Tag Archives: reaching goals

News & Contests, Works

March-a-thon final report & April goals

I use the first Friday of the month as my writing goal accountability here—come join in!

March accountability

marchathon 2013So for March, I set some lofty goals to conquer as part of the March-a-thon I ran for my writers’ support/education group. Here’s my progress report:

  • Project A: incorporate feedback and take this to finished product. Verdict: took longer than it should have, largely due to technical issues, but accomplished!
  • Project B: finish first draft (~28,000 more words). Verdict: Weep. 18,000 words to go.
  • Project C (novella): get ready to send to critique partners Verdict: Finished the paper edit early in the month, but the type-in took forever. Still in progress.
  • Project D: blog posts! Verdict: I’ve gotten ahead in most of my series, so I’d have to say accomplished—but I’d never say no to a guest post!
  • Read my library books before they’re due! Verdict: accomplished!
  • SUPER SECRET PROJECT: Verdict: accomplished! Look for more about this on Monday!

I was also able to keep up with my critique partners, which was actually quite the feat this month. (I forgive you 😉 )

Though on any given day, it felt like these lofty goals were completely unattainable, I actually accomplish quite a bit! The daily pep talks from my group and our live chats & Twitter #marchathon Saturdays were a big help.

Lesson of the month: no matter how long it took in the past, everything can take longer than you expect.

April goals

After pushing myself very hard, I’m giving myself a break. So in April, I’m hoping to:

  • Finalize my presentation for LDStorymakers next month.
  • Get those last 12,000 words done? Maybe?
  • Take care of business (yay. taxes.)
  • Do a final read-through for each of my critique partners
  • Finish inputting the paper edits and incorporate my critique partners’ feedback on my novella
  • Read!

It sounds like a lot, but I’m hoping to limit myself to one or two tasks a day (not including reading; that’s not a task!).

Anticipated lesson of the month: sleep is really important.

How did you do in March? What do you hope to accomplish in April? Come share!

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News & Contests

March-a-thon check in & events!

marchathon 2013How are your writing goals coming for March? I’m chugging along at my many goals. (Oy. Why do I do this to myself?) So far this week, I’ve worked on projects A, B, D & E (library books—1 down, 2 to go!)

Here are some of the great thoughts we’ve shared in pep talks on the private side of the March-a-thon.

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
— Stephen King, On Writing

“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
— Louis L’Amour

“If you really want to be a writer, nobody can stop you — and if you don’t, nobody can help you.”
— Alma Alexander

Quotes courtesy of Wendy Swore

If you’re looking for more motivation, come join us for our live events! Every Saturday in March, we’ll be holding a Twitter March-a-thon Marathon! All day Saturday, hop on the Twitter hashtag #marchathon to find us! Jump in any time by announcing your goal, and then we’ll root for one another to achieve them. (How can you say no?)

Is your writing any good? Join my writers' email group to find out how you can get a free edit & skill assessment!

 
Works, News & Contests

Get a jump on your goals with the March-a-thon!

Looking for a pick-me-up for your writing this month? Come join me in a March-a-thon—but first, how I did last month.

February accountability

marchathon 2013I was really hoping to finish this first draft in February, but (sigh) it didn’t happen. But I’ve been keeping careful track of what I did do:

  • Critiques for my CPs
  • Blog posts (yay!)
  • Newsletter
  • Travel for my cousin’s wedding and spend time with my visiting grandparents
  • First read through on the novella I finished last month
  • And, yes, I did write!

So, in the interest of accountability, how much, exactly, did I write in February? 31,275 words: not too shabby!

Saturday night, I made out a list of all that I need to get done in March, and the deadlines for each task. Then I did the math to figure out how much I need to write or revise or whatever to get it done on time. Woot!

But once again, I’m facing a lot of work. Luckily, I’ve got just the thing to push me onward . . .

March-a-thon!

For the second year in a row, I’m running a March-a-thon! It’s primarily for Authors Incognito, an online writers’ support group where I’m serving as Education Director. We’re setting lofty goals for March and encouraging others with pep talks and other fun events.

What does this mean for you? I’d love for you to join me in the “public” side of the March-a-thon. Come share your goals for March!

Here are mine:

  • Project A: incorporate feedback and take this to finished product
  • Project B: finish first draft (~28,000 more words)
  • Project C (novella): get ready to send to critique partners
  • Project D: blog posts!
  • Read my library books before they’re due!

Did I mention we’ve got more family stuff this month, so I’m looking to finish this all by the 23rd?

I’m crazy.

You can come be crazy with me! We’ll have regular check-ins here each week and I’ll keep you posted about public sprints on Twitter. Come join in!

