Tips on Setting Goals

How are you doing with the goals you've set at the beginning of the year?

Now is the time to evaluate your achievements, give that final push, and start thinking about new goals for the coming year.

Month by Month
Plan on achieving your goals by the end of October, leaving November and December free for the holidays. This gives you a breather and a chance to catch up on any goals that fell behind.

In November, look at all you've achieved during the year and pat yourself on the back. Be grateful for what you already have. Appreciate where you are now and how far you've come. Thank the people who've helped you. Eat some turkey to celebrate.

In December, plan your goals for the coming year and take the first few steps towards reaching them to give you a head start, at your own pace. It's a better feeling to be a little ahead on your goals by the time the new year starts than to start from scratch. It also allows you to make some adjustments if necessary. Kind of a test drive of your new goals.

Be flexible. Don't be too hard on yourself if things don't go as planned. Re-evaluate your goals midway through the year. Is this still what you want? Did you set too many goals, or goals that are too big?


Divide and Conquer
Set achievable, measurable goals for the year.  Don't set too many goals, or goals so big they can't be reached within a year. Your goals have to be compatible with each other and with your lifestyle.

Divide each goal into smaller goals for each month of the year. Know your rhythm. Are you more productive during certain months? More laid back during others? Busy as ever during a particular period of the year? Plan accordingly.

At the beginning of each month, divide your goals for the month into weekly goals.

Every week, make a list of steps to take to achieve your weekly goals. If a step is too big, divide it into smaller steps, even if it's just brainstorming, buying a book, or researching something on the internet. Then take that next step.

Reward yourself. Make a list of little things that make you happy - buying a book, taking a bubble bath, eating chocolate, getting a special drink from Dunkin' Donuts - and treat yourself once you've taken ten steps towards your goals.


General Advice
Set SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Astrid is a phone app I'm using to keep track of my goals. It lets you make lists of goals and set deadlines for each, then it sends you reminders to keep you on your toes. I always laugh when Astrid tells me "Can you finish this? [my goal] I'm sick of it!" Or a similar reminder, different each time.

Letting Go of All Expectations

I came to understand that unhappiness is mainly due to our expectations not being met. That's an important aspect of customer service in business: under-promise and over-deliver to keep customers happy.  If I order a book online and expect to receive it in two days and it takes four, I'm aggravated.  But if it was supposed to take ten days and I get in in only four days, I'm delighted it came so early.  It's all a matter of setting the right expectations.

One thing I learned years ago from famous motivational speaker Dr. Wayne Dyer is to let go of the results.  Do what you have to do, offer what you have to offer, be the best you can be, and detach yourself from the outcome.  In other words, let go of your ego.  Sounds simple, but it's not an easy thing to do.

We all want to feel appreciated. We all need validation.  We crave for someone to recognize and appreciate our talents, our efforts, our investment.  To keep giving the best we have without expecting anything in return is the hardest thing to do, but it's the key to happiness and living a fulfilling life.

So, should you just keep doing the same thing, even after getting no result?  Absolutely not.  It would be foolish to do so.

Sometimes it's good to stop and reassess our goals, to take an objective look at what we've done so far, and analyze why it may not have brought the results we wanted.  Time to try something different, to be creative.  Most of the time, we instinctively know what went wrong, but we're not always ready to put in the time and effort it would take to make it better.  Is your goal important enough to justify the effort?  Is it worth it?  Only you have the answer to that.  Sometimes all we have to do is readjust our expectations and be more realistic in our goals, and keep trying.

New Goals, New Possibilities

I finally decided what I want to be when I grow up!  Never too late, right?  I want to write novels for children, yes, but I also want to do other things. Publishing my MG* novel will take a long time. Meanwhile, I want to be able to focus my time and energy on something productive and immediate, and at the same time, build a platform for when I'm ready to launch my book.

What I want to do is encourage other MG writers in their paths to publication, and help them promote their books once they're published.

I'm already doing MG book reviews, and I'll keep doing that, only more regularly.  I want to look for ways to bring more traffic to my blog, and maybe even post my book reviews on other sites, such as on Squidoo, so more people can read them. With each review, I'll include an Amazon.com link to the book I reviewed.  My book reviews are done from a writer's perspective, analyzing what works or doesn't work in a novel, and exploring different writing styles.  I know how hard it is for writers to promote their own books, so the least I can do is promote other books I like, kind of giving a cyber pat in the back to my fellow hard working writers.

