On Your Mark, Get Set, GOAL!

Setting a goal is easy.  It's the working on and reaching the goal that are the hard parts.  I'm as guilty as anyone else about giving up or just not trying hard enough.  That isn't always our fault.  There are stumbling blocks that, in our zest to achieve something, we overlook. So let's take a look at how to set goals and how to be successful at reaching those goals.

First, ask yourself some questions.


Is your goal realistic? 
For writers, this is one of the biggest blocks that can keep them from reaching their goal.  For instance, if your goal is to become a published author, setting a goal to be published in a year or any other specified amount of time, isn't realistic.  You have no way to control whether an editor/publisher will buy your manuscript.  Once you've written your book, researched the right publishers to submit to, and slipped your baby into the mail or an email, the control is in another court.  Outside of writing is the same.  You can't control what another person will do.  Make certain your goal is something you can control.  You should also give yourself the time needed to reach your goal and add a little wiggle room.  Realize that life can sometimes throw curves and be prepared.

How badly do you want it?
It takes wanting something enough not to give up at the first sign of problems to keep working on a goal.  Don't quit too soon.  In fact, if you've set a specific time period in which to reach your goal, see it through.  Why?  Because even if you don't reach your goal, you've made progress.  Celebrate it.  You can always try for that brass ring again.  If you decide to do that, you're already a step ahead, because you've seen some of the things that can trip you up, and you can adjust your plan in accordance.


There are all kinds of goals, not only for writing, but for making life easier, healthier, and more fun.  Whether it's getting more exercise, losing weight, organizing your home or life, or taking a vacation, setting goals can help you be a success.  You can find some great tips online to help you along the way, from planning and the process of working on goals to reaching them.  Here are just a few:

• WebMD's How to Reach Your Goals has some great advice on goal setting to help you make reaching your goal a success.
• Not sure you're ready to set a goal?  Do you see too many obstacles?  Susan B. Wilson, Facililitator and Coach has tips on how to remove those obstacles.
• Are you in need of long term goals for living, not just short term goals for specific projects?  Mind Tools - Personal Goal Setting can help you along the way.
• The title pretty much says it all.  Dr. Phil's Seven Steps to Reaching Your Goals.

We're only a little more than 3 months from the end of 2011 and the biggest goal setting day of each year: New Year's Day.  Why not try setting some small, short term goals to get in some practice before the holidays hit?  Remember, it takes 21 days to make a habit.  

What's your goal for the next month?

Goal Setting: Searching For What Works Best

In spite of good intentions, my desire to actually put words to paper has been at an all time low since earlier this year.  Yeah, I know.  I've mentioned it before.  Add to it that it was a rough summer.  While I've written through some of the worst times (a divorce, four moves in two years, and the deaths of family and friends), I just haven't been able to find the desire needed to get back into writing mode.

As a writer, I should be writing.  I need to be writing.  It wasn't happening.  And then I kept seeing Facebook posts by author friend Susan Gable about how her writing progress was going.  I decided it was time to follow her example.

Susan's goal is to write 500 words per day.  That really isn't a lot for writers who are accustomed to writing as much as ten pages or more a day.  There have been times, when on deadline and in the middle of writing a book, that I've written twenty pages, but those times aren't the norm.  I can do what's needed in a pinch, but it's the day-to-day putting words on paper that's currently a problem for me.

I'd stumbled upon a little progress meter and wanted to use it, but until I was ready and willing to make the commitment, I had to wait.  Now that I'm ready and willing, I've included it here on my blog.  ==== >                                                                                                                        

But I didn't stop there.  I searched until I found a nifty Excel spreadsheet someone created for NaNoWriMo and downloaded it, then adjusted it to fit my goal.  Because I know just enough about Excel to get myself in trouble, it wasn't too difficult.  If that hadn't worked, I could have set up my own spreadsheet.  If you aren't familiar with Excel, keeping track in a notebook or sheet of paper works just as well.

I set my daily for for 500 words and wrote 523 the first day! (Saturday)  On Sunday (yesterday) I realized that if I wanted to write all of the three chapters needed for a proposal, I was going to have to bump up the daily word count.

I'll be the first to admit that math is absolutely NOT my best subject, but I manage to find a way to get what I need.  Here's what I did:

• Word count need for complete manuscript=55,000
• My books usually have 12 chapters, so 55,000 :/: 12=4583.3333333
• An average words for 3 chapters would then =2@4583words and 1@4584words.
• 4583 + 4583 + 4584 = 13,750.

For a little extra wiggle room, I added an extra 250 words (approximately 1 page)

I chose the date to reach my goal 22 days later (for reasons I won't go into), so:

• 14000 :/: 22 = 636.363636363....
• Rounded off to 640, making that my daily goal.

That's Less than a page more than 500 words, so it should be doable.  Maybe even better than that.  Yesterday I added the extra needed to the 523, plus 640 for the day, I wrote 1002 words.  My running total, had I written 640 words each day, would have been 1280, but my real running total for the two days is 1525.

