Resolutions, Dreams, and Goals

It's hard to believe that not only is another year coming to a close, it's actually the end of a decade. People all over are going to be taking stock of what they've accomplished, what they didn't accomplish, and what they're going to try to do in 2011.

And, usually, by the end of January, all those good intentions have gone by the wayside. I gave up making resolutions long ago (although I occasionally make them for the Hubster—less chance of me breaking them that way). What I've learned, is that if you want to see success, you have to narrow your focus.

These don't work: I resolve to be a best-selling author. I resolve to make $100,000 selling my e-books.

Or what about some less lofty ones? I resolve to have 5000 friends on Facebook. I resolve to have 350 followers to my blog. I resolve to have 500 people 'like' this blog. I resolve to be part of the blogroll of 100 other bloggers. I resolve to increase the number of hits on my website by 10% a month.

Dreams are wonderful. But that's what most resolutions are. Dreams. Dreams are things you'd love to have, but they're also things over which you have no control.

The first group is made up of dreams – there's nothing much I can do about them because they depend on other people.

The second group is more goal-oriented. There are things I CAN do to help me achieve them—if they were actually my goals.

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2009. I hope everyone had a safe and happy night.

New Years mean fresh starts. While in reality, there's not much difference between one day and the next, drawing that line brings optimism that things can get better. And let's face it--no matter how good we may have had it, we're always looking for ways to improve. 2008 brought a lot of challenges. People lost jobs, savings, their homes. We have a new president. Some see that as a good thing, while others are wary.

Are you a clean slate person? Is today the first day of the rest of your life? Have you set your goals for 2009? And remember--they have to be measurable!

For me, my 'have to get organized' goal needs to be refined. A measurable goal for today: I will find and file 5 sets of workshop notes. Much more measurable (and a lot less daunting) than looking at the boxes of paper and saying, "I need to do something about these someday."

My writing goals are working in reverse as I see how many words I can cut from my manuscript rather than how many new ones I write. My mantra has become, "Does it Advance the Plot?"

On a personal level, it's taking one day at a time, and trying to step back when things I can't control leap into my path--like finding out that for some unknown reason, our medical insurance was canceled on Dec. 20th, retroactive to mid-November. Hubby's hypothesis is that someone keyed in the wrong account ID--perhaps someone died and they cut his benefits, but our ID was input. Normally, this wouldn't be too bad, except we both had minor procedures done in anticipation of having to switch carriers on Jan 1st, which our 2008 carrier now won't want to pay for. And, minor or not, they're going to be beyond our budget. So, while OUR paperwork shows we have coverage under Plan A until Dec. 31st, and coverage under Plan B beginning Jan 1st, the insurance company says, "nope." And there's nothing we can do about it until Monday. So, I'm doing my best not to think of the red tape that will fill our lives, or for how long.

Resolutions, Dreams or Goals?

Almost a year ago, I blogged about Roxanne St. Claire's goal-setting workshop. Her advice is as valuable today as it was then.

With the new year just days away, how many of you have started looking forward? Are you reflecting on what you accomplished this year? Did you make a lot of resolutions? How long before you broke them?

I jokingly say I make resolutions for hubby -- no chance of ME breaking them. But resolutions are too lofty, too vague, and usually are setups for failure. "I'm going to lose 20 pounds" is not the way to go. Rather, figure out what it will take to meet that goal, and then keep track. I'm going to exercise X minutes a day, X days a week. I'm going to cook healthy meals. I'm going to eat X portions of carbs. I'm going to join Weight Watchers. Those things can be measured, and when you add up the healthy choices, you'll be able to meet a daily goal, and be that much closer to your 'dream'.

Goals are NOT dreams. Goals have to be something you can measure. Something you can control. Your goals might be steps toward a dream, but they're not the dream itself.

I might have a dream of seeing my books on the shelves at WalMart or the grocery store -- places where people can find them if they're looking, stumble across them if they're not. Not have to go on line, or walk to the customer service desk and ask someone to order the book. A goal of having something to point to and say, "I wrote that." (Or, better yet, so my mother can say, "My daughter wrote that.")

I have no control over what a publisher will buy. But I do have control over writing the best book I can. I finished two books in 2008. One, Hidden Fire, is published, but at the moment is available only in digital format. The other, as yet untitled, is in the final editing phase before I send it to my agent.

I did get an agent. That was more of a 'dream' because again, I had no control over whether or not my work will resonate with an agent. But what I have control over is getting the query letters out. I could measure it, by setting a goal of having X number of queries active at all times. But now, selling the book is a dream, because it's out of my hands. My agent has the sequel/spinoff to When Danger Calls, and we share the goal of selling it, but I have no control over that one. Instead, I moved on and wrote another book.

Right now, my task is to cut 8000 words from my WIP. That's a depressing and daunting task. But I can set a goal to read and edit 3 chapters a day. That's something I can measure, something I can say, "Yes, I did that."