Besides book reviews, I'll continue posting articles about creative writing, useful links to websites and blogs, interview with authors or agents, exploring ways to earn money as a writer other than with royalties, and any other topics helpful to writers who, like me, are seeking publication.  Basically, I'll just be passing along whatever I learn and come across as a writer.

Occasionally, I'll post something about my personal life, so we can get to know each other better.  Oh, and that post about Tim Tams I've been promising to do since centuries ago.

I don't have big chunks of time to invest in my writing life, being a mother with a full time job, but I need a project I'm passionate about to keep me motivated.

What's in it for me?  Reading and reviewing MG novels helps me become a better writer and become knowledgeable in my field.  As an Amazon.com associate, I earn a (very small) commission with each sale. Not much, I know, but every little bit helps. And doing all this helps me build my platform and network with people in my field.

Everyone wins!

*MG stands for Middle Grade, which means aimed for kids 8-12 years old.  Kind of in between chapter books and teen novels.

My Writing Goals for 2011

I can't believe there are only two days left in 2010.  It's been a productive year, but now it's time to set new goals for 2011.  I have the feeling it will be a fantastic year!

I have five writing-related goals for 2011.

1) Finalize Meredith Mountain Miracle (my MG novel) and start submitting
I've been working on that book for over a year now, with the help of my online critique group.  I've learned a lot in the past year and did several major revisions.  My book started at 7,000 words and doubled in size since then, to about 14,000 words now.  I still have to add more to it and bring it to a publishable standard.

My goal is to have a 20,000-word book ready for submission by summer, then spend the other half of the year querying.  This involves writing a query and a synopsis, researching agents, and submitting.

My plan of action:

1. Finish revising based on all the reviews I've received so far (3 more chapters to go!)
2. Work on bringing each chapter to a decent word count (about 2,000 words each)
3. Go through a final revision, using new reviews received
4. Write a query and a synopsis, get feedback and revise until they're both perfect
5. Research possible agents and start submitting

2) Review two chapters per week for my online critique group
The group I'm part of requires us to do one review per week to remain on the boards.  I'm planning to do two reviews per week this year, because there are so many great books I want to read, so many wonderful aspiring writers I want to help.  I learn a lot by reviewing other people's work, and ultimately it helps me improve my book.  And best of all, I get to read future bestsellers before the rest of the world does. 

My critique group has all kinds of books, but mainly MG and YA.  I'm planning to focus on MG books first, since that's what I'm writing. One exception: Ralene's book is Christian fiction, but I reviewed a few chapters already and I just have to find out what happens next!

Some of the books I'm planning to review:

• Unknown Reality, by Kurt Chambers
• The Silver Strand, by Louisa Clark
• Dividing Spirit, by Ralene Burke
• Jack, Sally and Mr. Goode, by Christopher Roy Denton
• Morning Magic, by Laura

I really, really want to read and review all the other books on the boards, but my time is so limited.  I'll be happy if I can get through all five books in one year.

3) Post in my blog once a week
I've been very inconsistent in posting this year.  I'm planning to keep a more regular schedule and post once a week.  Writing and reviewing are always a priority over blogging, and I don't want to drive myself crazy trying to find something to post if I don't have anything to say, but I'll do my best.

I also need to limit my time to one hour per post, rather than spending a whole evening tweaking before publishing it.  That might help.

Topics I want to cover in 2011:

• MG book reviews (see Goal # 5)
• Writing tips and procedures
• Writer interviews
• Personal life
• Useful resources: highlighting other blogs, websites, and tools for writers

4) Participate in WriteOnCon
I've already raved about WriteOnCon in previous posts, so I won't repeat myself.  Let's just say that I loved my experience and gained so much out of it that I definitely want to sign up for the next one.  It's online, it's free, and it's accessible to everyone throughout the world. What could be better than that?  Hopefully, by then, I'll have a query ready to enter in the contests this time around.

5) Read 20 MG books
I made a list of recommendations in a previous post, and I've already read seven of them.  Couldn't wait for 2011!