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is in November.  I've always been in the middle of a deadline of some kind in the past, but I'm marking it on my calendar and have decided to find a way to participate this year.  I know I'll be in good company!  If you aren't familiar with NaNoWriMo, or if you're like me and are ready to try to make daily writing a habit, or you just feel you need a push and something to keep you on track, click on the links.  Or maybe you can join me by commenting on this post, and we'll work toward a goal together.

Until later....

Happy Writing!!

Character Creation

I'd planned to blog about characters on Wednesday, but as it turned out, I was working on finding and getting to know my own.  That may be a good thing, because I've just gone through the process and it's fresh in my mind.  Almost too fresh. ☺

There's no reason to mention that for a romance there's a need for two main characters.  Without someone to love, there's no romance, so choose characters you can relate to and readers will love.

But how does a writer choose the best characters that will work well for each particular story?  It's a process, and sometimes it can be a long one.  For me, the characters often come first, and when they do, it starts with one character, who often has a built in conflict.  That conflict may not be the one I stick with, but it's a starting place and can morph into something bigger and better.  Sometimes a character comes with only a character description:  single mom, rodeo cowboy, girl from the wrong side of the tracks, etc., just to name a few.  Even that small bit is a good start.

How to choose that second character?  It seems no one knows who to attribute this quote to, but someone once said that if your hero is a firefighter, your heroine better be an arsonist.  Can you hear the scream of conflict in that?  Yes, opposite types are going to be in conflict with each other.  Without conflict, a story has no teeth.  In fact, without it, it's boring.  Just make sure there's some quality for each of them that the other can admire, otherwise their romance isn't going to last to the middle of the book.

While searching for the author of the firefighter/arsonist quote, I found a great article online that might help when creating characters.  Opposites attract, but can it last? begins with a quote from best-selling, award-winner author Susan Elizabeth Phillips, whose books I refuse to miss.  In fact, I often use her newest one as a reward after reaching a big goal.

Some writers use character profile sheets to help create their characters.  In most of them, there are lists of things to fill in, such as age, hair color, favorite books, birth order, and other things that help writers get to know their characters better.  Once upon a time, long, long ago, I used character profile sheets, but I discovered I spent more time filling them out than getting to know my characters.  Sometimes I'm so focused and engrossed that I forget the main reason for doing something.  This doesn't mean profile worksheets are bad.  If the sheets help or you think they might, use them!  We need all the help we can get.  There are countless profile sheets online that can be saved and/or printed.  To find them, simple do a search for character profile worksheet, try out a few, and choose the one that best helps you.  If you find that none of several you try don't fit, take the best aspects and create your own.

I'll be revisiting the topic of characters again soon, because there's more to share.  After all, without characters, there's really no story, even if those characters are thinking and talking trees and plants. :0

So what kind of characters did I come up with?  A single mom of a 12-year-old girl and a cowboy with a horse ranch.  I'll share more about them later. ;)

Plotting Tips

It's time to get back to work, and since I'm getting ready to do some plotting on what possibly might become two new Desperation books, plotting seems like a good topic to discuss.

A simple definition of plotting is that it's a road map of your story.  You start at one point--the beginning--and then write your way along a highway of scenes to finally come to the final point--the end.  Many things can happen between that beginning and ending, depending on your characters and where you want to take them.  In romance, we take them from a "first meet" to that "HEA" (happily ever after) that each romance must have.

That "first meet" between the hero and heroine of a romance can be between strangers, adversaries, acquaintances or friends.  Keep in mind that the first sentence and the following paragraphs are what will grab the reader.  The last thing the reader wants to know is either character's life history, so don't worry about telling that now.  Those first few words need to hook the reader into the moment.  It may only be a moment experienced by one character (hero or heroine), so don't be afraid to wait to introduce the other character a few paragraphs or even a couple of pages later.  Just don't let it go on too long.  Those first few pages--that first scene--should contain an "OH, NO!" response between the characters or even within the reader, who sees that there's going to be some trouble up ahead.

My story ideas usually start with one character, then my mind searches for the other character, whose goals will be in direct opposition to him or her.  Somewhere along the line in there, an idea of where the story will start and what the main conflict between those characters may be starts to take root.  It may not remain the same, as ideas start to grow.  Changes sometimes need to be made and will be if needed.

Knowing your characters before starting to plot can be a big help.  When you know them well enough, you'll know how they'll react to each other and situations that might arise.  There are many different ways of getting to know your characters, so stop back in later this week for more.  Until then...

Happy Writing! 

Not a Week to Repeat

I didn't intend to be MIA this week, but last weekend was busy with no time to write a blog in advance.  Monday morning I woke up with what quickly proved to be a full blown, down and dirty cold.  I have a routine for that kind of thing that includes particular cold medicines for day and night, and my ever faithful echinacea to help my immune system to fight off the nasties.  Still, I don't remember feeling quite so tired, just because of a cold, so time was spent sleeping whenever possible, if even for an hour at a stretch.

