April 03, 2023

B - Break Down Your Goals + BONUS

 


With a manageable weekly goal, you’ll be able to strive toward a specific page/word count by the end of that week. The key, though, is to set a realistic goal. Many writers beat themselves up for not meeting a goal that was rather grand and out of their scope to begin with. This isn’t healthy.

Set a goal you know you can meet. Then tack on an additional 10% to that page/word count to give yourself a bit of a challenge, which is always good practice. I can usually write 1,000 – 2,000 words in a single day. For a week, that could be 7,000 – 14,000 words if I write every day and reach those word counts. Incredible, right? And that’s not even tacking on the extra 10% to give myself a push.

In the beginning, it will be difficult to write every day and meet your goal, but if you stick to it and DON’T GIVE UP, it’ll become easier. Believe it or not, eventually your daily/weekly writing goals will suddenly seem too easy. Yes, really.

If something crops up that makes it impossible for you to write one day, or even a few days in a row, that is okay. I’ll say it again…THAT IS OKAY! Don’t punish yourself for not writing because of other responsibilities. Some days, you may only be able to write a hundred words. If that happens, pat yourself on the back, because although your day was crazy or you were mentally exhausted, you still WROTE.

There’s actually a wonderful challenge called 100 Words for 100 Days, which is exactly how it sounds. You aim to write at least 100 words a day for 100 days. You can share your progress and journey on social media and use the hashtag #100Wordsfor100Days.


Here are some tips for breaking down goals:


1. Breaking Down Goals

Setting monthly goals can help us reach our yearly goal.

Setting weekly goals can help us get to that monthly goal.

Setting daily goals can help us complete our weekly goal.


2. Write a Chapter a Week

For a book with 25 chapters, writing a chapter a week would have you finishing in about 6 months. If you're able to write more some weeks, you'll finish sooner.

Thinking about writing one chapter a week is a lot less daunting than telling yourself you need to finish your book in X amount of time. Remember, manageable goals. Goals that won't stress you out.

Since chapter lengths vary. They can be long (20 pages) or short (5 pages). They can even be longer or shorter depending on the story.

No cheating by having a bunch of tiny chapters, though. Something needs to happen in that chapter. Check out Dan Brown. He's a pro at exciting, short chapters.


TIP: Plotting out the story helps, even a little plotting helps if you’re a pantser. The key is to always know what you need to write next. So, plot out a chapter at a time. You can do this before the start of each new week.


3. Daily Goals

With a weekly goal, you can devise a daily goal, such as to meet a specific word count.

Your daily goal will depend on you and any time constraints you have. I aim for 1,000 words a day. It changes, though, as it should. Some days I write more, some days I write less. Both are fantastic. Any words written should be celebrated.


TIP: Add a treat to help you reach your goal. Something you can look forward to at the end of each day or at the end of the week.
One of my daily treats at the end of a long day is a nice, hot bath. At the end of a hard-working week, I give myself a movie weekend. All that matters is that the prize is rewarding to you.



BONUS A TO Z

THEME: AVRIANNA HEAVENBORN


B - Blood Type

Avrianna Heavenborn, the protagonist in the Patreon-exclusive novellas, is a true mystery. From how she was discovered to her eyes and hair color. Not to mention the fact that she has powers. But it's not only her outward appereance or her history that's a mystery. What's inside is a mystery as well.

Her blood type is HB Positive.

How?

Her blood is full of toxins. Toxins that contribute to the brightness of her green eyes and to her powers that present themselves as green flames and energy orbs.

Her blood can even melt metal.

And her tears burn, too.

Get to know more about Avrianna by becoming a patron.


Bat Girl Joke from Universal Killer

Avrianna unclipped the radio from her belt, pressed down the button, and spoke into it, “Chuck, I think our perp is Bat Girl.”

“Two jokes in one morning? That’s a record.”

“I’m not joking this time. There are shoe prints, roughly size six, heading up the side of the glass building.”

A pause lengthened on the other end of the radio. “I have no words.”

You can read Universal Killer, Cocky Killer, and all future Avrianna Heavenborn novellas on Patreon for just $5.00 a month. You get access to special perks, too, and you pay-it-forward to a good cause because 10% of all earnings go to StandUp for Kids, a charity that helps homeless American youth.





All A to Z Posts:


19 comments:

  1. Excellent tips and suggestions. Thank you!

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  2. Writing every day is the best habit to develop. But as you rightfully said, it's okay if on some day you aren't able to meet your goal. We are human, and we will have some good writing days and some not-so-good ones, too. It's all okay.

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    1. Thank you for visiting and for your comment, Shilpa! I've tried to return a visit and comment to you a couple of times, but your Blogger profile isn't available. It seems to be private.

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  3. Great tips. I consistently find myself setting unrealistic goals -- though that seems to motivate me :-)

    Ronel visiting for B:
    My Languishing TBR: B
    Birds of Faerie

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  4. That's critical. Only set goals you can meet. And if a week goes sideways, give yourself the grace to miss that deadline. There's no reason to turn writing into something that stresses you out.

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  5. Walking up the side of the building - yep, perfect reaction.

    After the COVID, I ran into excellent advice related to the daily word counts. The pandemic just took all my creative juices, so I hadn't really written in a while - but when I got the littlest bit of inspiration, I immediately tried to jump right back to my old levels - It didn't work. Then I ran into this advice from a fellow writer who was also a marathon runner. After giving birth, she tried to get back into running and tried immediately at her old levels ... and failed miserably. She pointed out she needed to recondition back to the old levels before running marathons again. Same with writing - if something had made you walk away for a while, take time to work you way back up to your old levels.

    This is one of the reasons I'm doing A to Z. I found it in the past to be a good "aerobic" exercise to build up stamina and speed.

    PS - thanks for dropping by my blog today.

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    1. Taking time is truly important. If you dive back in, rush to get back to where you were, your creativity will suffer, and you along with it.

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  6. Good tips for writing and a host of other goal setting topics. As you pointed out, rewarding oneself for achieving goals even ones that are 'Broken' down into manageable pieces. Thanks for your visit to 'A Dig Artist's Diary. You mentioned how neat it would be to find beads....just want to let you know that my Letter J for Jewelry will be about using the found beads and bones in a piece of jewelry. CollectInTexasGal

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  7. I think #100Words100Days started out as "Write a complete story in exactly 100 words, every day for 100 days." And post the @#$% things on Instagram. I think I made it to 14, once.

    My goal, this month, is 30 poems in 30 days. Let's see if I can beat 14.

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    1. I did not know that about #100Wordsfor100Days. Thank you for commenting, Holly!

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  8. I find breaking down goals to be really helpful. Makes them seem more achievable. Whether or not I'll actually achieve them is another story... :)

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    1. lol That is another story, but hopefully breaking them down does make it easier to achieve them. or at least some of them.

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  9. It seems the older I get the worse I am at setting goals! My best writing comes when I've done the research and go away from a week or two.

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    1. Going away for a week or two sounds like a good deal to help the creative juices to flow.

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  10. Stress and anxiety has crippled my ability to write daily. Getting rid of goals has helped. If I don't write I don't beat myself up but if I do write it's a triumph.

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