Writing Goals

I just finished up doing a class at the League of Utah Writers state-wide conference this past weekend. I'll summarize a few points that I made for achieving writing success with the 'SMART' program.

Specific: Make sure that your writing goal is not an outcome ("I want to be published" or "I want to be a bestselling author.") True goals are specific in nature and the more specific it is, the better sense of direction you'll have to achieve it.

Measurable: You have to be able to break your goal down into smaller, more measurable, steps. That way you'll know if you're en-route to your larger goal. Short-term goals can be determined by asking yourself "What, Who, Where, When, How and Why?" Such as "What will I write about? Who will I submit to? Where do I submit to? When will I complete this? How do I write this? Why should I write this?"

Achievable: This is not a matter of downgrading your goals to make them easy, but of balancing your time and talents against what you want to achieve.

Rewarding: What is your motivation for writing? Fame and fortune can be short-term and so you need to look at the larger picture.

Time-bound: Set timeframes for each section of your goal. This way, you'll avoid procrastination.

When Distractions Come Calling!

This past month has been rough. It's hard when you're a wife and mother (or husband and father) and there are numerous responsibilities that require your attention--and they don't include writing! I thought that after I finally got my children in school this past week that I'd have all of that glorious "me" time to start really focusing on my writing again. Well, hasn't happened yet. I've been pulled in many directions and can't quite seem to get back to business, as it were. So, if these blogs become few and far between, it's only because I'm working hard on figuring out how to balance my life so that my writing doesn't always take the proverbial back seat to everything else in my life. And when I figure it out--I'll be sure to let you know!