Writerly Goal Check


My goal check-ins will be the same old-same old for a while yet. Nothing new here on my task list.

The only difference is that I am trying to get back into my habit of early rising so I have time to write and edit more. Today I woke at 0445. That’s better than I have in the past since the time change. My eventual goal is 0400 and I know I can do it because I’ve done it in the past when I had to be at work by 0500. (Back in the days of 12-hour shift work.)

It’s always easier to do something when an outside force needs me to do it. But I want to make my own needs as compelling.

Weekly Goals

  • Wake up at 0445 each morning
  • Finish editing Wand of Ash

Annual Goals

  • Finish polishing Symbiosis so I can send it on it’s way to the next phase of life
  • Begin readings at a public venue for our local Friday Fictioneers
  • learn to convert to ebook format
  • Compile all the flash I’ve written so far into a collection for Kindle
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21 thoughts on “Writerly Goal Check

  1. Madison, I totally understand the “outside force” pressures. Do you think it has to do with a desire to please/care for others? I want to meet my own goals/needs first too! Looking forward to progress on that for both of us…as long as it does not EVER start before 7 am.

  2. LOL. I have to leave my house by 0630 and i feed critters (horses, dogs, cats & chickens) before that, so getting up at 0445 only gives me an hour after coffee and breakfast. Thank God I don’t work in a field that requires me to wear nice clothes and makeup or I’d have to figure in even more time just to get dressed.

    Sent from my iPhone… You should have seen the typos I *did* catch!

  3. Haha! See my reply to Ted about the time. But yes I’m sure it has to do with having a ‘peace-keeper/people-pleaser’ nature that makes it easier to accommodate someone else than ourselves. It’s one of those traits about me I’m trying to re-train, LOL. Maybe we can help each other!

    Sent from my iPhone… You should have seen the typos I *did* catch!

  4. I am the same too. I procrastinate when it somes to achieving personal goals but I don’t have problem achieving external goals. :-( I started the year with a weekly goal list but sometime in February I abandoned it.

    I wish you all the best with your goals.

  5. We need to get over this business of not taking ourselves seriously! I’ve been doing well with keeping up with my goals and task list, but I’ve simplified what I expect of myself considerably. Thanks for your well-wishes.

  6. I love setting goals, my only problem is one of sticking to them so I am always impressed when someone else can. At the moment, my goal is to just make sure I post on my blog regularly instead of intermittently as I have done over the past six years. As the biggest barrier to this has been knowing what to write about, now that I have a focus and a list of posting topics I should be OK … I shall review at the end of the year and I just hope it isn’t as depressing as my last annual review :-) Good luck and keep at it as it gives me hope that I may be able to do it too.

  7. I have found that if I make extremely do-able goals, I am able to meet them. So then if I combine an easy goal with a more difficult goal, it makes both seem more possible. Also, if I am very specific about my goal, it helps. Then, at the end of the year when I add up all the little baby steps I’ve taken, I can feel good about my progress :)

    However, already I am beginning to suspect that I’m not going to reach a couple of my annual goals. Some are sacrificial – I’ll throw them under the bus if it helps make the goals that are most important to me, LOL.

  8. I’ve had a goal to get up half an hour early for awhile now. The only thing resetting my alarm has achieved thus far is me hitting snooze a few more times than normal. Although, I guess after this long that is probably considered the new normal. Hopefully, when it gets warmer and lighter earlier I can manage to actually achieve my goal, but I won’t be holding my breath for that to actually happen.

  9. That’s what I had been doing :(

    Every once in a while I do get up early though, and having an outside deadline helps, which I do right now. So I’m hoping by the time I’ve turned my story in to the editor I’ll have a firm habit in place.

    Sent from my iPhone… You should have seen the typos I *did* catch!

  10. Sorry, your comment went to my spam filter and I just found it this morning while cleaning out spam. Thanks for commenting! Love the name ‘Lazuli-Portal’.

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