But I also have to consider the fact that with the publishing market as tight as it is, I probably need to write another book, one with a totally different concept. Sounds like a dream -- it'll need breaking down into measurable steps. Like, find 4 story ideas in the newspaper/television/radio every day. You can't wait for the muse to visit--you have to get out and ambush her.

And if you got this far, here's a late holiday gift. One of my publishers, The Wild Rose Press has a free holiday cookbook made up of contributions from its authors. You can download the file here.

Goals, Word Counts, and The Writing Process

What I'm reading: Hit Man by Lawrence Block

What I'm writing: Chapter 20

From my Quote of the Day file:

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.
~William Strunk

This makes me feel a little better. I've been working conscientiously to finish my manuscript. I'm over halfway through the first draft, and I know where it's going, so it's a matter of finding the best route to get it there. Without a deadline, it's important to find the right motivation to keep going, especially when there seems to be a huge mud puddle and a fallen tree along the path you thought your characters were going. You can see the goal on the other side, but you have to pick your way through the underbrush, careful not to trip on rocks or step on snakes in order to get there.

I set daily minimum goals for the writing, and try to do other 'writing' stuff if I'm not actually at the keyboard. I've got a book signing on the 20^th (Winter Park Borders if anyone's around—details on my website), so I have some giveaways to put together. That counts as "writing" but it doesn't get words on the page.

At any rate, at the end of the day, I have numbers in my spreadsheet. I click the word count tool in my manuscript, plug it into my spreadsheet, and the program tells me how many more words there are since the last entry. Admittedly, I find that I click that dozens of times a day, sometimes seeing my count go up by 25 words, others by 250, and the really good ones where I've written 500+ words without stopping to think. If I hit 1000 on a day, my minimum, I feel that the rest will be gravy. I hit that point at noon yesterday, so I treated myself to some reading time and even watched an episode of The Closers I'd taped way back when.

The next morning, however, is another matter. My routine most mornings is to get up, deal with email, then go to the Y. This morning I added a phone call to Universal Studios complaining that they'd started testing their roller coasters at 06:20 and that's NOT the way I like to be awakened. The darn things sound like Dorothy and Toto ought to be flying by, and we're 2 miles away. But I (as always) digress.

Once I get back, have my coffee, go visit a few blogs, I'll look at the scenes I wrote the day before. When I finish, before I move forward, I'll check my word count again. All too often, it's less than the night before. Most of the time, I find that I've put in way too many unnecessary details, had my characters babble on about nonsense (dialog in fiction isn't the same as listening to 2 people talk and transcribing it word for word). But, as Mr. Strunk has pointed out above, less is more.

And so, with that said, I'm off to look at what I wrote yesterday. My count was 1987 words. We'll see what it is in an hour.

Have a great weekend.

Browsing Blogs and Goal not met

What I'm reading: All Through the Night by Suzanne Brockmann

What I'm working on: The e-publishing workshop I'm giving in February and March. Website updates.

As a long-time central Floridian, freezing temperatures aren't the norm, so to wake up to temps in the low 30th is a major adjustment. It was one of those mornings I'd have been happy to stay in bed, but getting my exercise in (one of those measurable goals) got me moving. And it gave me the chance to start reading the book the library delivered yesterday.

Before I get into the depressing look at what I didn't accomplish last year, I found a great recipe for candied walnuts on Nancy Robard Thompson's site the other day. I didn't have walnuts, but I did have a nice bag of pecan halves, and they came out yummy. So yummy, in fact, that next time I make them (and I know I will) I'm going to up the 'generous pinch of cayenne'. A LOT. Because that's the only way I can think of to slow down the gobble factor. And since I'm trying to get back into my normal eating habits, which got shot to blazes during a month of having to eat out 3 meals a day, I need to slow down.

And then there was the toenail color survey on Mimi's blog, repeated on Macy's. I took it, and for some reason pink was my color. I have NEVER been a pink person. I have a pink t-shirt given to me by the Wild Rose Press publisher, because it's their color. And one hand-me-down pink shirt my mom gave me, which I wear once in a while, but not if I'm going beyond the grocery store.

Since I posted my accomplished goals earlier, it's only fair to keep looking through my notebook to see where I fell down, and to decide if I ought to give it another shot, but probably via a different method. I did start a 3-ring binder for my 5th book, and I did research, but I failed to write chapter summaries (post-plotting, I call it) after 4 chapters. And my character notes are sorely cryptic. Not good if I want to write a series.

I took the IRS for writers class -- good. I set up a spreadsheet -- good. But 'set up filing system for receipts? Well, a file folder labeled 'receipts' doesn't count, I dont think.

My next page sets a goal of summarizing/deconstructing/reconstructing 3 chapters a week from books by authors I admire (sub-goal of pacing) -- well, total zero on that one.