Part of being a writer is knowing what's out there, analyzing books that have already been published and learning from them.  I've been reading on and off all year, but this time, I want to also post a review on my blog as I finish each book.

Writing a review forces me to look into each book more in depth to determine what I liked or didn't like, what worked for me and what might have needed improvement.  I'm also looking at the number of pages, number of chapters, and genre, to figure out where my book would fit in.

Some series I've already started reading and planning to continue:

• 39 Clues, by multiple authors (first one by Rick Riordan)
• A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by Jeff Kinney
• Toad Rage, by Morris Glertzman

Making new goals is exciting! Even if I don't accomplish all that, the fact that I have written goals helps me focus and accomplish more than if I only have a vague idea in my mind of what I want to do.

What are your goals for this coming year?

2010 in Review

Happy Thanksgiving! 

November is always a time when I stop working on my goals for a while and look back at what I've accomplished so far.  So many wonderful things happened in 2010:

My middle grade novel doubled in size!
When I joined the critique group at the end of 2009, my novel had 7,000 words, about the size of a chapter book.  It has now 14,000 words, and I'm still working on it.  My goal is to bring it to a middle grade novel size of at least 20,000 words.  Making progress, thanks to my wonderful reviewers!

I received 177 reviews and gave 82 reviews.
My novels and short stories are posted on writing.com for people to comment on.  I've been focusing on reviewing chapters of my critique group, and most reviews I received are detailed, helpful reviews from that group.  I'm still occasionally receiving random reviews for my short stories I wrote over a year ago.  I'll work on those once my novel is ready for publication.

My kids now have their own computer.
I used to have to share my laptop with my kids every time they had homework requiring internet access.  Not anymore!  My laptop is all mine now.  Muahaha!

My social network grew:
Facebook: I now have 121 friends. Not much compared to my daughter, but good enough for me!  I never knew I had that many friends before Facebook. Haha!
Twitter:  I have 490 followers and I'm following 421.  Whew!  Where did they all come from?
Blog: I have 46 followers, I'm following 82 blogs, and my blog was viewed 3366 times;
MySpace died. R.I.P. Everyone migrated to Facebook.

I read the whole Harry Potter series.
I had read random books from the series a while ago, but I decided to read them all from book 1 to book 7.  I'm glad I did.  Enough said.

I participated in WriteOnCon.
This event was a free online conference for children's writers in August, that turned out to be HUGE!  Over 11,000 people attended, worldwide.  The conference included live chats with agents, query critiques, a forum where people could post the first few pages of their novel and receive feedback from other writers, raffles, and much more!  I learned a lot, made new friends, and got to know several agents.  Priceless!

One of my short stories has been published!!
I can now say that I am a published author. *grin* One of my flash fiction stories, Paradoxical Neighbor, was published in an educational e-book for 10th graders by Nelson Literacy.  This is my first paid publication.  Yay!

I published one short story on Squidoo...
... and made $24 with my other nine pages I had put together in 2009.  One of them displays all my flash fiction stories.  This is how Nelson Literacy discovered my story and asked me for the right to reprint.  Squidoo is completely free, by the way, and it only takes a few minutes to create a new page.  Just saying.  Great tool!  Love it.

I wrote 25 blog posts.
Well... 26, counting this one.  I know it's not much compared to other bloggers I know that blog EVERY SINGLE DAY, but for me, considering my busy schedule, it's quite an accomplishment that I find the time to blog at all.

My team won the Review Frenzy organized by Ralene on WDC.
Team A9 rules!!  We had to review as many chapters as possible in one week, three chapters per review.  My team won against two other teams. *beam* It was great fun, and I enjoyed reading so many chapters in such a short time.  I normally review one chapter per week.  I reviewed 18 chapters that week.

I chatted live with my critique group on Skype.  
It was awesome to hear everyone's voice, after communicating only in writing for over a year.  I also spoke with a few individual writers a couple times, which was great.  There's nothing like hearing someone's real voice, and it saves a lot of typing time.  And best of all, it's completely free!  I can talk to someone in Australia for an hour, or to a whole group of people around the world for the whole evening, and it doesn't cost me a penny.  How cool is that!