How did you do last month? What are your goals for March? Ready for a March-a-thon? Come share!

Is your writing any good? Join my writers' email group to find out how you can get a free edit & skill assessment!

 
News & Contests

Achieving your goals on autopilot

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I set goals all the time—and I’ve found the easiest way to achieve my goals is on autopilot.

I’ve posted this a couple times before, but I would be remiss if I let the season of New Year’s Resolutions pass without highlighting my favorite goal-achieving techniques!

“Autopilot” doesn’t mean coasting through the month, or setting absurdly low goals so I can achieve them, though. It means scheduling for me. I kind of beasted Nano 2011, and—especially the first week—I managed to do this without the world falling down around the ears. I’m the mom, of course, and I set the pace of the household. I do most of the housework. So how did I write 5000-6000 words a day (hours and hours of work) without running out of meals and clean underwear for the family?

Planning.

I was already used to one very useful phone alarm: a 15 minute warning to the time we need leave for school. So I decided to expand on that and use the phone alarm to remind me to do laundry (and switch it, fold it, and hand it off to the kids to put away), work with the kids to empty the dishwasher, read with the kids, start dinner and go to bed on time.

Dinners were also planned: I took the calendar for the month and planned out our meals (actually, when I did this for 2012, I planned for the rest of the year because I found so many great recipes—you can see the online ones on my Pinterest). Last year, I focused on quick meals, slow cooker meals, meals I’ve squirreled away in the freezer, and family favorites. Themed nights were also big helps: Meatless Monday, Favorites Fridays, etc. It took a couple hours to write it out, but then for the rest of the month, meal planning was handled and I could just look at the calendar to make out my shopping list.

Even blog posts (on four blogs!) were planned the month in advance. Topics and dates went on the calendar. I made up post drafts for each of those days with the topics all ready to go. I stockpiled topics and full posts. On weekends, I filled in the remaining posts and scheduled them to go.

It actually went really well—until I finished my novel. And then I let a lot of it fall apart. But all that advanced planning helped me to maintain a good routine, be productive and run the house better than I usually did.

So how can that apply to other goals?

Schedule them now.

If you want to write 1000, 2000 or 5000 words a day, pick a time and put it in your schedule. (Doing it at the same time each day can help, too.) Unplug from the Internet. Schedule a time with the fewest kids distractions around. I’ve used a handy browser plugin that would block certain time-wasting websites during certain times of the day—another helper.

5000 words a day was my goal during Nano 2011. I broke it into chunks and assigned each chunk a time: 1500 in the morning, 1500 in the afternoon and 2000 in the evening. This year, my words-a-day goal is a more manageable 2000 when drafting (3000 for playing catch-up right now), but I’m still chunking that down.

This works for other goals, too. If you want to read a certain number of books next year, start collecting recommendations. Figure out whether you prefer reading on an eReader/mobile device (if you have one) or paper book. I like library books since they come with built-in deadlines—and, oh yeah, they’re free. Then figure out how long you can take per book (on average).

If you’re trying to research a project, make a list of resources, get them and give yourself a timeline to read them.

If you want to lose weight, schedule your exercise sessions with yourself. Make up healthy meal plans in advance. Buy and prepare healthy snacks.

We all know that goals should to be broken down into steps to be achievable. But what it really comes down to is to just do it, to quote Nike. Little reminders and baby steps help me.

What does it take to help you just do it?

Photo by Kent Wein

Originally posted in January 2012

Is your writing any good? Join my writers' email group to find out how you can get a free edit & skill assessment!

 
Technique

Reaching your Nano goals on autopilot

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This entry is part 13 of 16 in the series NaNoWriMo success and inspiration

I set goals all the time—and I’ve found the easiest way to achieve my goals is on autopilot.

That doesn’t mean coasting through the month, or setting absurdly low goals so I can achieve them, though. Like I mentioned yesterday, that means scheduling for me. I kind of beasted Nano 2011, and—especially the first week—I managed to do this without the world falling down around the ears. I’m the mom, of course, and I set the pace of the household. I do most of the housework. So how did I write 5000-6000 words a day (hours and hours of work) without running out of meals and clean underwear for the family?

Planning.

I was already used to one very useful phone alarm: a 15 minute warning to the time we need leave for school. So I decided to expand on that and use the phone alarm to remind me to do laundry (and switch it, fold it, and hand it off to the kids to put away), work with the kids to empty the dishwasher, read with the kids, start dinner and go to bed on time.

Dinners were also planned: I took the calendar for the month and planned out our meals (actually, when I did this for 2012, I planned for the rest of the year because I found so many great recipes—you can see the online ones on my Pinterest). Last year, I focused on quick meals, slow cooker meals, meals I’ve squirreled away in the freezer, and family favorites. Themed nights were also big helps: Meatless Monday, Favorites Fridays, etc. It took a couple hours to write it out, but then for the rest of the month, meal planning was handled and I could just look at the calendar to make out my shopping list.

