Today I’m guest blogging over at the lovely Sidney Bristol’s place about setting goals that change over time–both our own and our characters.
Tomorrow, I have a real, live book coming out. *cartoon flail* Return to Sender is releasing almost 10 years after I first started writing a romance novel, 7 years after I joined RWA, and is the 6th book I completed.
In the last 18 months, I finished five books. FIVE. I am in a little bit of shock. I know there are plenty of writers out there who do 6+ stories in a year without cracking a sweat, but for me, where the previous six years had yielded three books, the transformation has been amazing.
And it’s all about the goal setting. I do #1k1hr . I do every challenged Shoshanna Evers dreams up. I do the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood’s Winter Writing Festival. I won’t do NaNoWriMo this year because if I’ve learned one thing in the last 10 years it’s that goals have to be realistic.
So I’m signing up to do the latest ROW80 challenge.
My goals for the next 80 days:
- Finish my WIP. Two cute guys. One reality singing show. Lots of heat. If you enjoyed my hot Olympic swimming story, I think this one will also appeal. I hope.
- Open my WIP everyday and spend at least 15 minutes with it. This is it. That’s the key for me. Not 50k in a month (I’ve done that now, even in non-November months, but it doesn’t happen when I do big resolutions like 2k a day every day. It happens when I endure the 400 word days to earn the 4k days.) This for me is the sort of measurable goal where real progress comes from.
- Do at least one thing related to promo everyday, even if it’s tiny.
- Aim for one round of #1k1hr OR 1k words a day, 4 days of the week. I know I’ll probably easily reach that one, but I need to be realistic and give myself an out for those smaller word count days where opening the file is my big victory.
- Get something out on submission.
What are your goals? If you’re reaching this through the ROW80 linky plug-in, be sure to drop a comment so I can come cheer you on too!
I like your goals…and congrats on the book!
I did NaNoWriMo once…and the WIP I have now that is closest to publication came from that process.
I had published five novels in a two-year period, and now it has been four years since the last one. So I need to get my butt in gear.
Here’s MY ROW 80 CHECK-IN POST
I hope this is a successful year for you!
Annabeth, it’s great to “meet” you, and welcome to ROW80! I’ve been participating for the last year or so, and I’ve really enjoyed it.
Congrats on all the success that you’re having with your writing! Oh, and I wanted to add that I love the peacock design of your header. Peacocks are one of my favorite animals (I’ve got a peacock feather quill tattoo, lol), and show up as imagery in one of my WIPs.
Good luck with this round!
Yep! I love peacocks too! I told my web designer that I wanted something sexy but not “hello, man-titty!” and I think the peacock works well for that!
Your goals are really great–focused and real. One thing that struck me was the part in your WIP goal about opening it up. You have just given me such a great idea! Opening up my WIP every morning even before I have time to actually work on it–the visual reminder of the open file might just get me working on those scattered days. So glad I stopped by–thanks!
I keep mine open. It’s a little reminder that I’m supposed to be using my time somewhat wisely–just a reminder if you do that though, if you have auto-backups scheduled like with google documents or dropbox, they sometimes don’t catch it or sync until the file as actually closed. So remember to save & close & re-open at least once a day! (And if you have toddlers in the household save OFTEN!)
The ROW80 goals are a great idea. Thanks for the tip and for the inspirational ideas! I especially love the idea of working on it for even 15 minutes a day. Jumping that hurdle to get my butt back into the story really is the first step. 🙂
hehe – by “it,” I meant the WIP. Sorry for the vagueness. That’s what I get for surfing at 4AM. >__<