Tuesday I learned my aunt (my mother's brother's wife) had passed away.  We lost my uncle in May, and many of us hadn't yet completely come to terms with it.  It's tough to deal with new grief while still grappling with another, but it's something many people have to do.  I'll miss my aunt, just as I miss my uncle, even though I hadn't seen them often.  They were the last of my mother's family.  What's left now are cousins of all ages.  First cousins, second cousins, third cousins and others.  New, little cousins I hadn't seen until today at the funeral.  Life does go on, even as we have to say goodbye to another.

I'll be back to normal on Monday and plan to share some new thoughts on writing.  I'm happy to say that my cold is pretty much gone, and I'm feeling a little more normal every day.

Enjoy the weekend!

In the Mood for Writing

Being in the mood to write, whether it's starting something new or working on a current wip, isn't always easy, nor does it happen when needed.  Life, with all its ups and downs, good times and bad times, can get in the way of the ability to be create.  Whether it's family needing our emotional attention or we're in a negative place about our writing, there are times when the words just won't come.

We all go through it.  I'm currently in that 'can't write' place and am struggling to get out of it and get something positive going.  It's not that I haven't written anything.  I just haven't been able to write the things I should be working on.  It happens to all of us.

So what's a writer to do when creativity has taken a holiday?  Here are a few suggestions that might trip the creative wire.

• Take a walk--While this wasn't possible for me even last week, thanks to record-breaking high temps, it definitely is this week.  Once upon a time a walk quite often did the trick.  It's definitely worth a try, especially before winter makes an appearance.
• Put on some favorite music--I did this the other day while cleaning and sorting and washing dishes.  It helped the time spent on mundane chores go quickly.  Before I knew it, I was working with a smile.  And if that doesn't help get you in the mood...
• Create a playlist--Whether it's for your current or next WIP, music can spark ideas and characters without breaking a sweat.
• Brainstorm--This is usually one of my favorites.  In fact, I've discovered that brainstorming another writer's story is more beneficial than brainstorming my own.
• Read--Just for the pleasure of reading and without thoughts of learning from it, enjoy the enfolding of a favorite book written by a favorite writer.  Lose yourself in the words and the story and forget about your own.
• Experiment with a new genre--Don't worry about whether it's good or bad, just take the spark of an idea and go with it.  Don't even think about submitting it, because this story is for you and no one else.
• Meditate--Give your mind a little time to rest, with no thoughts of story or character or writing.  Or anything.  Don't know how?  Do an internet search for *meditation* and learn!
• Exercise--Sometimes the brain just needs fresh blood.  Writers lead a sedentary and cerebral life, and we need to get up and move.  If aerobics or calisthenics aren't your thing and make you think of torture, put on some music and dance!
• Understand that you're not alone--Inspiration can hit a wall.  When you think you've done everything you can, do a search for *writing when you're not in the mood*.
• Take a break--If, after trying all of the above, you still find writing difficult, it may be time to put it aside for a short time.  But don't let it go on and on.  Set a specific time to mentally get away from writing--a week, a month, three months--and then stick to it.  When the time is up, spend a day or two (no more) about what you want or need to write, and then start writing.

Now it's my turn to take my own advice.  

"Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."  E.L. Doctorow

Laboring Away on Labor Day

Sounds like a catchy song, doesn't it?  If it was, I'd be playing it, because that's what I'm doing.  However, Santana singing Black Magic Woman will have to do.

What I'm doing isn't back breaking labor or even labor I'm being paid to do.  I'm working on making my office work for me.  That includes cleaning and sorting papers and things--especially things that don't belong--in my office.  I have several boxes of paper ready to be taken to the recycle center and wonder if there'll ever be an end to it. There are a couple of boxes that I'll shred here later, and then take to the center.  Books need to be shelved, surfaces need to be cleared, and the floor needs a quick vacuuming.  Instead of storing things I haven't looked at or used in a while, I'm trying to throw away more.  If this works well, there are other areas of my home that can stand to be streamlined.

One would think a writer with a computer wouldn't have boxes and piles of papers.  As the 7-Up Un-Deer said in the '70s, WRONG-O!  A computer and printer can mean even more paper than a typewriter did.  It's so much easier to simply print a research article on the Web than it is to make notes.  It's so much easier to spot mistakes in a manuscript for someone like me who has been reading the printed word for--well, let's say over 40 years, but has only been watching a computer screen for maybe 20 at the most.

Hey, I'm a creature of habit, and my habit tends to being a bit shy about throwing things away.  I'm working on changing that habit.  (A weekly dose of Hoarders helps.)  If that means working on Labor Day, then so be it.  After the office, the next thing on my list is to rebuild a bookcase for the living room, and then dive into a bedroom-sort.  By then it may be time to start dragging out those cooler weather aka fall/winter clothes and put away the shorts.  Frankly, after a summer of record-breaking heat, I can't wait!

Hope you're enjoying your Labor Day this year!  And remember, Christmas is less than 4 months away. ;)