Most new writers don’t have a big publishing house show up at their front door and offer them a six-figure book deal out of the blue. Shocking, I know. But it’s worth saying.
Like anything else, finding success in writing doesn’t happen overnight. It takes years of practice and hard work. You have to be able to handle constant rejections and have the fortitude to never give up–no matter what.
Whatever it is you’re hoping to achieve, start with your big goal in mind. “Think Big,” as they say. Write that goal down, hang it on a well, and then never forget it. If you ever get frustrated and want to quit, just remember why you started and you’ll stay on track.
And while you keep the focus on your big goal, you can start working on your smaller ones. Set a small achievable goal every day, but make sure that every one of the small goals you set serves as a stepping stone to get you closer to your big end game goal.
My big writing goal is simple:
Make a career out of it.
I’ve already put in years of hard work and late nights, and I know that it might take several more years to get there. Still, when I break it down into smaller, more measurable goals, it doesn’t seem impossible.
For example, say you want to finish a new short story every month. That makes twelve small steps toward your larger goal. Then the smaller monthly goal of finishing a short story can be broken down even more.
And if you look at it that way, writing one short story each month shouldn’t be a difficult goal at allow. You can even do it with a minuscule daily word count goal of 300 words per day. That should take less than one hour per day and most days, you’ll probably even be able to surpass the 300 word minimum. This way, if it takes less than ten days to write a three-thousand word short story, you’ll still have over half of the month left to work on revisions and pick a publisher to submit it to.
Anyhow, that’s just one example. When I was writing short stories, it worked very well for me. Figure out what works for you, come up with a plan, break it down to daily tasks and goals and stick to it.
What are your current writing goals? Are you achieving them? What has worked for you and what hasn’t? Leave a comment and let us know!
