Set Goals to Achieve Writing Success

Use Measurable Targets to Write a Novel or Short Stories

Oct 4, 2009

Setting writing goals to achieve success is as important in fiction writing as in any career. Smart goals will help the fiction writer finish projects on time.

Fiction writers are often portrayed as people who lay about all day drinking, smoking, and fighting writers block. For successful authors, this image is pure fiction. Fiction writers must meet deadlines, producing top quality work on the publisher’s schedule. Many novel writers also write non-fiction articles as a means of maintaining a steadier income. Writers that cannot keep deadlines may find they have a hard time getting new writing contracts.

Whether a writer is published or not, writing goals and objectives will keep a writing career moving in a forward direction, and will allow the author to take advantage of new opportunities. Writing careers grow when the authors are able to stay focused on the goals.

Deadlines Writers Face

Once a writer has a book accepted by a publishing house, then deadlines are set for the publication date. This deadline affects the date for edits to be completed. In addition, the publisher may request another novel from the author, or if she is lucky, a series of novels or a movie option. On top of the writing demands, there are publicity tours, book signings, and keeping a visible presence on the web in social media. All of this takes time.

How can the writer keep on top of all these deadlines? Setting both long-term and short-term measurable goals will keep the writer on track. Publishers love authors who finish projects on time or ahead of deadline, and writers who do this don’t have to stress about asking for an extension.

How to Set Goals to Achieve Writing Success

The first step in setting measurable goals is to plan the big picture. Beginning with a multi-year goal keeps long-term targets in mind. Long-term goals not only include projects from a publisher, but also personal writing goals, such as education, or family memoirs.

After the multi-year goal, an annual goal is set. For the published author, this may include publishing deadlines and number of book signings to put on the calendar. For an unpublished writer, it may be sending a specific number of agent queries out, short stories to write, or completing a first novel.

The next step is making a monthly goal chart. This chart will show what must be accomplished each month, and gives a basic view of the progression of projects. Monthly goals are broken down into weekly goals, and after that, daily goals.

At the daily level, the writer should decide how much time can be spent writing each day. Some writers prefer to have a set amount of words for a goal each day. When the word goal is reached, then they may take the rest of the day off.

Others set a goal for a certain number of hours writing. Meg Waite Clayton states in an interview included with her book, The Wednesday Sisters, that she writes every day from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. She also has a word goal of 2,000 words a day.

When the novel in progress is at the editing stage goals will include a certain number of pages to edit, or a certain number of scenes to edit each day. These are all measurable goals. When a goal is achieved, a reward or celebration might be in order.

Writing Goals with a Spreadsheet or Table

Goals can be set up in a spreadsheet, with a line for each goal. A different tab for each level, multi-year, annual, monthly, and daily, keeps all the goals in one spreadsheet file. Goals can also be written in a table format, with a page for each level. Placing a page break after each table will keep all the goals in one document.

Karen Wiesner, bestselling novelist and author of First Draft in 30 Days, has goals sheets in her book that work with her system. These writing goals sheets can be adapted to meet an individual writer’s needs.

Some writers use a writing journal to keep track of goals. Once the goals have been created and saved to a computer file, they can be printed. Keeping them in a visible location helps a writer focus on the goals.

The copyright of the article Set Goals to Achieve Writing Success in Writing Techniques is owned by Suzanne Pitner. Permission to republish Set Goals to Achieve Writing Success in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.