Verbal Goals, Time Management, and UsWeekly Magazine

On Saturday, I attended my local writer's group, MVRWA, and we discussed our personal goals for the year. Each January, we take turns telling the group what we want to achieve with our writing. Then we write our goals down on an index card. Hearing my fellow writers' dreams is a huge mood booster and always motivates me to reach higher.

The Saturday before, I kidnapped my husband and forced him to Panera Bread for a discussion about my 2011 business goals. Wendy Delfosse asked me to share the details, so here goes.


I was nervous. Over the years, we've had informal discussions about my writing, but we'd never set an actual date to talk about my plans. After ordering two coffees and settling into a comfy booth, I handed him a printout of things to discuss.

My nerves dissipated as we began with the easy stuff, my hours--no surprises there--then moved on to expenses, writing goals, and my wish list. My husband supported most of my points, but we don't see eye-to-eye on everything, and that's okay. He trusts me to make good decisions, and I trust him to be honest with me.

I highly recommend sitting down with a close friend or your significant other once a year to discuss these things.

Writers, especially unpublished writers, need to view themselves as professionals. By setting verbal goals with another group of writers, you validate your choices. By taking the time to create a business plan and discuss it with someone close to you, you validate your choices. Validation leads to respecting yourself and sticking to your plan.
Once you've set the goals and shared them out loud with someone, you need to actually come up with a plan on how to achieve them. I recently came across a post by Sarah Sundin (do yourself a favor and check out her WWII inspirational romances) at Novel Journey. Her article, Taming Time is so good, I recommend printing it out and keeping it in your planner.

And finally, when you've set your goals and made a plan on how to achieve them, reward yourself! I indulge with a subscription to UsWeekly. It's wonderful to check off my weekly goals and lose myself in a few pages of Fashion Police.

Do you tell anyone your writing goals? What's your favorite regular reward for a job well done?

Favor to ask--MVRWA is launching our group blog today!! I'm the welcome wagon and would love to have you stop by. One of our twelve contributors will be posting every Monday and Wednesday, and we have some extremely talented authors. We'd love to see you, just click here for the MVRWA Group Blog!

Happy Monday!

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