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For this Back to Basics mini-course, we’re exploring how to set achievable goals to help keep you on track (and not beating yourself up). Each Back to Basics course includes a challenge at the end to help you experiment. Let’s look at the basics.
Staying motivated is a tricky thing to navigate in any discipline. With writing especially, it’s easy to fall prey to things like procrastination and writer’s block. You might have an idea for such an amazing story but what good is your magnum opus if you can’t actually get to work on it? Despite how frustrating these problems can be, there are ways to work around them. The most common way isn’t exactly some illustrious top secret technique, it’s actually pretty simple: set goals. In this Back to Basics course, we’ll talk about effective goals and how they can help you with your writing.
What are goals?
I’m not going to spend too much time belching out a fancy definition for this but I think we should at least establish an idea of what these things are. We’ve all got goals. A goal can be anything as grand as getting a new promotion or as simple as writing a scene. They’re essentially things we hope to achieve that will (ideally) benefit us in some way. We set goals for ourselves often in our day-to-day life, whether we realize it or not. Here, we’re going to look more at goals in the context of writing, and how they're different from our daily lists.
What are achievable goals for writing?
“Achievable” means something different to everyone. It’s a bit of a broad topic, but the reality is that you are probably the only one who really knows what "achievable" means for yourself. Everyone’s different and some specific goals might work well for one writer but not another. I think Stephen King recommends writing 2,000 words a day, and that can certainly be a productive writing goal to have. But most of us are not built like Stephen King and writing every day, especially at that volume, is not achievable.
Make sure to set goals that are reasonable for you. Maybe writing 500 words a day, or 3,000 words a week, is a lot more manageable of a goal for you.
Recovery Goals
An article from well-storied.com also discusses goals and breaks them down into distinct categories. One of the ones I find really interesting is recovery goals. Think of these like backup plans: they’re less intense than your main goals but can still be beneficial. If you’re finding yourself too busy to be able to get 500 words down in a day, a recovery goal can be to focus on something else with your writing, like a scene plan or brief dialogue exchange. You might not have those 500 fantastic words you wanted but at least you have something, and something is better than nothing!
Timed Goals
Some goals might be time-sensitive. That is, you could set deadlines for yourself. Maybe you want a specific chapter finished by next Friday, there’s your deadline. It’s worth mentioning though that deadlines can be intimidating. In the same well-storied article, they mention that deadlines can make you feel like you have to constantly push beyond your capabilities. A deadline can be the motivator you need to finish your chapter, but it might also be the thing you’re so afraid of missing that you unnecessarily stress out and that, in turn, makes your writing suffer. Timed goals can be a double-edged sword that way, so you want to make sure you don’t try to "punch above your weight" or push yourself too far beyond your limits. If you think implementing some deadlines can help you out, go for it! If deadlines are paralyzing for you, feel free to pivot.
Of course, these are just ideas, and ideas are really nothing without execution. So, how do we actually go about achieving the goals we set for ourselves?
How do we achieve our goals?
Fortunately there are many ways we can succeed with our goals. An article from The Bindery goes into extensive detail about it. Some practices they recommend include setting time aside every day to write. I think that can be beneficial but I’d also say some flexibility is necessary. We’re all busy, so sometimes just setting any time during the week to write can be a victory itself. Likewise, maybe you're not up for putting words on the page that day but you can sit with your project and think about the characters or research something you know you'll need to describe later.
Feedback
They also recommend joining writing groups specifically for feedback (have you checked out our feedback channel on Discord?). It’s another solid idea; after all, who better to help you write than other writers? But this is another aspect I’d like to comment further on: while it can no doubt be a tremendous tool, not every writer might be comfortable enough to put themselves into a setting like that, whether it be in-person or online. So, what else can be done?
Accountability
The website writershelpingwriters.net suggests finding accountability partners (we have a channel for this, too!). They’re kind of like a writing group, but more specifically meant to focus on just you and your goals. It’s probably best for your accountability partner to be another writer but I don’t think it has to be a strict prerequisite. I doubt asking a friend or family member (instead of another writer) to make sure you write a little bit every Saturday afternoon will upset the Writing Police.
Conclusion
To wrap us up, I’ll reiterate that goals are things we want to achieve that will in turn help us improve our writing. Goals for writing should be specific to you and you should try to set goals that you think you can reasonably achieve. Being able to meet them can also include things like managing your time, interacting with other writers, and/or getting someone you trust to help you stay on track.
The Challenge:
Use the tools provided here. Think about ways you can add writing time or word count to a current project(s). Set an achievable main goal and two easier backups. Let's talk about your goals on Discord.
Thanks for joining us for this Back to Basics course! A special thanks to Josie for helping me out with the research. If you tried this month’s challenge, you can share it on our discord. You can also send us your challenge for feedback as soon as possible, via dropbox on our Back to Basics page. Thank you and I will see you all next time!
About the authors:
Izhan Arif is an English graduate from the University of Illinois, Chicago. His interests tend to revolve around all things superhero, whether it be comics, shows, or movies! He also loves to write (go figure) and when he's not working on Back to Basics, he's also writing videos for WatchMojo!
Josie Queen writes short stories in a variety of genres, but tends to gravitate towards horror. Her TBR pile is slowly taking over the small house she shares with her husband, 13-year-old, and their cranky 9-year-old cat. She's working on a rewrite of a middle-grade fantasy novel, but is so intent on procrastinating, she recently went and adopted a puppy.