Hey guys!
So apparently I've been talking a lot about goal setting and my current journey to reaching some of my goals. I have accomplished a few goals (and I guarantee you have too) in my life, and I thought I'd write about some of the things I've learned. Feel free to comment on things you've learned from your experiences.
1. Be super ridiculously specific. "I want to write a book" is not specific. Technically, 200 words could be a book if you phrased it right. What kind of book do you want to write? A children's book? YA? Historical Fiction? Fantasy? Memoir? All of those will look very different, and have different appropriate lengths. What about editing? Do you want to publish it, or just leave it in your computer folder for the rest of your days (not that I've ever done that...)? What about a timeline? SMART goals are almost a cliche at this point, but that's because they actually work.
So, my goal here would be, I want to write a full-length YA novel that I edit well enough to be accepted by a reputable publisher within a year.
2. Make a list of steps that you need to take in order to accomplish this goal. Maybe it's just because I'm a list person, but I love this step. I've also learned to be super ridiculously specific in this too. There is no step too small. If "write a 8 sentence paragraph" helps you work toward your goal, then that's what it does. I also deal with depression, personally, so small steps are super helpful to me. Sometimes "get out of bed" is an important accomplishment in my day.
My list might look something like this:
1. Plan out my novel in detail. Make sure it has a beginning, middle, and end, and that there's a decent outline of what happens in each chapter. (this could actually be a couple steps, and it will be broken down later, but for concision, this is how things are right now.)
2. Write a first draft- (Nanowrimo? Make sure this happens in 1 month)
3. REWRITE- don't just edit! Full on copy everything word for word. I'll allow two months for this, because it's a painful process. Make sure to note rhetorical devices such as symbolism, imagery, and foreshadowing that may or may not be accidental, and flesh those out more.
4. Read it aloud to myself, in its entirety. Stop when I hit something I don't like, or that sounds weird.
5. Once I have a draft you're fairly happy with, that is pretty much where the story might go, have a trusted friend read it. Print out one of those fancy pinterest-y question lists for editing and have them fill it out. Tell them my concerns before they read it, and ask them to look for those things.
6. Make the changes they tell me to, if I agree with them.
7. Close read for grammar.
8. Do any more changes until I'm in love with what I wrote.
9. Submit it to as many publishing companies as possible, or hire an agent to do that for me. As I get feedback, take it into account and fix what you think needs to be fixed. Remember that it's just someone's opinion, albeit someone who has a lot of experience in this business. Take what they say with a grain of salt.
10. Keep submitting!
3. Create a timeline. You can kind of do this concurrently with step 2, because you might want to write out daily steps to accomplish your goal. For instance, if your goal is to lose 20 pounds, there are probably things you would do every day to help you lose those 20 pounds. Also: make sure that your timeline is doable. Make sure you're working on one thing at a time. Writing is a pretty easy one to work on one thing at a time with, but like don't all of a sudden decide you're going to completely change your life one day and start a new diet and exercise plan and also sign up for a 5k. You're going to get burnt out quick.
So my timeline would look something like this: Step 1- I would probably say that I want to spend an hour each day for the first week making my outline. Then for step 2, I might want to start
Nanowrimo (which is national novel writing month, but can be done in any month, and is an excellent way to get a super rough draft of a novel) the week after, or wait for the first of the month and do it then, because then I'll have more of a community as I do it.
4. Create an accountability source. Whether it's blogging about it, having a friend ask you about it every week, or even just checking up on it every week during weekly planning if you're self motivated and super good at that kind of thing, make sure there's SOMETHING keeping you accountable in a way that works for you.
5. Adjust as needed. Stuff happens. Roadblocks come up, you often need more time than you thought, you realize this wasn't exactly what you wanted and you want to work towards something else. Whatever it is, be willing to adjust, but keep working hard!
6. Do it! Seriously probably the hardest part of all this. I really really like setting goals and planning out how I will accomplish it, but as far as the actual nitty gritty of the task goes, I hate that part. This is also where that whole decision fatigue thing comes in. Make it harder for you not to work on your goal. Schedule time in the library to work on your novel. Bonus points if you get someone expecting you to go there. Make an appointment with a personal trainer every week. Prepare all your meals in advance so it's easier to heat one of those up than it is to go through the drive through at your local McDonald's. Whatever you can do to make it stupid easy to accomplish your goals, do it. Also, make sure you have something to motivate you when all you would rather do is sleep or watch something on Netflix. Make a workout playlist and listen to it. Read articles on what your goal is about. Become completely obsessed with it. Your friends will forgive you eventually. Join a community of people who are working on the same thing, so you can talk to them about it instead of friends that couldn't care less (been there, done that. Apparently people don't want to hear about my novel 24/7).
Anyway, those are the things that I have learned will help me actually accomplish my goals. What things have helped you?
