Goal Setting for Writers
Writing a novel requires a huge amount of discipline. With no ‘boss’ breathing down your neck and no definite targets to meet, it’s easy to put it off.
Remember, only YOU can write your novel and if you don’t, it won’t get done!
The Write a Novel in Six Months course advocates the one/two-pages-every-day approach, with no editing until the first draft is complete and there’s other ways in which you can set goals for yourselves.
- Work on your novel every single day, even if only to revisit your initial plan or make some notes about where you’re going next.
- If you don’t manage to actually ‘work’ on your novel, at least think about it for ten minutes each day so that the story and the characters continue to live within you.
- Writing early in the morning to get your writing target met early in the day can really help with your sense of achievement.
- You can set daily or weekly goals, such as a target page count, number of words on the page or an amount of time spent.
- Give yourself a ‘reward’ of some sort each time you complete a chapter.
- Liaise with a fellow writer and each time you complete a section of your work, swap it for feedback.
- The entering of competitions is an effective way of adhering to deadlines.
- Having a ‘reading friend’ waiting for your next instalment is another way of giving yourself targets to meet.
- Writing groups, whether in person or through a Facebook forum (one is included with the Write a Novel in Six Months Course) are a great way of keeping each other going towards daily and weekly targets.
Writers write. They use every available moment to take their story nearer to where they can send it off. What they shouldn’t be doing is:
- Cleaning the oven
- Washing the car
- Mowing the lawn
- Dusting the skirting boards, or anything similar!
Do it. Finish it. And most importantly, enjoy it. It’s your dream, after all.