My Goal Setting

I do regularly set goals and revisit them, but I usually set more that what I can reasonably achieve. I tend to go for the top range of what I want to do rather than what I can. This may not be a bad thing. It is important to set goals that stretch you a little, you have to aim that little bit higher.

I would love to be able to work from home on my writing full time. It is my ultimate long term writing goal. But in the meantime I have a daughter (and her life), animals to feed, a mortgage to pay, housework to do, vegies to grow, fish to clean, friends and family and a full time and busy day job.

So for the moment I need to fit writing around the other parts of my life, or some other parts around my writing. Some of this is very easy to do, for example the vacuuming can wait while I draft a blog entry, the bathroom can wait while a write another 1000 words of a first draft. The one thing that cannot wait or be pushed aside is my daughter. And if she has had a bad day, or is having one of those evenings when she won’t go to bed, feeling unwell or just needs Mama, then my writing plans for the evening are shot. I just have to make the most of the time I do get.

I have refocused my current writing goals to the three most important ones. Refocusing does not mean simplifying or reducing the amount of work still to be done but focusing on fewer projects.

Blogging – to post three entries a week - ongoing.

·         To share where my writing is at, advertising, improving skills and helping other writers with tips, hints and my learnings.

·         With photos of the kitchen door.

·         Spend half an hour each day drafting blog entries, and then edit and post three times a week.

Novel 1 (HTDTN) - to complete and submit for publication this year.

·         Complete by December 2011

·         Edit for one hour every day – I need to do this properly so I’m not setting a page goal to reach each day, just a good hour and to work appropriately within that hour.

·         Complete course – using novel for course so as it gets better assignments can be sent off.

Novel 2 (Snow) – complete first draft this year. Complete by December 2011

·         Write 500-1000 words a day, aiming for 3000 words a week.

·         If I maintain that pace I could be finished by September.

This would total 2-3 hours of writing a day. I think that sounds reasonable for most days. I just need to work out how to allocate that time. The first thing is that some things are going to be sacrificed and at the moment the main sucker of my evening time is the TV.

At one point I was checking what I really, really wanted to watch and then mark it at the beginning of the week. If it wasn’t my show then the TV was off and I was doing something far more productive. I think I need to get back to that. And then when I am watching I can use that time for the mundane tasks, like ironing, and folding and packing of school bags.

I am now feeling better focused on what I want to achieve and how I can. I will need to revisit these goals again to assess how well they are going and whether time frames need to be moved or more time needs to be dedicated to writing.

Happy Scribbling.