Keep character notes updated weekly? Nope.

Keep track of promotion? Not after February. Not to say I didn't do it, but I have no way to track what I actually did. This is one I doubt I'll ever quantify. There are too many loops, and too many sudden opportunities. I'll probably revise the goal to something more like, "spend XX minutes/hours a day/week doing promotion."

Meanwhile, the temperature icon on my computer says 36 and it's flashing red. Wind chill advisories. A nice day to put a log in the fireplace and drink hot chocolate -- but then, maybe it should be Rooibos tea. Keeps me on track with one more personal goal.

Revisiting Goals and Achievements

What I'm Reading: A More Perfect Union by J.A. Jance
What I'm writing: Unexpected Danger, final edits before submission. An aside--I hadn't looked at the manuscript since prior to going to Africa, and the separation was a beneficial one. First, I caught a few things that had made perfect sense when I wrote them, but with my sieve-brain memory, when I read them again, I couldn't figure out what was going on. And, in some places, I didn't remember what was coming next! Second, overall, I liked the book. I didn't find so many crutch words (still have too many 'moments', plus another list to cull), and there were scenes that triggered emotional responses.

It's January 1st, and time for the obligatory New Year reflections. I don't make resolutions--haven't for years. At least not for me. I do make them for my husband, however. Works better that way. Not that he keeps them, but at least I'm not breaking them.

About a year ago, I tried to follow Roxanne St. Claire’s advice in a goal-setting workshop. I created my Goal Setting Notebook. The cover, in my mediocre calligraphy says, 2007 Goals.

From there, I broke things down into basic categories, and I guess it’s time to see what I accomplished, since I have to be honest and admit I abandoned writing down what I was doing along the way, and only re-discovered the notebook when I was looking for something handy to take to South Africa for journal-keeping. Not counting my neatly-penned title page, I wrote something on a grand total of 11 of the pages (and we’re not talking big pages here—under 4x6 inches). And almost all those entries were jotted down in January.

My long-term, broad goals were:

A. Productivity, sub-headed with Finish Two Books.
Yes! I wasn’t thinking about this as a goal once I got into the writing, but I finished Hidden Fire, my option book for Cerridwen Press, which is now under contract, and Unexpected Danger, which is with my agent. When Danger Calls, which is with Five Star Publishing for a December 2008 release was technically “finished” at the end of 2006, but went through edits and revisions. Still, I’m not going to count it. Or the short story I wrote and contracted with The Wild Rose Press, but I will make a note to include at least 2 short stories for 2008 goals (if I write them down).

B. Craft, sub headed Learn About Pacing
Sorta-kinda. I had my crit partners alerted to flag anything that slowed the pace (too fast hasn’t seemed to be a problem). I went to workshops that addressed the topic. Did I learn how to do it? Not sure, but feedback from reviewers and the agents and editors I’d queried with When Danger Calls said it was a fast-paced read. So, although I still don’t know “how” to do it, it appears I’ve improved on that score.

C. Increase Presence/Visibility
Medium marks for this one, too. Although since I started at ground zero, I could probably increase my score to a medium-high. I’ve got my website, this blog, and have tried to hang at some of the on-line groups. However, it’s time consuming and I have no real way to measure success. I made chapter books for my two print books, and started participating in signings once I had print books to sign. I went to 3 conferences, and have signed up for 2 already this year and will be on panels.

D. Career
I submitted another novel to Cerridwen, and a short story to Wild Rose Press, both of which were contracted. I sold a book to Five Star, “sold” being the operative word. They pay advances. And, I got an agent. On paper this looks fantastic. Internally, it didn’t happen the way I expected. Agents were still rejecting my submissions, telling me I was a very talented writer, but the material wasn’t ‘quite right’ for them. I think that might related to my mystery leanings rather than suspense, but I’m not sure I’m ever going to change my writing, and that’s another subject. The book sale came as a result of a clichéd ‘elevator pitch’ although at the time, I had no idea I was talking to an acquiring editor. I was at SleuthFest, and my romance-oriented books, although set against mysteries, straddle the genres. He asked a few questions, I talked about my book, he invited me to his table in the pitch room (at which point I tried very hard not to look as dumb as I felt) the next day. I took his flyer for their Expressions line, he had me sit and chat, asked me to email him the full, and I did. When the contract offer came, I still had no agent, and nobody seemed all that excited about their cut of the small advance, but Kelly Mortimer said she’d negotiate the contract, and I ended up signing with her.

Looking back, I’d say I met most of my goals. And although I have no doubts that the system is a good one, and I’ll outline 2008 goals, I think I know I’m just not organized or efficient enough to keep things in writing. Heck, I don’t outline my plots, and I never even got around to writing that to-do list for my trip to Africa.

What works for you?