks and do something fun throughout the day when I've met a goal for each writing session. When I've been really struggling, I've used the method of counting out candies or grapes and eating one when I finish each page. I've even done silly things like putting a gold star on the calendar when I meet the daily goal. Sometimes I resort to quasi punishments, like not letting myself do something I want to do until I've met my goal for the day.
I generally find that I don't need all these tricks at the beginning of a book, when I'm still enthusiastic about the story, or at the end, when I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but in the middle it sometimes takes every trick in the book to keep myself engaged.
Published on August 07, 2013 09:02
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Aubrey
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Aug 08, 2013 08:15AM

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