Jo Skinner's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing-wisdom"
Writing Wisdom
Start – don’t stop
You don’t have to write every single day, although many writing courses I’ve attended recommend doing this. There are times when planning a writing streak can be positive and motivating and you deliberately set your life up around the challenge for a limited time. Signing up to do NaNoRiMo (National Novel Writing Month) where you write a set number of words every day can be exhilarating. The aim here is 50K words but you can set your own goal to suit the time you have available. It may be 30K or even 20k. You don’t need to wait till November to do this, just set the challenge with your writing group or invite a writing buddy to do it with you to make you accountable. Even if you decide to write 500 words seven days a week for one month you will have 15K words at the end which is an accomplishment to be proud of.
You may prefer to try for an annual goal. Maybe aim to polish and submit three short stories to competitions in the next twelve months or to enter a competition like Furious Fiction where you write a piece of flash fiction on the first weekend of the month. Your goal could be to enter six times over the year.
Or set yourself a goal to complete the first draft of a novel in twelve months. If you aim for 70K words that comes down to 1500 per week which is achievable.
And don’t wait till January, start right now.
It is always better to set flexible goals. For example, aim to write 300 to 500 words three to five times a week. That way if life happens and one of your kids gets sick or work demands overtime, you may only meet the lower end of your goal and manage 300 words three times that week. If the stars align, you may write 500 words five days for a week.
In both instances, you have still managed to achieve your goal and can celebrate staying on track.
Make your goals SMART. Specific, Measurable, Achievable and Relevant.
Writing down, ‘I will write 500 words three to five times a week for the next three months,’ you are more likely to achieve your goal than saying, I will write my novel over the next year.
Give yourself room to breathe, set yourself up to achieve.
Just don’t stop.
You don’t have to write every single day, although many writing courses I’ve attended recommend doing this. There are times when planning a writing streak can be positive and motivating and you deliberately set your life up around the challenge for a limited time. Signing up to do NaNoRiMo (National Novel Writing Month) where you write a set number of words every day can be exhilarating. The aim here is 50K words but you can set your own goal to suit the time you have available. It may be 30K or even 20k. You don’t need to wait till November to do this, just set the challenge with your writing group or invite a writing buddy to do it with you to make you accountable. Even if you decide to write 500 words seven days a week for one month you will have 15K words at the end which is an accomplishment to be proud of.
You may prefer to try for an annual goal. Maybe aim to polish and submit three short stories to competitions in the next twelve months or to enter a competition like Furious Fiction where you write a piece of flash fiction on the first weekend of the month. Your goal could be to enter six times over the year.
Or set yourself a goal to complete the first draft of a novel in twelve months. If you aim for 70K words that comes down to 1500 per week which is achievable.
And don’t wait till January, start right now.
It is always better to set flexible goals. For example, aim to write 300 to 500 words three to five times a week. That way if life happens and one of your kids gets sick or work demands overtime, you may only meet the lower end of your goal and manage 300 words three times that week. If the stars align, you may write 500 words five days for a week.
In both instances, you have still managed to achieve your goal and can celebrate staying on track.
Make your goals SMART. Specific, Measurable, Achievable and Relevant.
Writing down, ‘I will write 500 words three to five times a week for the next three months,’ you are more likely to achieve your goal than saying, I will write my novel over the next year.
Give yourself room to breathe, set yourself up to achieve.
Just don’t stop.
