Hello everyone and happy Presidents’ Day!
While working towards my 2018 goal of editing my novel The Four Crystals from beginning to end, I hit a snag in completing my weekly goal. Apparently chapters 3-5 heard me say I was going to edit one chapter a week and conspired to detain me longer than that. If they weren’t essential to the plot, I’d show them who was boss and cut them.
Needless to say, feeling stuck is very frustrating. It’s made me question why I torture myself with writing when there are other things I enjoy that require less effort. When I get depressed with my own writing journey, I find inspiration from reading about what established writers do.
Below are a few articles which recently helped me. I hope they also inspire you to keep writing.
In case you don’t have time to read them, here’s a quick summary: 1. Find a writing space, 2. create a writing routine, and 3. make yourself do it. (They say it much more elegantly than I just did.)
“Mark Ellis – A Writer’s Life” by Mark Ellis
“10 Habits of Highly Effective Writers” by Robert Blake Whitehill
“Ten Ways To Succeed at Writing Without Really Trying” by Ruthy Logan Herne
Happy writing!
Katie
Break the Task into Smaller Tasks: Henry Ford said, “Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.” Generally, when I feel overwhelmed by the size of a project, I try to avoid it. To prevent myself from procrastinating my way through 2018, I decided to take Henry Ford’s advice. I broke my overarching goal of editing The Four Crystals in 2018 into pieces that I could accomplish on a weekly basis. My smaller, less daunting goal is to edit one chapter a week.
Track Your Progress: This gives you a visual of your progress. It can be very encouraging. It can also help you to get back on track if you lose sight of your goal. For just that purpose, I created a template for the entire year. Every week, I either write “yes” or “no” in the box that says “Accomplished Goal.” If I edited an entire chapter, I write the chapter number below the “yes.” If I fail to meet my weekly goal one week, that is okay. Maybe I was sick or I was working on a short story and did not have enough time to edit an entire chapter. There is nothing wrong with failing to meet my goal for one week. If, however, I notice that I have not accomplished my weekly writing goal for two weeks in a row or that I am only meeting it every other week, I know I have to give myself a kick in the pants and apply more self-discipline.
Have an Accountability Partner: I have never been good at holding myself accountable. If I make a plan that only affects me, there is a strong chance that I will change the plan if I don’t feel like doing it. To make sure that I actually accomplish my 2018 writing goal, I shared my writing goal with one of my writing groups and asked them to check on me every time we meet. Peer pressure is a wonderful thing when used appropriately.
Here’s to a productive year of writing! I hope that these strategies help you to meet your own writing goals for the new year!
katiemerkelwriter 