January comes with its blowsy ideals every year--you know the ones I'm talking about.
In January I'll lose 75 pounds, write 50 pages a day, save a thousand dollars a week. In January...
Ahh...the fun delusions of January!
Why do we set such unrealistic goals? And why do we set goals for every aspect of our life? Is it really feasible to change every habit in the course of a few weeks? Of course it isn't!
But...
I do believe if something is important to you, you can train yourself to meet that goal. Which leads me to ask: What is your writing goal?
Do you consider writing your hobby?
Would you like to get published someday?
Would you like to get published ASAP?
Or maybe you are published and want to continue putting out your best work?
Now, I'm not asking you to think about why you write or even what you write (although both are great topics to pursue). I'm talking about the end result. Deep down writers have to be aware of their ultimate goal.
If you don't have any intention of getting published, then you fall into the hobby category. Hobbies are fun, but they require time, effort, and persistence like anything else.
If your goal is to get published, either ASAP or that elusive someday, there are many, many non-threatening and simple steps to help you achieve that goal.
If you are published, it's not just about the writing anymore. Balancing your writing with the orbit of "other" circling your career requires the skill of a trapeze artist.
All month, I'll be asking some interesting questions that will really help you hone in on setting realistic goals for your writing this year, whether writing is your hobby, potential career, or full-time career.
Get Motivated! It's Monday!
Hobby? LOL, sob, don't get me started.
ReplyDeleteDon't know about anyone else, but my end goals change with each book. One book might be written for no other reason than to simply tell the story. Another might be for the tax bill. The next might be for the readers or editor who asks for so-and-so's story.
Each book is written to entertain a reader, two, or three, to pay the bills and to get the next contract.
But sometimes there's no other end goal than to just make the characters yammering non-stop in my head shut the h*ll up.
Writing is an addiction I don't want to cure. The more I write, the more I have to write. The more stories I tell, the more stories there are to tell. The only cure is to just keep on feeding the beast. And sometimes, she's a demanding wench.
Denise Lynn
Denise--you are too funny! Thanks very much for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteI used to be afraid that once I'd used up an idea there would be no new idea to replace it. How wrong I was! You hit it spot on that the more stories you tell, the more stories there are to tell.
Happy Writing!
Jill