I am a believer in setting goals for myself in my life, whether it be at work, in my writing, or in sports. These goals need to have a few characteristics: they need to be attainable, they need to be measurable, and they need to advance me to my next goal. I find setting goals makes a task more interesting, and also allows myself to feel good about myself when I meet a goal.
I was thinking about this today and I asked myself this question, “What is my goal as a writer?”. Below I have listed some possibilities and what I believe is my initial writing goal.
- Have a novel published
- Make money as a writer
- Complete a story
This is probably the goal of many an aspiring writer. However, it doesn’t fit for me. First of all, before I can have a novel published, I have to write a novel. Second of all, it seems to me that having a novel published is out of my control. I could write a great novel, but that does not guarantee any publishers would be willing to publish the story.
This again is a nice goal and probably shared by many writers. I have read many times how difficult it is to make money as a writer. Besides, I already have a full time job.
Whether you define a story as a short story, novella or novel, I like this goal for a few reasons. One, it is up to me whether I succeed or fail in completing a story. Second, if I do complete a story, then I have a basis for the above two goals.
People motivate themselves in different ways. For me, as a beginning writer, I need to set small attainable goals for myself. I am curious as to what types of goals other writers set for themselves.
The Struggling Writer 