I took two trips with my family.
We went to Canada in July to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday, and we went to Maine in October to attend my brother-in-law's wedding.  Ahhh!  So good to get out of the house once in a while!  We had a great time, and it was good to see everyone again.

Things I'm grateful for
Even though there's still one month left in 2010, it's the Holidays, and I'm not planning to go crazy working on my writing goals. This is a time to enjoy my family and friends, make new goals for 2011, write whenever I feel like it, and eat too much turkey and pumpkin pie.

I have so much to be thankful for.  All the regular things, of course, having a family I love and that loves me, having a roof over my head, being healthy, having parents that are still together after nearly 50 years of marriage, and all that... but I don't want to state the obvious and bore you with the same old stuff everyone else always mentions.  LOL

One thing I'm grateful for this year particularly is for the chance I had of networking with so many wonderful writers.  The writer's community I've discovered is amazing, and particularly children's writers.  I found that in general, children's writers are supporting and encouraging each other freely, regardless of race, nationality, age, background, social status, or writing style.  Friendship is made possible despite all our differences, based on our common passion for writing.  To me, this is amazing.  Now if the rest of the world could do that, focus on what we have in common instead of what divides us, the Earth would be a better place to live.

Thank you for all of you who helped me in so many ways, by giving me feedback on my stories, by leaving a comment on my blog, or by simply being there with a word of encouragement when I needed it.  Thank you!!

New Year, New Goals, New Possibilities

I'm a big fan of setting goals.  I do it every year, and I keep track of my progress in a small notebook.  I encourage you to do the same. 

One of my Squidoo articles is about this very topic:  Goal Setting - A Beginner's Guide.  I also wrote a teen version of the same article:  Abi's Files - Setting Goals and a story for children set around this theme:  Sara's Resolutions. 

My writing style has changed since I wrote all this.  The year 2009 was a very productive year for me and I learned a lot about writing.  Looking back at my old stories and articles, I blush and feel the urge to rewrite the whole thing.  *sigh* If only I had time to work on perfecting my 40 + short stories...  But my focus shifted some time in 2009 and now I have brand new goals to work on.  The short stories will have to wait.  Maybe next year...

My writing goals this year include:

1) Rewrite my middle grade novel (Meredith Mountain Miracle) with the help of reviews I'm receiving on my online review forum: Young Adult Novel Workshop (created by S.M. Blooding).
2) Finish writing my young adult novel (Generation Peace) and post the new chapters for review on the forum.
3) Write in my blog once a week. (Feel free to poke me in the ribs if I don't. LOL!)
4) Review one chapter a week for other writers on my review forum.
5) Network with other people in the writing industry, using Twitter, Facebook, and Blogspot.

Three of my five goals involve the online review forum I'm part of since September.  Joining the forum was a turning point for me.  It made me shift from writing short stories to working on my novels-in-progress, which was my ultimate goal.  Life has a way to lead us exactly where we need to be at exactly the right time.

Bye bye, 2009 and wecome, 2010!  I'm ready to get started towards my new goals.  In fact, I'm working on my Goal #3 right now.

What are your goals this year?

What happened in July

Something happened in July that made me revisit nearly all my writing goals.  In order to understand it better, I decided to write about it.  This post is more for myself than for my numerous fans (!) but feel free to leave me a comment if you feel like it.

Feeling Appreciated
In July, I went through a phase when I didn't feel appreciated.  I'm usually cheerful and smiling, but in July I was depressed and gloomy, following a major argument I had with my husband.  To cope with the situation, I threw myself into writing and reviewing on my favorite website, writing.com.

What happened next is still a msytery to me.  I listed seven coincidences I came across within a period of one month.  At first, I didn't notice the connection, as it seemed to be a series of disconnected events.  The only thing related was that everything happened on writing.com.  I was a featured author on two different reviewing forums and on a reviewing contest.  All together, I received 43 reviews, many of them detailed and encouraging, and countless thank you e-mails from people I reviewed.  One of my stories was displayed in the drama newsletter. I was hand-picked to be a moderator on the ACE group. I received two merit badges from individuals I was reviewing. 

It wasn't until I received my second merit badge and read the message that came with it that everything came together and nearly blew my mind.  The message said: "For always being there with an encouraging word, a cheerful comment, and a welcoming smile. You are appreciated."

