Journal Writing for Setting Writing Goals

As writers, we look at the upcoming twelve months with a combination of panic and excited anticipation.  It is a bit like being a little kid before Christmas, when you were ecstatic at the possibility of opening the perfect combination of toys but also anxious that your parents would revert to socks and underwear because “you need them.” 

The fear was as real now as it was then.  As we look into the future, we can plan our upcoming days by setting writing goals.  We are likely to reach our writing goals if we follow a process that breaks down goal setting into a series of steps rather than leaving our goal at the end of a nebulous road and assuming our only job is to stumble upon it. 
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Today, we panic over the prospect of achieving our writing goals and landing some recognition almost as much as we dread writing naught a word in the coming year and failing terribly at our writing goals.  Writing is hard work.  Period.  To achieve a year’s worth of writing goals requires not a small amount of organization, and the better job we do setting our goals, the more likely we are to achieve them.  

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Start by Looking Backwards
 

,If you have not yet taken the time to reflect back over the previous year, do it now.  Looking back over what you accomplished, what you meant to accomplish, what you failed at, and what you learned in the last year can provide invaluable information for how to move forward into the coming months. 

Not only can reflecting on the year provide incredible details into how the last year went, but it can guide your writing process for the coming year as well.  When you know with certainty where things went well and where they failed, then you can identify corrective procedures for planning a more productive year to come. 

After you have finished a thorough reflection on what happened with your writing in the last year, take a serious look at where you are in the here and now.  What are you accomplishing right now?  What is going well?  What is a fabulous disaster?  What would you be able to live without?  What would cause you to stop breathing tomorrow if you lost (i.e., my backup hard drive)? 
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Take a close, emotion-free look at where you are right now.  This will show you what tools you already have at your fingertips that could support you in achieving this year's goals.  It can also help you identify the struggles that you are facing right now that may need to be addressed before moving forward.  

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Set the Big Ones First 
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Now that you have reflected on where you have been and identified where you are today, plan what is to come.  You have a whole year to work with (although please feel free to amend your plan to span only a quarter or a month if that is more comfortable for you). 
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Having looked at your current projects, what is one large project that you might accomplish in the upcoming year?  That big goal might be: writing a best-selling novel, producing 100 blogs, interviewing two dozen artists for an upcoming book on creativity, or publishing ten short stories in national literary magazines. 

Whatever your big goal is, set it.  Set it on paper.  Write it in red ink.  Highlight it.  Embolden it.  Put your heart behind it, and set that goal as though it is the most important thing that you will do with your life. 

With your big goal set, you can now create a plan that will support you in achieving that goal.  The goal itself is not there just to collect dust, it needs to be active and dynamic as you move together into the upcoming months and collaborate on your engaging project. 

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A Path of Stepping Stones 

The way that we achieve a big goal is by breaking the goal down into small, achievable mini-goals along the path to success.  No one decided to earn a PhD, went to the college campus, and left a few hours later with a degree in hand; that achievement was earned after a long series of small goals: community college, bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and so on. 
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Every big goal that we take on in life—remodeling the kitchen, landscaping the yard, replacing a truck engine, and yes, writing a book all require that we take things one step at a time. 

To achieve this, we can visualize our big goal in the distance, then lay stepping stones on the path to reach that goals.  If I intend to remodel my kitchen, I would conduct significant research, then move onto a planning phase, I would then get all of my information organized, then I would remove the outdated features I wanted to replace, and finally I would install the new features and set out to perfect each one with finishing touches.  The end result would be the only piece that anyone else would see—the completed kitchen, but I would know that I walked on dozens of stepping stones to get there.

The same is true of our writing goals.  We need to break the large goals into manageable mini-goals.  When we do this, we are less anxious about writing and more likely to succeed in achieving the big goals. 

So, if I plan to write a book in the coming year, how might I break up that big goal?  I may start by conducting an extensive brainstorming session to come up with ideas; this process might include research, interviews, and collaborative brainstorming.  Each of these steps (brainstorming, researching, interviewing) would need to be completed before moving onto the next one. 

At the end of each step, a celebration might be in order.  Doing something to acknowledge the completion of a task can reinforce the motivation to keep going and push morale higher.  A simple morning of fun to buy a coffee or browse the bookstore can feel like a nice treat after a creative milestone has been met.  

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Evaluate Along the Way 

As each step is finished, evaluate its completion, process, and lessons learned.  By doing this, the writing process becomes smoother and the overall writing experience tends to speed up.  The better job we can do at improving our writing processes, the better job we can do at staying motivated and meeting our writing goals. 

Say that I chose five mini-goals that led toward writing a book as my big goal.  For each of those mini-goals, I should complete the goal, evaluate it to make sure everything went well, then continue moving forward towards that big goal.

Example:

Brainstorming session.

This brainstorming session may include taking my book ideas to a writer’s workshop group where I might share ideas, listen to feedback, and use that feedback to guide which ideas to pursue.  With a few good ideas on paper, I have a brainstorm and evaluate the step. 

• Do I have a completed brainstorm in hand?
• Is the book’s focus coming into sight?
• Is this step completed or is there more work to do before moving on?

Interview. 

To collect specific information on an aspect of my book, I may conduct an interview with a subject matter expert.  The information that I collect during this interview could be used in the book for everything from background content to character development.  After completing the interview, I should evaluate the step. 

• Did I organize the information from the interview into my brainstorm?
• Do I need to conduct additional interviews or is this information enough?
• Is this step completed or is there more work to do before moving on?

Conduct research.  

In the research step, I may spend time in the library, dig into virtual archives online, and take trips to museums or historical sites related to my book.  I would take notes on the research and add it to the information I collected for the book.  Before moving on, I would evaluate the step. 
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• Did I add the research into my brainstorm to create a completed brainstorm?
• Is additional research needed or does this content give me enough to work with?
• Is this step completed or is there more work to do before moving on?

Just as with every goal that we set in life, our writing goals need attention and dedication for us to reach them.  As we enter a new season, we have an opportunity to set goals for the upcoming year, and the better job we do at setting quality goals, the more likely we are at meeting those goals.  Use your journal to keep track of your goal setting and you may find this process supports your writing goals better. 

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