Nichole's writing goals

I am NOT a fan of resolutions. They get broken way too often. Just the phrase "New Year's Resolution" seems to beg to be broken. Maybe that's because resolutions are often just too vague: "lose weight," "get fit," "get organized," "be a better person." Seriously? While each of those resolutions is admirable, anyone who sticks with just those statements is doomed to fail.

Goals, however, are much more practical. Maybe it's because resolutions seem more...lofty. Goals are more measurable.

Therefore, I don't make resolutions. I do, though, make goals. Usually very detailed ones and in every aspect of my life. Yes, I have been accused of planning a little too much.

Okay, let's be honest. Resolutions. Goals. It's all semantics. As Juliet would say, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." But there's also a perception. If someone created a beautiful black rose with a white streak through it and called it a "skunk rose" would we expect it to smell sweet? Probably not.

In that spirit, then, here are my 2011 writing goals:

• Write 10,000 words each week. I'm not saying a certain number of words each day, or even write at a certain time each day. I just want to get 10,000 words on screen (since I don't write on paper!) each and every week. That doesn't count editing. Just new words.
• Finish Sleeping Bears. This is Cerri's second adventure and takes place almost a year after Ghost Mountain. I have a solid start, but I need to finish it.
• Get a really good start on Day of the Dead. Yes, this would be Cerri's third adventure. Yes, I know I haven't finished book two. But I had a really great idea and I had to write THAT down.
• Market better. That means using Twitter and Facebook more to my advantage. Keeping my website up-to-date. Heck, that even means being better at blogging. Wish me luck...
• Keep track. No goals are worth thinking up if you can't measure them. I plan to create a spreadsheet to track my words written. That should help keep the other goals attainable.

There you have it. Five goals I've set for my writing career in 2011. Are they attainable? I think so. But, like anything else, it will take hard work and dedication to achieve them. Wish me luck!

Blessings!

Nichole

Looking back, looking ahead

This blog is a year old this week and what a year it's been!

Personally, this blog has taught me a lot. It's kept me writing, for one.

I've gotten to know my fellow bloggers and that's been wonderful.

I finished the first draft of my novel, Ghost Mountain, and started the sequel.

I was able to submit Ghost Mountain to a publisher.

And they accepted it! (In fact, I got the edits yesterday.)

That's a lot of good for a year. And I expect the upcoming year to be just as full. I've been told that Ghost Mountain will be available in early 2010, so there's a start. I have no doubt that the sequel will be finished in the next year. Book three will probably be started -- or at least plotted on the whiteboard next to my computer.

Do I have other goals? Of course. There are things I want to accomplish in my personal life, crafts and hobbies I want to learn and complete and master.

But for right now, my writing goals and accomplishments are taking center stage.

Blessings!

Nichole

NaNo and Goal Setting

This is the first time I've joined NaNo and I am embarrassed to say I'm just starting. But with the election over and my article submitted that was due this week, I'm back on track. My goal is to finish my WIP, OPAL FIRE, book two in the gemstone series by month's end.

I vowed to pen 50k words this month. Will I make it? Who knows, but I set a goal and I'm sure going to try.

Procrastination is a problem with many writers. I myself prefer to check email 50 times, do the dishes, feed the cat, plan dinner, hunt for dust bunnies and any number of other mundane tasks before hitting the keyboard. Something about staring at the blank screen scares the crap out of me. But once I begin, I'm in the zone.

That's where goal setting comes in.

Writers need goals to stay on track, especially if they ever want to sell anything. The editor doesn't care that you had the flu the week your revisions were due. The readers don't care that your kids got sick. They expect the work to be done and on time.

For my first book, I set a goal of 1000 words a day. For some that may be too much, for others, too little. Hemingway wrote 500 words a day and still had time for big game hunting and world travel. It can be done.

How? By organizing your priorities. Put dinner in the crockpot, teach your fifth grader to do the laundry, train your husband to help with homework, but set your goals for the day, week, month, and even the year.

Start with a calendar. Take the first blank space and write down a realistic goal for the year (or more if you're feeling ambitious).

For example: I will have written a book by this time next year.

Then break it down: I will write one page per day.
That's 365 days, 365 pages, or 1 book.
Simple, right?
Anyone can squeeze in a page per day.

Or maybe you prefer to keep a targeted word count. Or write at a certain time every day.

My goal is 1000-1500 words/day (longer this month). That averages to a chapter/week with 15-20 pages/chapter. That works for me.

Maybe you write faster than I do. Joe Konrath, author of the Jack Daniels thriller series, writes 4000 words per day. He researches and promotes most of the year and pumps out his books in February.

Now that sounds like a nightmare to me, but it works for him.

However big your dreams are, however unattainable they may seem, they'll only come true if you set goals. Then make every effort to meet them.

And if you fall short one day, you can make it up the next. The point is to try, because the only difference between a published author and an unpublished one is perseverance.

Barb