How to Manage a Writing Setback

How many times have you set a writing goal but faltered along the way and given up?  For me, this has been a recurring theme in my writing career.  I start off strong then something happens, and before I know it, a week has gone by without any writing progress. 
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This scenario has played out every time that I have set a writing goal for myself, and perhaps it sounds familiar for you too.  Today, people’s lives are busier than ever, so it is not surprising that sticking to a goal is more complicated and challenging than ever. 

The way we read, study, write, work, parent, and interact today allows for more interruption, more distraction, and a lower sense of peaceful concentration than just a decade ago.  That sense of overwhelm and distraction can derail a project.

If you have read the writing guides by the greats like: Stephen King’s On Writing, Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing, or E.B. White’s Paris Review Interviews, then you know that many professionals recommend a daily writing practice—7 days a week 365 days a year.  When I first read On Writing, the thought of King’s writing schedule overwhelmed me. 

How is he able to write every single day?  Although I appreciate his dedication to the craft, I also have to recognize the differences in our lives.  I work 50ish hours a week at my job plus a commute; I have elementary-aged children to raise, a house to manage, and other creative pursuits (I crochet, and turn wood).  So, sure King is able to write 365 days a year, but in my life, there are too many tasks pushing their way into my schedule to allow for that. 

After reading several books and articles from the greats, and after failing at meeting my writing goals, I recognized that I needed to create my own path.  

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Setting Workable Goals 
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I tend towards setting an enormous, usually impossible, goal at the beginning of the year (i.e., to write 5 books plus weekly blogging).  It never works out, but setting an impossible goal has been my habit for decades.  If I lived the life of a full-time writer, I probably could meet my goals, but I have other responsibilities.  Inevitably, a couple of weeks into my goal, I reevaluate the effectiveness of having a massive goal and start to revise.
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You know what is happening in your life, and your routine is unique to the obligations that you manage.  If you are a student, you have to juggle multiple courses and dozens of assignments simultaneously.  If you are a parent, you juggle children, a home, a job, and activities for everyone.  If you are retired, you have to consider your activities in a different way (some people take up parasailing in retirement and some watch their grandchildren 10 hours a day). 

In all likelihood, your life runs by the calendar.  Pull out the calendar you use (i.e., a pocket day timer, a wall calendar, a digital tool on your phone or internet).  Add all of your engagements onto the calendar: work, commuting, activities, date night, workouts, and as you add these items onto your calendar, organize them by time so that you can see visually.   

Now that you can see everything happening in your regular schedule, decide when you could add in a regular writing routine.  Are you an early riser who can write for an hour each morning?  Are you a night owl who can stay up a bit later before bed?  Can you work in writing time in between existing activities?  Or does it work best to set aside a block of time, like all Saturday morning, to write? 
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Once you have identified the days and times that will work best for your writing routine, add them to the calendar.  What you have accomplished by doing this is planning your writing goal according to the time when you can write instead of the writing project itself.  This tends to be successful for most writers. 

Now that your writing time is scheduled on your calendar, how will your writing goal fit into that schedule?  Can you write a chapter a week with the five hours of writing time that you identified?  Can you maintain a professional blog with two hours on Saturday mornings?  Will your novel be finished in time if you are writing a half hour each morning?  Your writing goal should match your writing schedule.  

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Setbacks are Part of the Process 
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Your personal writing goal can be anything at all: to write an essay a week, to finish the great American novel by year’s end, or to collect 50 personal stories for your memoir.  Your writing goal should fit with your writing schedule.  Regardless of how much time you set aside, your goal can be accomplished; the only thing that changes is its completion date, but if the project is valuable to you, then you will persevere until the final draft is in hand. 
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The road to your goal will be littered with complications.   

In everyone’s lives, we deal with random problems, unanticipated setbacks, and inconvenient illnesses that threaten to derail our best laid plans.  Inevitably, as challenges creep into our lives, they test our resolve to continue with our goals.  Do we continue towards the goal after having a week-long flu?  Or do we feel defeated and give up? 

Taking on a viewpoint of flexibility can help in this area.  I have seen writers who create get-out-of-writing cards for themselves after setting their goals.  When a setback happens, they cash in their card and use it to buy a time out from their writing schedule.  For some, this can help create that flexible mindset they need to forgive themselves for unforeseen setbacks and move on. 

Another tool for managing setbacks is to acknowledge the quality work you have completed.  Some writers keep track of their word count on a daily or weekly basis.  By doing this, they can look back at their accomplishments and congratulate themselves when a setback happens.  This method tends to lessen the disappointment after a setback. 

Setbacks are opportunities to pick up the pieces and keep going.  They are chances to re-evaluate the goal and determine what parts of it are working and where change is needed. 

They encourage us to get better organized and plan more efficiently.  And they are a natural part of the process that we can use to our advantage to move forward on our projects. 
If you set a writing goal for yourself but have been unable to continue with that goal, get back in the game.  Reconnect with your goal by evaluating your schedule, the goal, and your mindset and persevere towards the end result of a completed project.  

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