How Badly Do You Want It?

I'm looking over my list of New Year's Resolutions for 2010 to see how close to target I am. I know, that sounds disgustingly driven. Actually, if you saw my list, you'd be convinced I need to get out more and make fewer to-do lists. Yes, I suffer from extreme Eldest Child Syndrome. But at last I may be learning to embrace my inner Over-Achiever.

Because the truth for me is this: no one is ever going to make me do these things. Writing, in my life, is optional. It doesn't pay bills. It doesn't entertain my daughter or impress my friends (well, it'd be nice if it did!) or make my house clean.

Writing, for me, is about desire. It's about a dream. It's about a story. It's about releasing something inside of me by watching a blinking black cursor move across a white screen, letters chasing after it.

And it will only happen if I pursue it. If I want it. If my fingers press those keys and make those words appear, day after day, hour after hour, no matter what other responsibilities and challenges arise and have to be taken care of.

So that's the question I keep asking myself as I look at my ambitious list of 2010 goals: how badly do I want it?

Because it will take every ounce of that desire, determination, and passion to pursue this dream and create something worthwhile.

I listed four manuscripts I want to see finished by the end of this year. One needs editing and two are partially complete, so it's not like I'm trying to write four totally new pieces this year. Really, I'm trying to clear my shelf of these half-finished ideas. It's time. Definitely time.

So that's my goal. What's yours?

How badly do you want it?

Thoughts On the New Year

Did you know that you are seventy percent more likely to accomplish a goal that you put in writing?

Makes you want to pick up a pen, right? This is my chief argument in favor of a to-do list. I've also found that breaking those big goals up into bite-sized steps also helps me focus and get more accomplished.

I recently heard about a woman who wrote an entire manuscript of a novel by writing for the first ten minutes of every hour. She was a home-school mom with more than one child in the nest, and found it hard to get any uninterrupted time to write. So she came up with a plan everyone could live with. At the top of the hour, she'd set a timer for ten minutes, and the rule was that no one interrupted her during those ten minutes.

Just the focus and discipline to make that work is pretty impressive. The point is: where there's a will, there's a way. With that in mind... what are your new year's goals?

Here are a few of mine:

1. Complete two new manuscripts. (One is already half-way done, and the other is mapped, but not officially started.)

2. Do something creative with my daughter once per week. I like crafty things, and she really enjoys them, too, so it's a win-win.

3. Be a faithful blogger, here and in my contributions on www.momstories.org.

4. Read, read, read. One novel per week.

5. Exercise in some form or other for at least 30 minutes per day or 3.5 hours per week.

6. Write 1000 words per day on a new project.

7. Pick up more modeling work and learn Q/A. (work stuff...)

8. Publish at least 10 articles by working freelance.

9. Take my Reliv faithfully.

On Writing: Setting Goals

When I started learning about being a consultant for Arbonne, one of the main things they tell you is to write down your goals. You are 70% more likely to succeed at a goal that is written down. That's pretty amazing.

The second most important thing I learned is that if you want to be a successful consultant, you have to take on that attitude: you have to think of it as a business, treat it as a business from the get-go. You don't start acting professional once you get a certain level of sales or something.

Anyway. So what does all this have to do with writing as a profession? Everything.

If there was something simple you could do to make achieving your goals 70% more likely, wouldn't you rush right out and do it? Yeah. Pick up the pen and scratch out your goals. Be specific. Break it down. What do you expect to accomplish daily? Weekly? Monthly? Quarterly? Yearly?

Treat writing like a business. Chances are, you're not going to end up with a contract for a novel, or with a published article if you're not taking your writing seriously. How do you do this? Define your goals. Define your hours.

For example, my daily goal is to write 1000 words on my current WIP. I get up about 7am and before I check email, before I pass go and collect $200, I get those 1000 words done, or as near to it as I can. I make up whatever (if anything) is left during Anna's nap time.

That means a goal of 7000 words weekly. Keep track of your progress. And that, ladies and gentlemen is why I started my Wednesday posts!

I've found it helps to reward yourself for meeting your goals. If I meet my weekly word count, I hop on over to Starbucks for a Caramel Frapuccino. :) Whatever works!

If you look back at those Wednesday posts of mine, you can see that it doesn't always happen. I don't always make it. But I've actually done more writing on the whole since I started those posts than I did in some previous months. So it's starting to even out and become a daily habit-- and that's really what I'm going for.

Anyway. Enough rambling. So write those goals down this week. Make a list every day. Scratch off each item you complete. It's a good feeling and helps you monitor your productivity.