Goals - And not the kind you hang dirty laundry on

Admit it.  You've bought at least 1 piece of exercise equipment only to have it become an indoor laundry line.  We've all been there, some more recently than others.  There's no doubt that the upcoming months are known to both inspire and depress.  Goals flourish from the regret we have over not accomplishing something the previous year and we are determined to get it right in the upcoming year.  It's natural to want to finish something you started - but it's also important to realize why your goal was never attained.  Was the goal attainable?  Realistic? Meaningful?  All of these things can cause goals to wither away.



So how does one come up with good writing goals?  Here's a total unrelated way to remember how to set your goals; M.A.M.A. (yes I work for a company that suffers from Acronym-alitis - it's an awful, itchy, and rather annoying disease involving the inability to call things by their rightful names)

Make it a Measurable goal:  Say you want to lose weight, well great, good for you. But that's not really a goal.  Same with writing.  Do you want to be a good writer, a novelist, an editor, or NY Times Best Selling author (see I will always find a way to bombard you with my life's ambition!) You have to be specific with your goals; "I want to lose 30lbs by June 1st." or "I want to find a literary agent that loves my work as much as I do this year."  You aren't saying how you are going to do it (that comes later when assigning short-term goals) you are simply stating a measurable goal.

Make it Attainable: Say you want to right a book this year.  Is it possible?  Yes.  But how do you go about it?  Do you have six hours a day, seven days a week to write?  No?  (Come on who doesn't have that much time????  Oh, wait - I don't either.)  So really, how much time do you have?  Break your goal up into something that is measurable - like "I want to write 2 chapters a month."  or "I want to finish my book by April 30th and finish all edits by October 1st."  If you start out saying "I want to be a published author by December 1st" you are setting yourself up for failure - I'm not being mean, I'm just being realistic - I'm fairly certain it takes at least a year and half with edits and printing.  Give yourself something worth fighting for - and in order for you to want to fight for it you have to know you stand a chance at winning.

Make it Meaningful:  Any goal worth having has to mean something to you, or you won't even try. Writing is no different.  What is it about writing that draws you to it?  The freedom of being your own boss, the adventure in creating characters and places others haven't, the excitement in knowing that you could one day be the reason kids want to read?  Whatever your motivation is, use it. Make every word, chapter, book count.

Make yourself Accountable: You can tell yourself you want to write a book anytime, anywhere (even on a random blog) BUT there's something about telling others what you're doing that takes your goal to a new level.  No one wants to fail and yet when you tell others that you are a pre-published author it makes you want to work that much harder - because SOMEDAY you will be able to take that word "pre-" and bury it forever!  So tell a friend, your spouse, your kids, your boss, your neighbors, or even the world :)

So here's to a year of worthwhile, attainable, non-laundry line writing goals!