Be A Rebel Writer! Make The Commitment To Your Goals

 The absolutely amazing Sheri Larsen reminded me I had committed to being a Rebel Writer this year!  So I am taking a break from my working break to encourage you to write your goals for 2012.  Make sure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic & Timely.  (SMART GOALS)

You can have a variety of goals that relate to different aspects of your life.  I posted a few of my life goals and writing goals here.  My awesome critique partner, Lenny Lee sent me this wonderful planner and I am using it to make sure I am on track with my writing goals.  Each day I write down what I did relating to my goals of becoming a published author.  It really is motivating me to not have any blank pages.  (I don't typically write on the weekends, so having blank spots on those days is fine for me.)  I'm keeping a food and workout journal to go along with my health goals for 2012.  (It's going well, just in case you wondered...)

I encourage you to keep track of how you are doing on meeting your goals for this year. 

If you have time, pop over to Sheri's blog and check out  the participants of the REBEL WRITER'S PLEDGE Members.  You might find a piece of advice that serves your writing/life style perfectly!

HAPPY WRITING!!!!

(I'm heading back to my office and my manuscript until February 14th when I announce the winner of my book giveaway.)

HUGS TO ALL!!!!

GOALS…ARE THEY ACHIEVABLE?

I’d like to send an overdue thank you to a few fellow bloggers.

I won these wonderful Wonka Bars from Janet. Janet writes YA and MG novels with a special love for all things fairy tale.

I’d like to thank Joany for holding a contest with Donna Aviles. I won three of Donna’s wonderful historical fiction chapter books. I just started reading FLY LITTLE BIRD FLY and it is wonderful!

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???