Setting goals that work for you on the way to publication

Setting Goals that Work for You

By Karin Beery

I can plan a wedding in three weeks, coordinate a sales retreat, and schedule thirty employees working 12 hour shifts, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So why did I struggle to find time to work on my manuscript? After months of following other people's suggestions, I finally figured it out. I had to consider two areas on my life: when I work best and how I work best. Once I answered those questions, I started to see progress. Here's why:

When I Work: I don't have a regular schedule. As a substitute teacher and freelance writer, each week, each day, is different. I don't work every day, and when I do work the hours vary. I have to be at the high school by 7:30 am, the elementary schools by 8:30 am, and I write from home. In such an unstructured work environment, it's easy for time to slip away.

When I started going to conferences and reading books on writing, almost everyone said to write a certain number of words per day. They also said to pick a time to write. Trusting these multi-published best-selling authors, I followed their advice. I failed.

It's easy to have daily goals and a scheduled time when youknow where you'll be and for how long each day, but I don't have that luxury. Without a daily schedule it's futile to plan daily writing times and goals. If I can't guaranteed that I'll be in my office every morning at seven to write for two hours, then how can I force a daily goal upon myself? I can't.

What I can do, however, is set weekly goals. I don't know what each day will bring, but do have an idea about the week. Just as I set a weekly schedule for cleaning and doing the laundry, I can set weekly writing goals. Instead of aiming for 500 words per day, I try for 2500 per week. I'm finally meeting my writing goals.

That was my first revelation. Next I looked at my process.

How I Work: I'm a natural procrastinator. I always have been. Someday I'll work on changing that, but for now it's just the way that I work.

One of my regular writing gigs has a Tuesday night deadline. Once a month I attend a Wednesday night meeting so I can report on it. That gives me a full week to write and submit my article. I usually start on Monday. I'd like to think I'll change, but I've been writing for this paper for over a year. I know that I'll start it Monday.

This is true for most areas of my life. I work well under pressure, and when there isn't any I put it on myself by waiting until the last minute. Back when I was trying to meet daily writing goals, this caused a problem. I would substitute teach on Monday, then have to write/edit/revise/submit an article, and write another 500 words on my manuscript. That would have worked, but I also wanted to eat, sleep, and see my husband. I had to eliminate something – it was always my manuscript writing.

When I switched to weekly writing goals I was able to fit my manuscript back into my life. I dedicated Mondays and Tuesdays to my freelance writing, limited my subbing to 2-3 days a week, and kept one night a week free for my husband. That left me hours of unscheduled time free for my manuscript.

The freedom to write all 2500 words in one day or in seven has saved me. I went from being a stressed-out, goal-failing writer who dreaded her assignments and manuscript to a woman who meets deadlines and enjoys her job. For some people, writing everyday works. But for some of us, it doesn't.

You have to figure out a system that compliments what you're already doing. That's the point I was missing. Because it's not about when you write or for how long – the point is that you write.

 Karin Beery is a part-time writer, part-time substitute teacher, and part-time home-maker. She has had dozens of articles published in local and national periodicals. Her passion, however, is fiction, and she is currently working on her second novel (both still unpublished). She thanks God daily for a supportive husband with a well-paying job who encourages her to pursue her not yet well-paying passion. Her life's ambitions are to write novels and get them published, sing the National Anthem at a Detroit Red Wings game, and own a china cabinet full of snow globes. Visit her blog at: www.therehastobeabeginning.blogspot.com