I won these wonderful Wonka Bars from Janet. Janet writes YA and MG novels with a special love for all things fairy tale.
Do you set weekly or monthly goals?
I enjoy reading Jill’s goals and posting my own goals on her blog on Fridays. (If you haven’t checked her out, hop over…) Around May 16th Jackee started a Challenge for the rest of the month (BREAKING NEWS…Jackee gave us two extra days for the May Scramble Challenge. Hop over and join in.).
All of this goal talk got me thinking back to my teaching days, every lesson had to have a goal and these goals had to be Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Time specific. (My blog friend Lenny helped me remember what all the terms for S.M.A.R.T. goals were, as I haven’t written any smart goals for four years.)
Are your goals SMART Goals? Do you go back and check to see if you reached them? Are you making your goals too broad, which in the end might cause you to not reach them? If your goal is to get your mg novel published you need to break it down into specific goals…word count goals, research goals, industry research goals, query letter writing goals…Do you see what I’m saying? You have to break things down into small enough segments that you can determine if you are reaching those goals that lead to the big goal, PUBLICATION.
My goals for this week:
1. finish EVERYONE DID THEIR PART QUERY
2. write WE HAVE ENOUGH query
3. research who to send WHE to
4. write two chapters of A TEMPORARY HOME (WIP)
5. post three blog items
6. shoot photos for photo essay
Now I have to ask myself, are these SMART goals? Are they specific? Can I measure that they have been accomplished? Can I get all of this done in one week? Am I being realistic in these goals? Have I given myself a time frame? I think the only one that is not specific enough is number three. So I need to revise it…
3. Find five educational publishing houses to submit WE HAVE ENOUGH to.
That’s better…it’s more specific and measureable.
What are your SMART GOALS for this week???
I love goals, but I'm not good about remembering to set them, much less make them SMART goals. I'll have to do better...maybe reviewing my progress and setting new ones at the beginning of every month. Good inspiration for me. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI am terrible at keeping up with my goals, even when they are realistic. But I am going to put more effort into this. :)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your goals! Those are a lot of work, but do-able, and you can do it!
I remember taking a class about SMART goals. I tried implementing the principles to losing weight and clearly it didn't work. Guess I wasn't as Smart as I thought I was. Or as disciplined :)
ReplyDeleteI've printed out my latest WIP for line edits and a read-aloud, then I'm sending it to a Beta reader or two. I also hope to blog 2 or 3 times, fix up my Twitter account and follow some new blogs.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with your queries and writing!
Oh crikey. I want some SMART goals now!! I'm so inspired by this post. I love what SMART stands for. I shall go away and write this down on my word doc and hopefully it'll help me focus!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Good luck with your fab SMART goals! And congratulations with the yummy wonka bars and those fab books!! Yay!
x
Oh my, I don't think mine are nearly smart enough.
ReplyDeleteI always keep a pretty journal specifically for writing my weekly itineraries. I don't begin my week without it written, and it includes all the small steps I need to take that particular week to keep moving forward on this writing journey. I definitely refer to it often, and check items off as I go!
ReplyDeleteI tend to set monthly rather than weekly goals.
ReplyDeleteThis month-add 30 pages to WIP....and I am not sure what the others are....it's June 1st so I better figure it out!
Shelley
Amy--For me posting them on my blog makes them more real. I've always written down to-do lists, but posting them for all my writing friends to see is like a little kick in the pants to get them done.
ReplyDeleteSandy--I noticed an improvement in my writing time when I started setting these goals over at Jill's blog on Fridays...They key is to make them attainable...
Karen--I'll bet you didn't reach your goals because they weren't acheivable. Sometimes we set out goal out there so far we can't reache them...I'm trying to lose weight too, my goal is 1 pound a week. I've been doing okay I'm down 8 pounds. I give myself one free day a weekend...Because I know I can't stick to it if I can't relax and eat out with my family once a week.
Sarah--Thanks for dropping in...It sounds like you have a busy week planned. I'm curious what fix up your twitter account means...I just lurk on Twitter. I occasionally tweet, but not very often.
Old Kitty--I can't wait to hear your SMART Goals! I know they'll be spot on. :) (Honestly, I wouldn't write about them if I didn't think the post would help someone other than me.)
Brian--I think your goals are purrrfect.
Joanne--Very good idea! I was keeping a to do list in my daytimer until I began posting my goals on Jill's (and then my) blog. But this is a great idea, then you can see your growth over a long period of time. Thanks!
Shelley--I was doing monthly goals, but decided (for me) I needed them to be short term...more achievable with a shorter specific time limit.
Thanks for stopping by everyone!
My montly goal is to finish my draft of my mg.
ReplyDeleteI like the SMART acronym!!
Good luck with your goals, Sharon. I do have a weekly to do list for my household chores, maybe I should do one for my wip too.
Kelly--When are you going to send me a chapter??? I used outlook calendar to keep track of my household chores, but then I changed computers and I can't figure out how to use outlook on it...so I quit doing chores (I wish)!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout out, and great post!
