2011 Writing Goals - How do you Stay on Track?

In my April/May 2011 Write What Inspires You Newsletter I shared my feelings about the renewal of spring and how I am staying on track with my 2011 writing goals. And to get the conversation going, I'm reprinting it below:

"I always consider spring a time of renewal and the opportunity to give the house a good old thorough cleaning after the long winter. This year I also took the time out to reorganize my office and to re-evaluate my writing goals set at the end of 2010 before 2011 kicked off. By doing such I gave myself kudos for what I accomplished in the first quarter of 2011 and did not beat myself up for what I didn’t get to. With the guidance of Suzanne Lieurance at the Working Writers’ Club I rolled over what I still wanted to achieve and let go of scheduling too much in one day. So far this is working for the second quarter of 2011 now that April is almost behind us."


I'd enjoy hearing what’s going on in your writing world and what adjustments (if any) have you made to make sure you achieve your 2011 goals.

I am looking forward to a lively conversation.


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Best wishes,
Donna M. McDine
Award-winning Children's Author
The Golden Pathway ~ August 2010 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc.
http://guardianangelpublishing.com/pathway.htm

Life as a Writer is a Hectic One ~ Focusing Your Writing Goals

As you all know the life of a writer is a hectic one. Between working on our writing and marketing ourselves and our books or freelance writing services it is all quite time consuming and exhausting at times.

I recently took time out to re-evaluate my writing goals and for one I’m glad I did. But I needed the good old Morning Nudge to get me going. Under the expert guidance of Suzanne Lieurance of the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club we were encouraged to complete the January 2011 assignment which entailed exploring our 3 Major Goals for 2011 and what we would do to achieve said goals, and then break down each of the 3 Major Goals onto calendar pages for the first quarter of 2011.

By doing so, it forced me to take my ever growing To Do list (I know you have the same long list that just keeps getting longer and longer and more and more daunting) and break it down to manageable tasks instead of feeling like I had to tackle each and every task every day (Hey, pick yourself up off the floor…I can hear you laughing…one can dream can’t they?).

This has provided me with more focus and direction as to where I want to go in 2011 and I’m sticking to it like glue. I’m determined to make 2011 my best year yet!

How about you? What are you doing to achieve your goals in 2011?

I look forward to hearing from you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Best wishes,
Donna M. McDine
Award-winning Children's Author
The Golden Pathway ~ August 2010 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc.
http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com/

Your Summer Time Achievements and Fall Goals

Join in the open discussion: "Your summer time achievements and Fall goals."

To get the ball rolling I'll start:

For one I had grand summer plans for writing each and every day. However, it did not pan out the way I planned. I know, I know as writers we should not get distracted from our writing. But since my girls are now 14 and 11 and entering the 9th and 6th grades I threw my initial plans out the window and decided to spend as much time possible with them this summer. Considering the fact before you know it the oldest would much rather prefer spending time with friends. There were certainly days like that, but I cherished the many days she preferred to hang with me and her sister. And of course numerous times I had a house load or yard load of their friends here too. All good times, ones I will certainly cherish forever. It reminded me very much of my days of growing up with my mom being "The Cool Aid Mom" in the neighborhood.

I adjusted my plans and opted to FINALLY finish my first draft of my historical fiction manuscript, which I've been working on off and on for a couple of years now and get it typed into my computer. You see, I write my first drafts in long hand with my wonderful Graf Von Faber-Castell pen my family gave to me for my 40th birthday a couple of years ago. For me my initial first draft flows better with good old paper and pen and no distractions from my computer. Now with my edits well underway and several note pages of ideas for new manuscripts I look forward to a productive remainder of 2009 and into 2010. I also started planning out my blog postings and scheduling them for future dates in an effort to keep my blog presence current and strong. And last but not least I will be implementing my marketing plan for my first story book, The Golden Pathway...publication date to be announced.

What about you? How did your summer go? Did you have to adjust your initial plans? And how will you tackle the Fall of 2009?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes for a wonderful Fall season.