The Importance of Goals

I thrive on goals. When I meet a goal, I do anything to try and achieve it. 
So what do you do when your goal seems lofty?  Like, "become a published author" or even "write daily".
You need a plan...and by a plan, I mean, break your lofty goal into smaller, achievable goals.

Ideas for smaller achievable goals:

1)  Take a writing class.  Class will include homework assignments to complete weekly. 

2)  Participate in a program such as NaNoWriMo or PiBoIdMo. These programs help you brainstorm and work your way to finished manuscripts.  By dedicating the month of November to your writing, things can jump start for the year to come.

3)  Set a goal for when to send finished manuscripts to agents and publishers.  I sent my first manuscript to a literary agent last week!  Eeeek!  And I have already set the date for the next submission.  You can even follow PubSub3rdFri and make submitting manuscripts a monthly goal.

4)  Register for writing conferences, speaker engagements, and critique groups.  SCBWI is a great resource for this.  I will be attending SCBWI's Winter Conference in January in NYC.  I also attend their monthly Tuesday Professional Series and a monthly Critique Group.  These events help keep you focused and networking.  If you are in the NYC Metro area and would like more info on my Critique Group, please contact me.

And perhaps most importantly, be sure to find ways to award yourself with each achievement!  I sometimes fall short in that area.  So, if you have any ideas on how I can award myself for that first submission to a literary agent, let me know.  :)

Happy Writing!