- 1). Identify the goal of your current writing project. Note the projected completion date. Create a card with the title of your project and a completion date that is 10 percent earlier than your actual due date. This will give you a little wiggle room for revisions and edits before sending your project in. Post this card within view of your work station.
- 2). List goals for your writing in concrete terms. Include short-term goals and long-term goals. Although you may want to win a big prize, your goal should be completing work within a specified time-frame. Good work often goes through a polishing process that includes: receiving feedback from other writers, editing, revisions, rewrites and the final polishing. Each step takes time; often many pieces will be underway at different stages at the same time. A concrete goal is moving a piece forward through the process in a timely way.
- 3). Establish a submission schedule and list of upcoming submission windows or dates that are targets you would like to achieve. Post the schedule where it is easy to see and check, allow room to revise finish times.
- 4). Join a professional writers group with other writers working on pieces similar to yours. Attend regularly and submit work for evaluation within the group. This is a standard workshopping process that helps writers network, discuss writing issues and learn to see issues in their work that they can later correct to create better finished pieces.
- 5). Arrange to attend two or more conferences or conventions each year that allow you to socialize with editors, publishers and other writers. Speak on panels to increase your name recognition and distribute marketing materials featuring your work. Create a blog, social network page and website for fans interested in your work.
- 6). Create a reward system for yourself when you reach milestones. As an example, if you are writing a short story you might take yourself out for ice cream once you write the climax of the story. On a longer piece you can reward yourself when you complete chapters or if you wrote for a week without interruption. These types of rewards encourage you to move forward.
- 7). Create a management strategy for rejections and rejection slips. Receiving negative feedback often makes a writer feel less able and it may shut down the creative process. Look for ways to overcome these feelings so that when a rejection is received, it can be processed quickly and you can move forward with your objectives.
- 8). Re-visit your goals every three months. Write new goals when your objectives change.
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -