Goal Setting can look a little different for neurodivergent people, but they are still a powerful tool to motivate progress.
The last twelve months are swiftly disappearing in our rear vision mirror. It’s a time we reflect on what the past year has brought into our lives. We start to think about the year to come. Will you look back at those New Year’s Resolutions and wonder how the good intentions to lose 15 pounds turned into the extra 5 pounds now sitting on our hips. As writers, we look at our aspirations to write more (more poetry, more short stories, more books, more screenplays). We wonder what happened to those good intentions to get more finished.
The truth is, New Year’s Resolutions aren’t really goals. Their “what ifs” that we fool ourselves with when we’re railing ourselves for the shortcomings of the year just gone. Real goal setting can be done at any time of year. Goal setting looks at truly measurable outcomes based on motivations we can put our whole hearts into. They are made in incremental milestones with deadlines and data.
So, let’s look at some of the goal setting we can do as writers that truly will increase your productivity and move your business in a positive direction.
Goal Setting Your Word Count / Time Quota
One of the first goals writers should get into the habit of setting comes down to Word Count or Time Quota (and sometimes both). I’ve noticed differing opinions on this: some writers love tracking their progress by daily word count goals. Others prefer to commit themselves to a specific ratio of time and consider the butt-in-chair aspect as testament to their progress regardless of the number of words accomplished day-to-day.
Both? Yes, both…
Both of these techniques are effective and I recommend both. In fact, fellow self-publishing author, Johnny B. Truant, author of Write Publish Repeat, does both at the same time! Each day he has his scheduled writing block put aside. It’s roughly around the same time each day although he may alters the hours.
Sometimes, Johnny will wake earlier to finish earlier. If he has a tight project deadline (stay tuned to learn about those) and needs to achieve more words than an average day he might write longer. But he also knows what he can generally expect from his word count within that time-frame and aims to at least match it, or even surpass it. He’s constantly striving to increase his writing speed and do more with less.
The truth is, combining the techniques might not work for you. Maybe you find it easier to track by scenes or chapters. Maybe you work best in blocks of writing sprints. Try a technique for a week, try another the next week, and then listen to what you’re instinctively finding improves your productivity. There will be a “right way” that suits your particular mode of working. It’s all about experimenting to find it.
The important thing is to have a “get it written” goal. Regardless of if you’re a planner or a pantser, decide what you feel you can expect from yourself each writing day, and develop the habit of accomplishing that milestone regularly.
Other Author Goal Setting Milestones
Speaking of author milestones, there are a few others you might want to consider. After all, while writers spend a lot of time writing, it’s not all that we need to do to build a successful business as authors. Yes, we need to write and finish new works, but we also need to get those works out into the world and do our part to ensure the world can find them.
Agent/Editor Submissions & Query Letters
If you’re going the traditional route, you might want to consider goal setting for approaching agents and publishers. Make a note of the works you have available to circulate, make a list for each of those of the agents and/or publishers who might be interested, and then set yourself a goal to send out a set number of query letters each week or month.
If that feels a bit too overwhelming, start smaller, start by setting yourself a goal to make a list of your available works by the end of this week, and a goal to make a list for the agents/publishers for the title at the top of that list by the end of next week. The important thing is to continue goal setting for small incremental steps.
Goal Setting should focus on the things you have the power to accomplish. You can send out 5 queries, but you can’t control the outcomes of those queries, so make sure your goals are always within your power. Your goal setting should set the intention to send the query, rather than get an acceptance.
Author Talks, Workshops & Book Signings
Regardless of the traditional or self-published path you might take, an effective way of building your business and brand as an author is with in-person or online events. When you’ve got published works in the world, it’s time to look at possibilities for giving presentations.
Another goal setting option is to plan your outreach. You can set targets to contact your local libraries, bookshops, and schools to offer personal appearances. Don’t be afraid to state the appearance fee you expect for your time, you’re a pro and these businesses do business all the time with other professionals like you. They won’t be shocked if you ask to be paid for your time and presentations are a big part of author income.
The point is, you’re spreading the word to let people know that you’re available to give presentations, and at the same time, telling them about your book/s! Again, you can’t control booking appearances, but you can control how many organisations you reach out to offer your author service too. Approach your goal setting accordingly.
Posting, Promotional, and Production Schedules
Speaking of schedules, goals go hand in hand with calendars and dates. It’s one thing to have some sort of ethereal aspiration to someday write the greatest literary novel in the world, but it’s much more empowering (and ultimately more likely to be accomplished) if you give yourself a specific project and set deadlines. I know, deadlines, they’re those cool things that make that “whooshing sound” as they fly by.
If you’re not Douglas Adams then it probably makes more sense to stick to your deadlines. This is especially true if you’re working with others, (agents, publishers, or freelancers,) because meeting deadlines is one of the best ways to show your respect for other people and for yourself. It’s the sign of a professional, and in every way you want to appear a professional in the writing industry. Professional writers plan and schedule the growth of their author business.
Posting Schedule
If you have a blog, a newsletter, a patreon/substack, or social media, consider developing a posting schedule. Will you post daily? Every other day? Once a week? Or perhaps only once a month? Regardless of the frequency of your schedule, having one improves your odds of getting those updates written and of growing your audience and engagement.
Promotional Schedule
The same can be said for all of your promotional efforts. How regularly will you promote your books or author talks to your readers on social media? On which social media streams will you focus your energy? Will you contribute to guest posts or interviews with bloggers and print media? How often, and how many press releases and queries will you send out to ensure the interest keeps your schedule filled?
Production Schedule
I told you we’d get to this. A production schedule looks at the body of work you’d like to produce in the coming months or years. What projects do you have lined up for the months ahead? Are you working on a book right now? When do you plan to have the first draft finished? How long will you take in your edits? When can you expect to start on your next project and do you already have next projects in mind?
If you are working on more than one project have you given each its own target deadline? If you’re self publishing, what is your release calendar like? Is it going to coincide with real-world events that can improve your sales?
Woah! Slow Down!
Okay, so I’ve overwhelmed you. I’m sorry. The truth is, these are all important questions when goal setting, but they’re also advanced author business questions. They’re the sort of questions you begin to understand and answer over time, by starting with one small goal today. You build your system, your business plan, and you build these goals into that plan over time because it’s all too much to try to do every single one of them right now.
You’ll also hone and improve your pitches, your submissions, your offers, your communication, content creation, promotion and marketing skills, and production output the more you practice. If you improve and iterate your strategies; reflect and hone your templates; and keep learning and growing as a creative you’ll find you get more acceptances, more gigs, and more book sales. Not to mention getting more books out into the world!
The important thing is that you do begin to set those targets. Focus on goals that are S.M.A.R.T!
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S = Specific:
Make sure you’ve narrowed down your goal to one solid, specific achievement. If you need to, make multiple milestone goals toward your bigger goals so that you always have a firm sense of the next step.
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M = Measurable:
Make sure it’s something you can track because if you can’t measure it, how will you know you succeeded in accomplishing it?
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A = Attainable:
It has to be something you have power over accomplishing and that you honestly believe, based on your past experience of your abilities, that you can achieve. Don’t set a goal to run a marathon tomorrow if you’re only just learning to walk today and don’t set a goal to have a best seller because you can’t control your buyers, you can only control yourself!
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R = Relevant:
It has to be something that matters to you right now. Something you truly do want to accomplish. Why bother setting a goal to learn to play the violin if you’d rather play the piano? Make sure your heart is engaged in your dreams!
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T = Time-Bound:
Remember, deadlines! It matters. That distant someday will always remain distant unless you give yourself a time-frame within which to work.
With that in mind, what one goal are you going to set yourself right now? And while I gave you a pretty scary list of goals to think about into the future, what other milestones and goals do you think would benefit a writer’s business and branding?