You are appreciated! 

How in the world did all these people decide to show me appreciation exactly at the time I needed it most?

I had discovered a way to feel appreciated through writing and reviewing.  A review doesn't cost anything and can make someone's day.  The appreciation I receive in return is priceless.  Receiving a review for one of my stories also makes me feel appreciated.  Someone took the time to read and comment on my story.

Writing Novels
I started reading and reviewing a sci-fi novel I had come across in July.  I usually don't read sci-fi, but this novel was part of the seven coincidences, and I found another six coincidences while reading it.  One character had my first name, another had my middle name.  The character with my first name was reading a book I had started reading the week before.  Two dates were mentioned in the first chapter, and both dates were significant to me.  The novel starts with the exact same sentence as my YA novel. Weird!

Reading this novel rekindled my interest in writing novels. I decided to post the first chapter of four of my novels-in-progress.  The reviews I received were encouraging, but also made me realize my middle grade novel I had been submitting was not quite ready for publication.

Gaining Confidence in Reviewing
I knew I would benefit greatly from joining a review forum, but something was holding me back.  I had no confidence in my reviewing skills.  I desperately needed detailed reviews to continue developing my writing skills and improve my existing stories, but I wasn't ready to commit myself to also review other people's work.   

I took part of a fun, three-part contest in July.  One of the challenges was called the Dunk Tank.  Participants had to review five items from a featured author based on clues in order to dunk a staff member.  This fun-filled challenge forced me to read and review some items I would have otherwise backed out of without leaving a comment, such as poems and dark stories.  I found out that regardless of the quality of writing, I can always find something to say to help the writer improve.  The contest moderator would then allocate gift points based on the quality of my reviews.  The thank you e-mails I received from people I reviewed had a snowball effect and inspired me to review more items, even after the contest was over.  All this combined helped me gain confidence in my reviewing skills.

Joining a Review Forum
In July, I was invited to join the ACE group and become a moderator.  I became very involved in this group and met many new writers.  One of them, Emerin, talked me into joining the "Let's Publish!" forum she was running.  I joined her forum and posted some of my short stories.  My interest had started to shift towards novel writing, so I also posted one of my chapters and received several detailed, useful reviews.  Seeing my chapter, Emerin suggested I join the YA Novel forum she was also part of. 

I hesitated.  What if I don't like any of the novels I need to review?  What if they all know so much more about writing that I feel like a total newbie?  What if my reviews are not detailed enough?  I finally gave in.  Worse comes to worse, I could always back out of it.  As it turned out, joining this forum became a turning point in my writing endeavors, which I will write about in another post.

My Writing Goals 2009

Setting goals has been part of my traditions for as long as I can remember. I do it diligently every year, and I generally stay on track. This year was no exception. I had ten writing goals and I kept up with them until July. Then everything started to change dramatically and my goals took an unexpected turn.

Below is an overview of what my goals were and what I've accomplished so far. I described each goal in details for the Dear Me contest on writing.com, where participants had to write themselves a letter about their goals for the year.

My Three Major Goals
1) Submit my MG novel (Meredith Mountain Miracle) until it gets published.
So far, I submitted it to three publishers: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux (Oct 08), Front Street (Feb 09) and Henry Holt (May 09). I also spent a lot of time researching potential publishers, using a Writer's Digest book called Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market 2008, edited by Alice Pope.

2) Submit one short story per month to a magazine for children.
I submitted six short stories to Spider magazine, and I posted several of my flash fiction stories (300 words max.) on Squidoo: Flash Fiction for Everyone.

3) Write one new story per month through book-in-a-week.com.
So far, I wrote 40 stories ranging from 100 to 23,000 words. I participated in the book-in-a-week challenge every month, starting in December 2008 with a goal of ten pages and increasing my goal by two pages each month. I wrote 28 pages in September, and would have written 30 in October if I didn't decide to back out. I had a good reason to do so, which I will explain in a later post.

My Seven Minor Goals
4) Read my pocket dictionary to boost my vocabulary.
I separated a cheap pocket dictionary into small sections and carried them around, reading a few pages each day whenever I had a chance. I know it's not the best way to boost my vocabulary power, but that's the simplest way I could think of at the time. I read every single page up to the end of the letter R, checking off each word I already knew and paying more attention to the words I wasn't familiar with. I was planning to read the "S" section in October but I stopped.  Some other goals became more pressing than reading pages of a dictionary.