Even blog posts (on four blogs!) were planned the month in advance. Topics and dates went on the calendar. I made up post drafts for each of those days with the topics all ready to go. I stockpiled topics and full posts. On weekends, I filled in the remaining posts and scheduled them to go.

It actually went really well—until I finished my novel. And then I let a lot of it fall apart. But all that advanced planning helped me to maintain a good routine, be productive and run the house better than I usually did.

So how can that apply to other goals?

Schedule them now.

If you want to write 1000, 2000 or 5000 words a day, pick a time and put it in your schedule. (Doing it at the same time each day can help, too.) Unplug from the Internet. Schedule a time with the fewest kids distractions around. I’ve used a handy browser plugin that would block certain time-wasting websites during certain times of the day—another helper.

5000 words a day was my goal during Nano 2011. I broke it into chunks and assigned each chunk a time: 1500 in the morning, 1500 in the afternoon and 2000 in the evening.

This works for other goals, too. If you want to read a certain number of books next year, start collecting recommendations. Figure out whether you prefer reading on an eReader/mobile device (if you have one) or paper book. I like library books since they come with built-in deadlines—and, oh yeah, they’re free.

If you’re trying to research a project, make a list of resources, get them and give yourself a timeline to read them.

If you want to lose weight, schedule your exercise sessions with yourself. Make up healthy meal plans in advance. Buy and prepare healthy snacks.

We all know that goals should to be broken down into steps to be achievable. But what it really comes down to is to just do it, to quote Nike. Little reminders and baby steps help me.

What does it take to help you just do it?

Photo by Kent Wein

Originally posted in January 2012

Is your writing any good? Join my writers' email group to find out how you can get a free edit & skill assessment!

 
News & Contests

Dragging myself to the goal finishline

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Reaching goals on autopilot

I’m so excited for the new year! But obviously resolutions really aren’t my thing anymore. Goals, however, are a different story. I set goals all the time—and I want to try to achieve my goals on autopilot this year.

That doesn’t mean coasting through the year, or setting absurdly low goals so I can achieve them, though. I kind of beasted Nano 2011, and—especially the first week—I managed to do this without the world falling down around the ears. I’m the mom, of course, and I set the pace of the household. I do most of the housework. So how did I write 5000-6000 words a day (hours and hours of work) without running out of meals and clean underwear for the family?

Planning.

I was already used to one very useful phone alarm: a 15 minute warning to the time we need leave for Hayden’s school. So I decided to expand on that and use the phone alarm to remind me to do laundry (and switch it, fold it, and hand it off to the kids to put away), work with the kids to empty the dishwasher, read with the kids, start dinner and go to bed on time.

Dinners were also planned: I took the calendar for the month and planned out our meals. Since I knew I’d be working hard, I focused on quick meals, slow cooker meals, meals I’ve squirreled away in the freezer, and family favorites. Themed nights were also big helps. It took a couple hours to write it out, but then for the rest of the month, meal planning was handled and I could just look at the calendar to make out my shopping list.

Even blog posts (on four blogs!) were planned the month in advance. Topics and dates went on the calendar. I made up post drafts for each of those days with the topics all ready to go. I stockpiled topics and full posts. On weekends, I filled in the remaining posts and scheduled them to go.

It actually went really well—until I finished my novel. And then I let a lot of it fall apart. But all that advanced planning helped me to maintain a good routine, be productive and run the house better than I usually did.

So how can that apply to other goals?

Schedule them now.

If you want to write 1000 words a day, pick a time and put it in your schedule. (Doing it at the same time each day can help, too.) Unplug from the Internet. Schedule a time with the fewest kids distractions around. I’ve used a handy plugin that would block certain time-wasting websites during certain times of the day—another helper.

If you want to read a certain number of books next year, start collecting recommendations. Figure out whether you prefer reading on an eReader/mobile device (if you have one) or paper book. I like library books since they come with built-in deadlines—and, oh yeah, they’re free.

If you’re trying to research a project, make a list of resources, get them and give yourself a timeline to read them.

If you want to lose weight, schedule your exercise sessions with yourself. Make up healthy meal plans in advance. Buy and prepare healthy snacks.

We all know that goals should to be broken down into steps to be achievable. But what it really comes down to is to just do it, to quote Nike. Little reminders and baby steps help me.

What does it take to help you just do it?

Photo by Kent Wein

Is your writing any good? Join my writers' email group to find out how you can get a free edit & skill assessment!