Writers need goals like everyone else. Without them, we may not have the motivation or the accountability to write at all. And while I seldom make New Year’s Resolutions, I do plan what I’m going to write. So, what’s involved in developing writing goals?
Why Have Goals?
This may be obvious, but without goals, we won’t know what we’re striving for. People find they need something to work towards, or their work will have little, if any, focus. That’s how I am. Developing writing goals helps me focus and motive myself to create.
In 2018, I wrote my NaNoWriMo novel early for several reasons. As I entered November, the official NaNoWriMo month, I had little to do. My daughter suggested that I do something else so I would still be part of the NaNoWriMo vibe. That resulted in the November and December short story challenge, when I challenged myself to write twenty-five short stories in two months. That was a writing goal in itself, albeit an ambitious one. It could be measured and it was realistic, since I had already finished the draft of my NaNoWriMo novel for that year.
Writing and Formatting Your Goals
Master Class addresses writing goals too, particularly for authors of novels. Mind you, we write more than that, but novels often slow us down more. Master Class focuses more on the process of developing writing goals, rather than on the substance of the goals themselves. Part of the focus is on making sure the goals are measurable and realistic, and that writers are able to hold themselves accountable for completing or working toward the goals.
Many of us use the SMART framework when developing goals , and that’s highlighted in this article on becomeawritertoday.com. The SMART acronym stands for
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time bound
Their website adds two more letters to the acronym. The first is that you can Evaluate, and the second is that the goal should be Rewarding. You can decide if the latter two letters are worth adding to the acronym. But the essence of this is that writing goals—like other meaningful goals—need structure to them to be effective. They should also be achievable, which often results from being specific enough that people can follow them. In addition, when we attach a time frame to it, such as a specific month or bunch of months, we obligate ourselves to meeting the goal on time.
Getting the Timeframes Right
Of course, achieving a writing goal might be harder than you think. Medium suggests that writers should take whatever goal they have and double the time it takes to achieve the goal. I’ve heard this mentioned on more than one occasion. In the copy and content writer side of my career, I’ve heard the same thing. I believe this is because of the steep learning curves that people need to achieve challenging goals. And for every goal or objective, “stuff happens:” meaning that obstacles may crop up that no one anticipates. So, if you believe it is reasonable to get your novel ready for publication in nine months, assume eighteen just to be sure.
How Ambitious Should We Be?
Another aspect of developing writing goals is to determine how ambitious to make them. Sure, every one wants to write a novel at the drop of a hat. We don’t really, but what do you do when you don’t hit that goal? One approach could be to berate yourself as a failure who will never amount to anything as a writer. Not a good choice.
So, as ambitious as we want to be, we don’t have to beat ourselves up. Many things may come up to interfere with our writing goals, not the least of which might be a writing task or opportunities that take us away from our original goal but may still support our writing career. We have to know when to push harder on the specific writing goals, as opposed to being open to new opportunities. Balance is important for writers as much as it is for anyone else.
Try Something New
Something else to consider in terms of writing goals is to write in other genres. That’s a great way to strengthen our writing abilities, Rachel Giesel Grimm suggests. Specifically, she says that writing in other genres strengthens your writer “muscles.” And these muscles, she suggests, are what make us better writers. That’s my plan for 2023. I plan to focus more on nonfiction with my Parenting a College Student series and get that book published. In addition, I will invest more time and energy in short story writing, particularly in the genres of romance, westerns and horror. I think I have a head start in all three of these genres—especially horror—particularly since so many of my friends tell me my stories are “creepy.”
Those are some of my writing goals for 2023. What are yours?
