web stuff 4 writers

Happy new month everyone!

It’s the 1st of October and I’ve just been setting my writing goals for the month over at 43things.com.  This month, I’m aiming to:

• write at least 100 words a day.
• post at least 30 blog entries (shared between this blog and natashajudd.com).
• get the word-count of my latest novel-in-progress up to 30,000.

There’s some more long term writing goals there too, such as making my living as a writer and publishing a collection of short stories, alongside more personal ambitions, such as learning to make sushi and visiting every state of Australia. 

Why post your writing goals online?

Every January when I was at Intermediate school, we’d write out our goals for the year on coloured paper and tack them up on the stationery cupboards.  For me, writing the goals wasn’t the motivating factor.  It was the fact that they’d been put up on the wall for all my classmates to see that really made me want to achieve.

These days, I could write my goals for the month down in a notebook and put a tick next to each one when I’m done.  However, if I did that, I’d be accountable only to me – and I’m more likely to accept my own excuses for not getting thing done.

Now my goals for the month are online, I feel that I’m accountable to all those who read my list, whether they’re once-off visitors, friends or people who have found me because they are trying to achieve the same things.

While, I generally only talk about my writing in general terms, such as chapters and word-counts, it was great to receive cheers from others while I was working on the draft of Lessons to Learn, and an amazing feeling that day when I could click on the ‘I’ve done this’ button next to the goal I’d set many months earlier: ‘write a novel‘.

Your thoughts

Do you set regular writing goals?  How do you record them, what motivates you to work towards their completion and how do you measure success or failure?

Tags: Planning //