Setting Writing Goals

So many writers, including Stephen King in On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft stress the importance of setting a daily word count goal (usually 500-1000 words) and then forcing yourself to write until you reach the goal.

Personally, I think this method of goal-setting is terrible and in many ways, it's a way to set yourself up for failure.  It works well if you're doing NaNoWriMo and need to reach 50,000 words by the end of the month, but outside of that, it's a very inefficient way to write.  It forces you to focus strictly on quantity and ignores so many other important areas of writing, such as editing/revising, outlining, querying, and marketing.

With that said, setting a written goal, not only in writing, but in everything you do, is vital if you plan to achieve an ounce of success.  I just go about it a different way.  We're busy people (humans), and the not every day is the same, therefore you can't have a one-size-fits-all writing goal.  Your writing goals also must included the other areas of "writing."

If you have a job and a family, like most aspiring writers, you'll have to figure out a way to fit writing into your daily schedule and, more often than not, your "real life" will get in the way.

What you need to do is set a daily goal based on your daily schedule.  I start the day with a long commute.  During that commute, I come up with a priority list of 1 to 3 writing goals for the day.

Here's an example of my writing goals last Friday: 1) Critique a story or two on Scribophile. 2) Read over and submit a story to Scibophile for critique. 3) Write a 500 word flash story.

And here's last Saturday: 1) Revise story based on the Scribophile feedback and submit to publisher.  2)  Read over a chapter from the novel and continue building the synopsis for agent queries.  3) Write a blog post, time permitting.

Any of the "success" authors and speakers out there will tell you that if you break down your big goal into smaller, more attainable goals, you'll be more likely to keep pushing along until you achieve your big goal, whatever that big goal is.

Preparing for NaNoWriMo

With just under two months left to prepare for National Novel Writing Month, I thought I’d talk a little about what I did to prepare the last couple of years.

This is obvious, but the most important thing you can do for the contest is to be prepared.  I failed miserably the first year I tried it because I basically went in cold.  I sat down on November 1 and said, "I like aliens.  I'll write about aliens and see what comes out."

After about a week, all I had was 5,000 words and a convoluted plot involving Roswell, Marilyn Monroe and the Pope.  I also had no idea what I was doing and during that week decided that writing was no longer fun.

Going into a story cold can still be fun and will often create a great result, but when you need to put out 1,667 words each day, you need some sense of direction, or you just get lost, frustrated, and ultimately give up.

By the time year number two came around, I decided that I'd finish a novel no matter what, and started with a much better plan.  I'm not the type of writer who uses a detailed outline or synopsis, but I did spend a good chunk of time in October going over things in my head.  I came up with the basic setting and a few major plot points.

By the time I sat down to start on November 1, I already had the first few scenes written in my head, as well as a list of some of the major characters and their personality traits.  With a general idea of where the story was going, I was able to stay focused and the words kept coming out.  I finished the novel on schedule.

The next year was even better and with the same basic preparation, I finished the contest a few days early.

So if you're planning to enter the contest this year, start your planning now and set yourself up for a successful November.