ReplyDeleteWow, I really need to work on setting goals period. I'd probably be a tad more effective. Really good reminder and I love that you make it sound so simple. I can do this. :)
My goal for this week is to get the house squeaky clean before my in-laws arrive on Friday (while taking Wednesday off for a Six Flags trip.) I have a (very long) itemized list. So I guess my goals are SMART, even if not particularly fun. :)
ReplyDeletehi miss sharon! thanks for saying my name in your post. i like that. it was my brother who told me what smart is for a goal. he said now to say you gotta be careful not to make too many goals for just one week cause you could get your self in a mess and all frustrated out when you didnt get all of them done. i hope you get all yours done. ...hugs from lenny
ReplyDeleteJanet--You are welcome...I really do think if you write down your goals you have a much better chance of reaching them.
ReplyDeleteSusan--I can't believe your kids are out of school! It sounds like you've got a lot to do with your family coming...
Lenny--Thank you! I would of had to go down in my storage room and dug through boxes of old teacher stuff to find what SMART stood for. Your brother is right, if you have too many goals then you won't be able to get them done. :) Hugs...
I am all about goals and targets. I find that unless I have something to aim for, I faff around doing nothing and wasting time!
ReplyDeleteI've got so much family stuff going on this week (all good stuff) that I have no writing goals. I intentionally did that, but now I feel lost. Won't happen again, even if I'm busy.
ReplyDeleteTalli--I'm right there with you. I've got to write something down or I'll just mess around and get nothing done.
ReplyDeleteAnita--The end of the school year is always so busy. We still have almost two weeks of school left, here. Make sure you take some time for yourself...
To finish the re-edit of my MS. Been tough as the other demands of life have been overwhelming. But I should finish this weekend.
ReplyDeleteStephen Tremp
Thanks for the reminder. I had standing goals of 210 minutes at the gym each week, 6 glasses of water and I forget how many words in my WIP.
ReplyDeleteI sorta let that slide....time to dust myself off and start going again.
OMG SMART goals. Those are from my work! We have to have SMART goals at work too. I'm not much for goals in writing, I have some internal ones...
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your goals!! Oh and the chocolate looks yummy!
I never thought about making my goals in quite this way, before. Basically, I jump in and start swimming, but this just may be what I need to get my work more streamlined. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you're enjoying the books. They are awesome, aren't they? I must say that I learned quite a bit from them, but I didn't realize it until I was finished with all three books. I think that's 'cause Donna did such a good job of drawing the reader into each story.
~ Yaya
LOVED reading the goals (and confessions) of these comments! Thanks, everyone!
ReplyDeleteSome more wonderful blogger I must check out. Your goals put me to shame :( Tonight's goals for me are:
ReplyDeletewrite blog post
comment of blogs
write 2000 word essay
write 500 word abstract
All in 14 hours :( !
I am not so good about goals. I have them, I just don't say them out loud or write them down. But I should. It would help keep my writing and plans on track!
ReplyDeleteYou are on a ROLL, friend! And winning so many contests. Guess which other one you won? (Hee, hee.) Come visit my blog, please. :o)
ReplyDeleteMy goals: Stick with what I'm doing and I'm not eating any sugar all of June. Yep, that's right. Any. Sugar. I've never done it before. It's hard!
Oooh, great post! I used to be much better about setting goals on a regular basis. And I'm going to do some today!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder!
Congrats on winning some awesome contests!
ReplyDeleteJackee's goals for May were so much fun I had a lot of fun, learned a lot and met a ton of new people, it was great! I'm jealous you WON!!! Congratulations, how incredible, you are on a roll... CLEARLY!
This is going to be the abbreviated version of my responses. UGH...the first set of responses disappeared in to space.
ReplyDeleteStephen--It sounds like you have your work cut out for you this week....OMGoodness it's already Thursday!
Vicki--I keep a spreadsheet on my miles on the treadmill and my minutes in the gym (yes, I'm a bit OCD)...
Erica--HI! Thanks for dropping in. :) I tend to not do anything if I don't write it down...
Joany--Thanks again for the books. I'm really enjoying them.
Jennie--It's fun seeing into other people's thought processes. :)
Valerie--Holy Cow! You've got more planned for today than I have planned for the whole week!
Lydia--I really like what Joanne said about journaling your goals...I love checking off stuff and that would be a great way to watch your progress.
Jackee--Thanks so much! I'm really excited about winning your contest. You really inspired me!
PJ--Thanks! I think the goals can relate to any walk of life, not just our writing...
Jen--Thanks for dropping in! Jackee's challenge was wonderful. I'm going to keep posting my new blog visits and word count on my sidebar. :)
Great post, Sharon. I've acheived my goal so far this week. It was to work on my writing assignment each day. It's about genres. i have written the start to four stories, each a different genre. I find it easier to come up with story ideas now. I also have to write the book blurb of a blended genre story.
ReplyDeleteNiki--It sounds like a great course you are taking! WTG on reaching your goals! I forgot that Monday was a holiday when I started my goals for this week on Tuesday...So I'm a bit behind.
ReplyDeleteMy goal is not to let self-doubt in...
ReplyDeleteMy goal is to keep positive about my work...
my goal is to write instead of going back and rewriting my WIP a thousand times...
my goal is to finish what I have started. My goal is to remember I love to write, and keep it fresh and fun, or it will become work and filled with distain.
Thx
Jeff--Those are great goals! It's easy to get in a patern of self-doubt. I've written tons of stuff, but done very little querying. I'm going to do better! You are right, you have to remember why you are writing...because you enjoy it. :) Have a good one!
ReplyDelete