5) Write in my blog once a week.
From the time I started my writing.com blog in December 2008 until now, I made 65 entries, which is more than one entry per week.  I also started this blog in September, which is a step in the right direction, to my opinion.

6) Write a non-fiction item once a month.
Non-fiction isn't my strong point, but I managed to keep up with my goal. I wrote a movie review of "It's a Wonderful Life", two articles on setting goals (adult version and teen version), an article about O. Henry and another about his short stories. I started to learn HTML and typed my notes on a practice website. I also gave 217 reviews on writing.com from November 2008 until today, some very basic and some very detailed.

7) Take a class or a seminar, keep learning.
Being a member of writing.com, I utilized some of its many resources to learn about writing. From January to June, I took classes with the The Writer's Academy. In July, I practiced reviewing through a contest organized by The Talent Pond. In August, I learned how to give detailed reviews through a two-week class offered by the The Novel Workshop. In September, I studied HTML using Microsoft Step By Step book, by Faithe Wempen.

8) "Be out there, in the mix." (Network)
At the beginning of the year, my network consisted of my immediate family, a few friends and co-workers, two writers and a librarian. They were the only people I could ask to read my stories and give me feedback. My network has expanded dramatically since then.

On writing.com, I got involved in many groups: Talent Pond, Rising Stars, ACE group, Daily Flash Fiction contest, other seasonal contests, Let's Publish! forum, YA Novel forum, and other forums which I'm no longer part of.

I also joined several websites: Absolute Write (Feb), Facebook (Feb), Squidoo (Feb), Triond (March), MySpace (Apr), Twitter (Apr), LinkedIn (Apr), SCBWI (July), Blogger (Sep).

I now have 26 favorite authors on writing.com, 64 Facebook friends, 164 Twitter followers, 26 Squidoo fans, and 8 Blogger followers. I know at least 20 people who can give me an honest, detailed review if I asked them. My mom is still my biggest fan, though, and I can always count on her to give me encouragements when needed.

9) Keep reading.
I read a few more classics, but I spent more time reading not-yet-published stories on writing.com and MG novels from potential publishers.

10) Get organized.
I bought a laptop! Major accomplishment. Now I don't have to share computer time with a husband and three kids. LOL! I printed a few business cards, in case I meet a publisher or an agent. Hey, you never know! I wrote a short bio and chose a profile picture. I organized my stories and writing notes into binders.

Whew, what a productive year! What happened in July to make me reconsider my goals? I'm planning to talk about it on the next post.

Writing Goals 2008 in a Nutshell

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had no money for a writing class, so I designed my own personal workshop. I broke down the year 2008 into six periods of eight weeks, with a few extra weeks in between to catch up. Each week, I would focus on one of my goals, which I also broke down into sections to make sure I stayed on track.

My list of goals for the year included:

• Read six classic novels


• Read The American Short Story (edited by Thomas K. Parkes), an anthology of about 60 stories written by American authors from Washington Irving to Joyce Carol Oates


• Finish writing my YA novel (Generation Peace)


• Expand one of my short stories into a chapter book and submit it for publication


• Study my two books about creative writing and do three exercises per chapter

By the end of 2008, I had accomplished most of my goals:

• I read 20 classic novels


• I read my book of short stories, discovering O. Henry in the process (more on that later)


• I finished writing Part I of my YA novel (it ended up being longer than I had planned)


• I expanded my short story into a chapter book, submitted it once, and received a rejection letter (which I expected, but I was happy to have gone through the whole cycle at least once)


• I studied my two books and did writing exercises. Five of these exercises became short stories

I read a lot more than I wrote, which wasn't part of my plan, but reading classics and short stories exposed me to many writing styles, which is always good.

As a bonus, in November, I discover two great websites which helped me tremendously in my writing endeavors for the following year:

www.writing.com
www.book-in-a-week.com

I also found out about NaNoWriMo, but it was too late to start and I was absolutely not prepared to write 50,000 words in a month. I'm still not ready. Maybe next year.