What's Your BHAG?

Not too long ago, Renee Roberson wrote a post about her bucket list of writing goals. In her reply to one of my comments, she claimed that everyone should have a BHAG--a big, hairy audacious goal.

I wholeheartedly agree.

Not surprisingly, my BHAG is the same as one of Renee's: publish a novel.

photo by pixabay
Notice I chose a scary-looking mountain--quite a formidable one--because
my BHAG is a bit scary...

I've been more successful as a writer than I previously predicted. Years ago, I figured my poems and stories would never see the light of day. Well, my poems are still only seen by my students (you're welcome!) but when it comes to my stories, I've gotten 16 of them published in different Chicken Soup for the Soul collections. I've done NaNoWriMo six different years and only crashed and burned during three of them. I wrote a horrid manuscript but it led to wonderful healing (of me). I wrote, side by side, next to my students every day for a whole month.

And now my BHAG is looming over me like a terrifying mountain.

I don't know what Renee is doing about her novel. Knowing her, she's probably not in a corner whining about what could have been and what should have been. Probably she's working on hiking up that mountain, a few steps at a time. If she's stopping at spots and camping out for a while, that's cool. Most people don't reach the peak of a BHAG through nonstop work. It helps to occasionally take a break, catch your breath and reorganize.

Right now I've spent too much time in my base tent... just gazing up at the snowy top of the mountain. I have a manuscript. The second draft is finished. Have I shared it with my students (like I promised)? No. Have I shared it with my writing critique group (like I want to)? No. The reasons behind my reluctance is something I’m still working through.

For some, their BHAG might be submitting (probably more than once) to a large market. A national magazine maybe. For others, it might be writing the difficult-to-tell memoir. For one writer I know, it’s the illustrations that are holding her back from reaching the peak of one of her goals. Lynn Obermoeller has written the text to a picture book. The pictures, along with the zentangled text, has caused her to reach an impasse. (I guess in this case it’s the way the text is displayed on the page, along with the illustrations, that has gotten her stuck.)

As writers, we have daily, weekly and monthly goals. Daily ones might include writing for at least thirty minutes every day. Weekly? Weekly goals might involve being prepared for a writing critique meeting. Submitting to a particular market that has a themed monthly call for submissions could be a goal of yours.

Those are fine goals, and when I can nail them, I’m thrilled. But when I’m just trudging along on a level surface, with those regular goals in my sights, I’m not using my full potential. To keep myself challenged and growing, my reach should exceed my grasp…

… which means I need to drag my fat rump out of my tent, sling my provisions into my pack and start climbing up that mountain of a BHAG.

What's your BHAG? And what are you doing as you hike toward achieving that goal? Or if you're making very little progress (like me) how big of a stick of dynamite do I need to light under your rear? Reluctant minds want to know...

Sioux Roslawski is a hiker of easy trails on flat ground. Recently (like right after finishing this post) she has decided to engage in more strenuous hiking. She's put on those pointy-bottomed things onto her shoes (see--she knows all the lingo), she's gotten some rope (it's around her waist--not around her neck), and she has a particular mountain peak in her sights. Sioux's evenings are spent working on drafting creative nonfiction and her days are usually taken up with teaching middle-schoolers how to write and how to appreciate great books; if you want to read more of her stuff, go to Sioux's blog.