People who write down their goals are 80% more likely to achieve them!
Goals are essential for writers whether your goal is based on word count, time spent writing, or the number of pages written. Goals give writers a vision and something to strive for by drawing a clear map. As someone who often goes out on trails, I never leave home without first studying the map, checking the weather, choosing how many miles I’ll go, and figuring out how much water and snacks will keep me comfortable on my hike. This is how we should treat writing โ with a clear set of goals in mind. If you’re prepared for the journey, navigating through rough patches will be easier than chasing your goals without a clear vision.
S.M.A.R.T. Goals
You’ve probably heard of S.M.A.R.T. Goals before (most likely in high school or job training). S.M.A.R.T. stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. To some, going through this process may seem overkill. However, setting and sticking to detailed goals is what sets apart the hobby writers from aspiring authors.
S.M.A.R.T. goals can also apply to other parts of life such as career paths, school, getting out of debt, etc.
Specific
The first step is to make sure your goal is specific. This is the part where you select your destination on the map. Let’s say I want to write a novel (outlining and pre-writing is completed). My specific goal will be to complete the novel. This is of course easier said than done, however, the next few steps will assist in actually accomplishing said goal.
Other writing goals may be: outlining a novel, edit a novel, starting the publishing process, etc.
Measurable
Next on our list is measurable. This is the part where you figure out how you’re going to keep track of your progress. In the case of writing my novel, this will be in the form of word count. I primarily write fantasy novels, which means I should aim for a word count of 120,000 words (this varies based off genre, age of audience, etc. If you’re curious about the average word counts per genres, check out my blog post on it here).
If your goal is to work on your outline, then you can measure your progress through how much of each act you outline with each session. For example, on the first day you might want to consider working on the hook. The second, the inciting incident โ so on and so forth.
If you’re editing, you might want to measure your progress by how many pages you edit a day (this is easier to keep track of than word count at this stage of writing).
Attainable
Now, we focus on what is attainable. At this point, it’s essential to make sure you have the pre-work done to make this entire goal possible. For my goal, that would include brainstorming, writing the outline, building character profiles, etc. If I don’t have the groundwork for my novel, reaching my goal will be harder than it has to be. If I make sure I’m prepared beforehand, it’s more likely that I’ll reach my goal on time!
For editing, you want to make sure you actually have the novel written beforehand. This seems self explanatory, but most creative people get ahead of themselves and start editing before their novels are complete. (I’m guilty of this!)
Relevant
Next, check that your goal is relevant and lines up with your values and overall life goals. You need to know the why behind your goal. Is it because you want to be a published author? Are you already a published author and are writing a sequel? Are you writing a series? Is it a childhood dream to make writing your career? All of the above?
If you don’t value what your goal will help you achieve, chances are you won’t reach said goal โ especially where writing is involved. At times, writing can be tedious and not for the faint of heart.
Time-Bound
Lastly, your goal should be time-bound. In the instance of writing my novel, I might try and write the first draft in 3 months. If I decide to write 5 days a week for 3 months, that’s roughly 60 days. Now, 120,000 words spread over the course of 60 days is 2,000 words per day. If your goal doesn’t sound achievable in the timeframe you’ve given yourself, adjust the timeframe until it better fits your schedule.
In the end, you want to set yourself up for success. If your goal doesn’t sound realistic, go back and alter it until you’re satisfied. Don’t make progress on your goal unless you know you are capable of reaching it.
Want to take your author career to the next level? Here are my blog posts on why authors should start a blog today and how to start an author blog.
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XO,
