New Year's Goals for Writers

 The trick to making successful goals as a writer comes down to two words: end result.

As yourself these three questions:

1) What end result do you want?

2) What end result can you actually control?

3) Why do you want that end result?

1) What end result do you want?

As a writer, you probably have a lot of goals. Let's see . . . Want to be published with a major publisher? Check. Want to get a six-figure advance? Check. Want to have a fan base that begs you for another book? Check.

But let's be realistic for a moment. When you take away the flashy hopes and dreams, what are your basic goals? You want to be published, yes, but how do you want to be published? Do you really care if it's a big publisher versus a small one? Would you rather self publish? You may want a huge paycheck, but really are you just wanting to be able to support yourself? Or even get some spending cash? Or maybe you really don't care how much you are paid, you just want to be able to say that you got paid for writing at all?

And maybe you want fans, but what is the base that would really make you happy? Would you be thrilled if just a handful of people loved your writing? One person? Would you be content if all but one person hated your writing, but for that one person your writing made a huge difference in their life?

Think honestly about the end results you really care about. Obviously we'd all love to make it huge, but that's a long term goal. What sorts of goals are really in your heart of hearts? Keeping in mind your realistic end results will help you choose your goals. However, these things don't usually get done in a year, because there is a bigger question you have to ask yourself:

2) What end result can you actually control?

This question is frustrating to have to ask yourself, because the answer is simple: not much. You can't control how agents respond to your queries, and you can't control if a publisher picks up your book. You can't even control if your twitter pitch gets any likes.

Take your realistic goals from question one and ask yourself an important question: What can you actually do to help you reach those goals?

For example, you can control how many words you write or how long you write for. Or maybe you can control the fact that you did write at all. You can control if you read a how-to book on writing. You can control how many queries you send out. You can control if you edit or if you read or if you plot. 

You don't have to give yourself a particular word count. Saying that you want to write 1,000 words a day may not be reasonable for you. But you can have a goal that this year you are going to work toward finishing that dream project. That way, whether or not you finish it, you are succeeding at your goal.

Is this cheating? Maybe. Who cares? These are your goals, you decide what to do with them.

But you can't control what you can't control. Deep, right? So having a goal to be agented by the end of the year is not realistic. Don't do that to yourself. Instead, have a goal to seek representation during the year and leave it at that. 

It's worth noting that you can't control what happens to other people. Their good fortune is not your bad fortune, no matter how much it may feel like it. 

3) Why do you want that end result?

I included this question because it may make you rethink your answers to questions one and two. I'll do another blog post about the why of writing and why it shouldn't scare you. But if you have a why, then keep it in mind when making your goal.