WOW! Women On Writing Blog: SMART goals

Goal Setting for the New Year or Any Time

Saturday, December 28, 2019

How do you set your goals for the New Year? Our accountability group (Hi Ladies!) has been discussing our 2019 goals – what each person wanted to accomplish and what they actually did.

I have a confession to make. I hate these kinds of conversations. I’m excellent at “setting” goals. But actually following through? Let’s just say that I’m easily distracted. Put out a call that sparks an idea and there I go. Or offer me a paying gig. That tends to be pretty distracting too.

Don’t get me wrong. It isn’t that I’ve accomplished nothing. I’ve written and submitted three books this year. The Assassination of John F. Kennedy and The Murders of Tupac and Biggie, both in Abdo’s American Crime Stories, will come out in January. I’ve also read something like 140 books ranging from novels, memoirs, and graphic novels, to picture books and juvenile nonfiction.

Last year, I thought I had nailed this whole goal setting thing with Renee’s SMART goals. SMART goals are specific - write 1000 words a day vs write every day. They are relevant which means that they match your larger ambitions. Writing SMART goals would keep me on track. I was sure of it.

Then I started doing something else Renee suggested. In another post, "Write Your Dreams into Existence," Renee asked us to journal about where we wanted to be in 10 years. This method involves writing down ten long term goals that you want to achieve in ten years. Write them as if you’ve already achieved them vs something that will happen in the future. This means that you write “I have an agent” vs “I will find an agent.” Recopy your ten long term goals daily.

When I did this, I noticed the many things in my day that didn’t feed into these goals. I also started to see opportunities that would help me reach them. These are some of the things that “distracted” me from my annual goals.

How then should you set your annual goals? First things first, don’t think of them as annual goals. As Margo recently said in her post, “I've always wondered what was so magical about starting a new year. Why do we make all these promises to do all these things just because January is lucky enough to start a brand new, fresh calendar?”

These aren’t goals for January. These aren’t goals for the New Year. They are your writing goals. Some will be accomplished this year. Others will take longer.

So whether you do this now, at the tail end of December, or in two weeks when it is actually January, think about where you want to be in ten years. Do what Renee suggested and come up with ten long term goals for your future. Remember to write them in the present tense. 1. I have an agent. 2. I do school visits. 3. I have a strong online presence...

Then recopy them daily for several weeks. Do they still feel like solid long term goals? Rework the ones that feel off. Then repeat the process, writing them daily for several weeks.

Once you have long term goals that feel right, you are ready to set your short term SMART goals. These short term goals are the initial steps in realizing your long term goals.

After all, isn’t the whole point of setting goals to help you get where you want to be?

--SueBE

To find out more about Sue's writing, visit her blog, One Writer's Journey. Sue is also the instructor for Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. The next session begins January 6th, 2020.

6 comments goal setting, Renee Roberson, SMART goals, Sue Bradford Edwards

Five Year Writing Plans

Sunday, April 14, 2013

by Wonderlane Flickr.com

I'm currently editing articles for our next e-zine, Issue #56, with the theme of psychology for writers. As a writer, you know how much of the daily writing process is mental preparation. You have to mentally prepare yourself all the time to work on your writing, and there are probably hundreds of reasons why you could have writers' block. This is why one of my favorite classes to teach online is Writing for Children: How to Get Started and Take Hold of Your Career. And one of my favorite exercises in the class is creating a five-year plan or vision for each student's writing career.

Why do I think this is important? We already make six-month and one-year goals in the class. The goals are S.M.A.R.T., which is also crucial. S. M. A. R. T. means Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. For example, I talk to my students about having a goal, such as, "I will finish my 30,000-word middle-grade novel in six-months by writing 5000 words a month," as opposed to: "I will write three picture books and send them off in six months." We make plans for how we will achieve each goal and make sure it will actually work in the lives of each individual student. This is important for our mental health! And if you have never done this, I encourage you to, AND share these goals with the people you live with, so they can help you achieve them.

But the five-year plan/vision is something different. It makes you imagine your life as you REALLY want it in five years, but only focusing on the things you can actually control .So for example, a lot of writers want to write: "In five years, my novel will be published and on the New York Times Bestseller List." This is a fine dream and one that should never be squashed. However, it doesn't belong on a five-year career vision because you can't control getting on the New York Times list.. A better five-year plan would be: "In five years, I will have a published novel. I will either publish it traditionally or self-publish. I will be busy marketing by having a blog on the topic, visiting other blogs, working on speaking engagements, and writing freelance articles on the topic. I plan to support myself with my writing in five years OR have a part-time job that allows me to write in the morning when I am at my best."

I ask students to be optimistic when turning in their five-year plans, but to try to include only things that they can actually control. This is hard--again, I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings or ask people not to dream. But I do think it's important when thinking of your writing as a career that you are realistic with a bit of hope and optimism thrown in.

In my opinion, part of writer's block or even writer's apathy comes because you have set too high of expectations for yourself or even goals that you cannot control. (As much as we try, we can't control those agents or editors or even readers whom we want to buy our book!) Also, if you don't envision your life as a writer, in my opinion, it's easy to let other things take over--other hobbies, family commitments, part-time jobs, volunteer positions, and so on. If you keep the ultimate five-year vision in mind, then you will have an easier time saying no to some of these extraneous things.

If you've never done a long-range vision for your career, I encourage you to. Share part or all of it with us in the comments! We'd love to hear. :)

If you are interested in Margo's class: Writing for Children: How to Get Started and Take Hold of Your Career, which includes a critique on a picture book manuscript or 10-pages of a novel, then you can find more information here. Margo is the author of Finding My Place: One Girl's Strength at Vicksburg and edits most of the e-zine articles for WOW!