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Nicole North Kilted Lover
One of the hardest parts of being a writer is staying motivated. How can we set realistic goals that we can reach for the new year and keep ourselves on-track.
Author, Nicole North, has some great ideas to help us all for the new year:
"As a full time writer published in romance, I find myself constantly setting goals. This is the best way to achieve publishing success, or to accomplish anything in life. When one book or novella is completed and submitted, I need to finish another one and another and so on. The only way to stay published is to keep creating fresh, new material and submit it. I also teach online writing workshops and these require another set of goals in order for me to teach the month-long classes and to create new workshops other writers will find helpful.
Some goals can be daunting, especially if they're huge ones. To make these kinds of goals feel more reachable, break them down into smaller steps. For instance, one of my goals for this year might be to write a 90,000 word novel. That definitely sounds like a lot of work and makes me tired just thinking about it. I've done it before, so I know I can do it again. That's the first step;trust yourself. Believe you can do it! Then, make the goal more manageable by dividing it into smaller pieces. Start with the beginning of whatever process you use for the project. The first goal might be to brainstorm and plan a new story idea by X date. Give yourself a week or two to do this. This works for anything. For instance, if your goal is to clean and redecorate your bedroom, start by deciding what specifically must be done and in what order. Take a piece of paper and write down the tasks. Then, take action. The first active step might be clearing out the clutter and donating excess clothing to charity.
Next, set another realistic goal, such as I'll write X number of scenes or chapters in one month. Or I'll write X number of pages per week. Going back to the bedroom analogy, the next step might be cleaning the room top to bottom. Or covering the furniture and painting. Whatever the goal, again, it must feel attainable. The idea is to NOT overwhelm or exhaust yourself but to keep at a steady pace, one step at a time, and feel you are accomplishing things. This sense of success in checking off your to-do list, so to speak, will energize you to move on to the next level.
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Secrets Nicole Noth
If you get off track and don't complete the minor goal you've set for a specific month, don't beat yourself up. Just reset a new goal to get it completed by the end of the next month. Or give yourself an extra couple of weeks on it. You may be able to work harder and catch up, or you may need to readjust your other goals. This is okay because you're still getting a lot more done than you normally would and you're further along the path toward your ultimate goal, whether that is completing a novel, acquiring a degree, getting fit or redecorating your entire home. Anything can be accomplished with less stress when the goals are broken down into smaller goals. Here is an example: There would be no way to earn your bachelor's degree in one month. Instead, all the things you have to learn are broken down into classes. You take a few classes per semester. Each class is further divided into lectures or lessons. The text books are divided into chapters, etc. Each of these small steps, when combined, at the end of X number of years, leads to a degree and you've accomplished your goal. Any goal can be achieved in this way.
The first month a goal is set;January, for instance;you will probably feel super-motivated to work hard to reach that goal. In February you may be losing steam, and in March you may simply feel too tired or uninspired to bother. How can you keep this from happening? Make sure the goal is something you want badly. Anything worth achieving is worth working hard for. Imagine what your life will be like once the goal is attained. Will your life be improved? Is it worth the work? Review the goals you wrote down often. You may have to re-commit to your long-term and your short-term goals each month. Decide if this is a goal you still want to reach. If it is and your current process isn't working, figure out a different strategy. If your current process is working and you can see progress, but you've just lost focus or become overwhelmed, take a moment and reassess. If you are burned out, take some time to recharge and rest before examining your goals once again. That way, you'll have more energy and enthusiasm when you do recommit to them.
In the writing/publishing arena, there are many setbacks, roadblocks or hurdles in our way, such as rejection. This is true of any endeavor. You may not always get every job you apply for, but there are other jobs and other opportunities. Don't let one setback defeat you. If there is one thing I've learned from my writing career, it’s that quitting isn't an option. The only sure way to fail is to quit. You have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and go for it again. Learn from each setback. Figure out why it happened, then use that knowledge for meeting that next goal.
With any goal, you'll want to challenge yourself, but not overwhelm yourself. If you can find that perfect balance, you'll be much happier working toward that goal. And you'll be more likely to reach it."
Kilted Lover Buy Link: http://eredsage.com/product.php?productid=149
Bio: Nicole North's erotic romance novellas have been described by reviewers as "exciting, high octane, captivating, scintillating, sinfully delicious and pure romance." Her latest release from Red Sage, Kilted Lover, is contemporary erotic romance novella with a touch of paranormal. Her first story, Devil in a Kilt, is in the anthology Secrets Volume 27 Untamed Pleasures, out now from Red Sage. The second novella in the series, Beast in a Kilt, will be in Secrets Volume 29, release date July 2010. She teaches online workshops about various aspects of writing. Though she has a degree in psychology, writing romance is her first love.
My website: www.nicolenorth.com
My newsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nicolenorthnewsletter/
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