Two Ways to Make Effective Writing Goals

by Stephanie Morrill

Stephanie writes young adult contemporary novels and is the creator of GoTeenWriters.com. Her novels include The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt series (Revell) and the Ellie Sweet books (Playlist). You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and check out samples of her work on her author website including the free novella, Throwing Stones.

On December 31st, I settled at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, a notebook, and a pen. My seven-year-old daughter spotted me, retrieved a notebook and pen of her own, and asked, "What are we doing?"

I explained that because tomorrow would be the first day of 2015, I was thinking about goals and how I want to spend my time in the coming year. She told me about a show they had watched at school where the girl's goal was to read 30 books that year and the robot's goal was to take over the world. "Is that what you mean?" she asked, and then she set to work with a list of her own goals.

The only thing I love more than making a list of goals and plans is making a list of writing goals and plans. Depending on what I anticipate my year being like, I have two methods I like to use:

Method One: Start big and get small

This is my favorite way to make goals. I'm sure it's because it gives me a feeling of control, and I'm a big fan of being in control.

If you have a lot of structure in your schedule (or if you have writing contracts with hard deadlines) then this is a great way to make sure you're giving yourself enough time to get the work done.

Start by figuring out what you want to have done at the end of the year. One of the years this  method worked really well for me was when I had two books due to my publisher. So my yearly list was something like:

Turn in book two of Skylar Hoyt series

Turn in book three of Skylar Hoyt series

Get ready for release of book one in Skylar Hoyt series

Prepare to pitch new idea to publisher

Next I broke these tasks up by what needed to be done each quarter. That list looked something like this:

January - March

Write first draft of book two
Read proofs of book one
Create marketing plan for book one

April - June

Edit book two and turn it in to editor
Line up book signings and marketing plan stuff for release of book one

July - September

Write first draft of book three
Launch book one of series

October - December

Edit book three and turn it in to editor
Create proposal for new book idea

Then I break it down by month:

January

Write 30k of book two

Brainstorm three marketing ideas for book one

February

Write the rest of book two

Brainstorm three marketing ideas for book one

March

Enjoy time off from book two

Read proofs of book one

Put together marketing plan for conference call with publicist

And last, I break it down by what needs to happen each week. If I need to write 30k by January 31st, I would look at how much needed to be written per week. I personally like weekly goals because I typically only write four days a week, but that's just a preference.

When I have deadlines, this is a really effective way for me to make sure I'm spreading the work out well. I'm not the type who does particularly well when writing under pressure, so it's helpful to me to think ahead about how divide up the work.

Method Two: One Big Goal And Plans for Growth

If I don't have hard deadlines, or if I anticipate an unpredictable year, making goals using the method above only makes me cranky. Instead I focus on one big goal, and alongside it, I plan ways to foster personal  growth.

Let's talk about the growth thing first. Instead of setting a goal of reading five books a month, I'll instead decide that I'm going to listen to audio books on my iPod whenever I'm in the car by myself. This way I don't get "penalized" if I choose to read The Goldfinch one month versus if I read The Giver. It's not about how fast I'm reading, just that I'm doing it.

But I also like to make one big goal and create a system for getting it done that doesn't put a time limit on things. Last year at this time, my son was regularly in and out of the hospital, and I knew this wasn't the type of year to make the super detailed goals list.

I had no writing deadlines on my calendar, and I had a book that I'd been burning to write for months, and I finally had time to do it. Theoretically, anyway. Some weeks I was only getting a few hours of work time, and I had no idea when it might get better. So instead of saying, "I want to have an outline by the end of January and a first draft by the end of March, etc." I told myself that when I had writing time, this was the project I was going to plug away at. Even if it took me all year to write it (and it did) I would just make whatever progress I could in whatever time I had.

Not a list person? Try a letter.

This year, since my life is shifting under my feet a bit more than I'd like, I chose to draft an email to my agent about how I would spend my time this year if it was solely up to me. It was a really helpful way to crystallize what projects are most important to me, and what I would ideally accomplish. It's also helpful for her to see what kind of pace I'm comfortable with and how I view success.

Be sure it's a goal—not a dream.

You know what I would love to have happen? I really want my next published book to be made into an audio book. But that doesn't belong my goal list because I can't do anything about it. It's a dream, not a goal.

Maybe you want to find an agent this year. Or perhaps you're hoping to finally find the right critique group (sometimes you've gotta kiss a few frogs before you find The One). But, really, you cannot make an agent sign you, and you can't make other writers be perfect for you. If you're wanting to set goals to help you acquire something that involves other people, be sure that it's something you can take action on.

You can't make an agent sign you, but you can set aside $20 of every paycheck to help you afford that writer's conference in the fall. Or you can email a query each week. Or you can find a list of agents you want to stalk on Twitter.

My daughter, McKenna, is learning to sew right now, and I encouraged her to think not just about what she wants to sew, but also what it will take to accomplish those projects. Here's what she wrote for goals:

If you can decode her first grade spelling, you'll see she wants to be sewing "at least one time a month," and then she made a list of what she wants to make. We're five days into the year and she can already cross two items off that list. So while we may need to have a discussion about dreaming bigger, I think she's already learned a lot about the joy that comes from working toward a goal and achieving it.

If you're a goal setter, I'd love to hear what you're hoping to do in 2015!