Posts in Series for Annette McCleave
Do you set goals for yourself? Do you write them down and track your progress? Some people do, some people don’t. I do. But only because someone once told me that if I really want my dreams to come true I need to make them happen.
You might think it odd but I don’t list getting published as a goal. Why? Because I can’t control that outcome–only the publishers can control who gets published.
My goals are focused on things I can control, like how many pages per day I write, what contests I enter, how many queries I send out, who I send them to, etc.. I pick goals that are “audacious”…not so easy that accomplishing each one is a guarantee, not so hard that it’s like climbing Mt. Everest. I make them as verifiable as I can. i.e. Enter three contests judged by target publishers by the end of August.
Trouble is, my biggest goal is not easy to wrestle into a nice neat package. My BIG goal is to be an excellent storyteller. My theory is that if I’m an excellent storyteller, someone will want to publish my stuff. But how will I know when I’ve achieved such a lofty goal? I suspect I will keep this one as a permanent goal, shifting my definition of what it is over time. For now I defined it as: 3 people I respect tell me they stayed up all night to finish reading my story and they were on the edge of their seat wondering if the hero would accomplish his goal (or similar wording).
For me, this is a BIG goal. I might be a decent wordsmith, but plotting is damned hard work. Keeping people on the edge of their seat is not easy–I don’t write thrillers. Still, I have a target, and I’ve got a whole series of stepping stone goals leading me in that direction. Wish me luck. 
How about you, what’s your BIG goal?
Our critique group does goals. We post them the beginning of the year, and drag them out periodically through the year to see how we’re doing and hold each other accountable. This has been tremendously helpful to me.
My big goal…if I could have it…is to be published by a big New York publishing house. But, like you said, that is really not something *I* can goal. So I goal improving my writing, working on emotion or whatever, pages goals, submission goals.
Wel also write out a “picture perfect life”. Including all aspects of our life, not just writing. And hold out that picture for where we want to be…
by kacey June 22nd, 2005 at 6:17 amI’d like to call mine a tiny big goal. :rofl: All I want is to write a decently-written erotic vampire story for the Vamprotica contest.
by Silma June 22nd, 2005 at 8:40 amGreat column! I’m a huge believer in setting goals. For Christmas my dh gave me a chinese wish jar, and I put my goals on strips of paper and put them in the jar. I now can’t remember what those goals were except for one: to one day be on the NYT Best Seller list. Now how’s that for a goal?
by Cheyenne McCray June 22nd, 2005 at 9:22 am