Writers' Morning Out Minutes, January 18, 2020

“The goal for today is to go a little bit further than yesterday. It’s that simple.” – Anon. WMO met at 1 p.m. on January 18th in the http://greekkouzina.com/ backroom in Pittsboro. The NCWN sponsors WMO. Carol Phillips heads WMO. 

The 2020 WMO theme is “Inspiration.” Together we’ll inspire each other to writing greatness (or, at least, mediocrity).

January was “Setting Goals.” Carol Phillips led a session on ways to identify realistic goals, should you even decide to set goals. Rick Bylina defined Smart Goals and used some of his own goals as an example. 

Overview of Goals:  by Carol Phillip

Example of [bad] Goals: 

Daily

     e.g. Write 5,000 words a day

Short-term

     e.g. Publish stories in Pushcart Winning journals

The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year.

     Long-Term

          e.g. Publish the Great American Novel with one of the biggies

     Lifelong

          e.g. Become a critically and commercially successful author

What’s do you think of these goals?

Are they specific—No 

Are they realistic—No

Are they Measurable—No. Best goals state how much by when

Taking baby steps—No.  

What are Good Goals? 

Carol's not a good person to talk about goals — She has a relaxed relationship with them unless forced otherwise, relaxed but successful, so

Do you need goals?

Goals trigger behavior.

Goals guide your focus.

Goals align your focus.

Goals sustain momentum.

Goals promote self-mastery/discipline.

     

Later Rick will talk more about setting SMART goals. Carol has a different approach that has worked well for her over the years—it’s rather lousy-dousy —

She does not throw an idea out to the Universe and waiting for the Universe to respond. Rather focuses her attention/actions on what she wants to accomplish and looks for opportunities to further her goals. Her goal for the year is to become a 'submitting writer".

This process works for her because her goals are things SHE WANTS to do, rather than things she thinks she should do.

Focus on what’s important to you as a writer

1.    Not everyone wants to publish — and that’s great. Reasons to write vary. Some writers want to: 

a.    Journal for their own pleasure

b.    Share with family and friends

c.    Have one story to tell

                               d.    Publish in local journal

e.    Self-publish

f.   Publish with small presses

f.     Break into NYC publishing scene ~

So, think about what it is you want to accomplish as a writer:  I want to cause readers to think and feel a little about an aspect of life, of the world, they haven’t considered~

2.    How does what’s important to you as a writer fit in with what’s important in your life outside of writing?  Carol likes exploring ideas and topics and sharing them with others.

Ways to help you to reach your goals

1.    Identify where you are now ~

2.    Make your goals as important (or more) than your favorite character’s

3.    Focus steps you can take to reach goals rather than milestones reached or not, e.g. writing, sharing, submitting

4.    Set Deadlines

a.    Give yourself consequences if deadlines are not met

b.    Give yourself rewards if deadlines are met

5.    Be accountable

a.    Writing partner(s)

b.    WMO monthly meetings

                                         i.    For those of you who would like, we can start each meeting by having a brief check-in 30 seconds or so.

                                        ii.    If you are not reaching a goal because of identifiable reasons that you need help with—every time I sit down to submit, Billy Joe nudges my arm to say let’s go play ball—mention it, and after the meeting perhaps someone can offer suggestions

                                      iii.    In March, we plan to discuss issues you may be having and/or things that are inspiring you or that you wish to share with others.

 End:

However you go about setting or not setting goals, trust your process—as long as it works. 

Smart Goals (for writers) By Rick Bylina

• Specific: Are clear and defined. Vague goals are hard to accomplish. (If you have a long-term goal (LTG), it may be helpful to make some intermediary Smart Objectives to stay focused on the LTG.)
• Measurable: Be able to measure progress toward the goal. (You need to understand your progress.)
• Action Plan: Plan what you are going to do. (How do you fit it into your day?)
• Realistic: Make sure your goal is not too hard or too easy. (This might be the hardest for most people.)
• Time Limit: Put a realistic time limit on the goal. (Goals can be daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.) 

##  (Don’t hide your goals. Let’s understand together what’s not working.) ##

       Rick defines goals into broad categories: Personal, Professional, and Project.  

Some of Rick’s real goals are: 

Personal:

• Lose 3 lbs./month in 2020 by doing one-hour physical activity per day & ending late-night snacks.
• Bring no soda products into the house. Soda-bad; Water-good.

Professional: 

(It could be poetry, fiction, non-fiction, memoir, short fiction, or whatever):

• Weekly. Write my 400-word flash fiction per my auto-prompt by reserving time Sunday mornings.
• Weekly. Critique ten other writer’s flash fiction pieces. (25 are in the group.)
• 03/01. Finish updates to website to reflect future/current/past activities.
• 03/01. Use my website’s blog capabilities to forward my writing-related posts to Facebook.
• Yearly. Attend, at least, one conference (NCWN targeted) and one workshop (probably online).

Project: 

• LTG:  Have completed novel ready for agents via query by 01/18/21. (Never send during holidays)
• 02/01. Chose which of the seven half-novels I have to focus on.
• Once chosen: write 1K words per day, six days a week, until completed. (Target 80K words)
• 04/01. Send approximately 2K words bi-weekly for critiquing in my on-line critique group.
• 09/01. Have all critiquing efforts and editing incorporated?
• 10/01. Have novel out to beta readers.
• 11/01. Have query letter and meta-data ready for others to punish me with their comments

End

Celebrate your accomplishments. Analyze your misses. The only failure is giving up.

________________________________________________________________________

February is “Five Focal Points.” Goals check, and then we’ll recap 5 critical inspiration sources, which every writer needs to maximize: prompts (use them to your advantage), genre (understand the requirements), experimentation (leaving your comfort zone, POV (are you using the best one?), and a writer’s life (do you help or subvert your efforts).

March is “a General Discussion on Problems and Inspirations.” Carol will lead a discussion about issues you may be having and/or things that are inspiring you or that you wish to share with others. “Let’s get pumped up.” Watch this YouTube video now.