Wordstruck - 10 ways to complete your 2014 writing goals

Happy 1st October! It’s hard to believe that we’re already in the last quarter of the year.

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© andrewgenn

Be honest, now. How many of you made some writing resolutions back in January that you still haven’t completed? You’re not the only one. I have a few outstanding…

With only 12 weeks left to go – and that includes silly season – here are 10 ways to tick off some of those boxes on your TO WRITE list.

How to end 2014 with a bang

Put together a plan on what you still want to achieve. Doesn’t matter if it’s handwritten or a spreadsheet, a mindmap or a bunch of sticky post-its. Goals are much more achievable if they’re written down.

Prioritise. Realistically you probably aren’t going to complete the final draft of your novel, write the synopsis AND get a publishing deal before the clock strikes midnight on December 31. But there’s time to add another 15,000 words to your manuscript if you aim to write 1,500 words a week for the next 10 weeks (c'mon that’s do-able).

Sign up for NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month in November. The challenge is to write 50,000 words in one month & you can sign up from today. This is a brilliant way to get your fingers flying over the keyboard & feel part of a global community of writers. It’s free.

Make a date to meet up with your writing buddy or writing group. Do this now before everyone’s diaries get filled up. Ensure that you give each other a task. Then celebrate afterwards and schedule your next meet-up in the new year.

Spring clean your desk. Honestly, clearing your physical space helps remove psychic clutter. Take 2 hours to sift through your stack of papers, chuck out obsolete drafts & make space for the new. Wipe down your desk, pick some flowers, make it a pleasant place to sit.

Go through all the work you have done this year. You’ve probably forgotten that short story you wrote on the train to work. Compile it – either in print-outs or digitally – and feel good about what you’ve already achieved. See where the gaps are and what you want to plug before the end of 2014.

Block out a writing day (half-a-day if that’s all you have) between now and Christmas. Diarise this. Make it yours. Give yourself one thing to complete and when you’ve done that, send it to a writing buddy you trust.

Book yourself in for a writing workshop. This is especially for those of you who made it a 2014 New Year Resolution and haven’t yet signed up. Join me in Melbourne, Sydney or Launceston, or a slew of other courses in all corners of the globe. It’s amazing how one day in the presence of others can re-focus your writing.

Start reading that book you keep promising yourself you’ll read… and never do. Start tonight. I find that reading is a great way to re-invigorate my writing.

And lastly… Map out your writing strategy for the last quarter AND for the next quarter. It’s important to end the year on a high so you start 2015 with a bang.

If you’re taking a break over Christmas, make sure you end your current writing project at a suitable juncture – and before you finish up, write a list of what you’re going to do next. That way, when you come back after your holiday, you have an instant starting point & waste less time.

Let me know how you go!

Join me next weekend in Ballarat & Melbourne. On Saturday 10 October, I am teaching Travel Memoir in Ballarat & on Sunday 11 October, a new workshop, Write Smarter, Work Faster in Melbourne.

Or in Sydney, I’m teaching a Travel Writing workshop on 18 November at NSWWC.