This is crunch time. How are you doing on your 2015 writing and publishing goals? You know what? There’s still time. This is my favorite time of the year to reset the clock and make the final push. Too many times, we plow through the year without reflecting and reassessing what’s ahead.
I’m sure you can look back on the first eight months of the year and walk away with some positives. Did you get that manuscript done? Did you finish some revisions? Did you publish a new book? Many of you have; I’ve seen or read about your accomplishments throughout the year. A big congratulations for that.
If you haven’t, it’s not too late. Think about it, if you made a goal to write 500 words a day AND took weekends off, you could pound out 40,000 words before year-end. How about 1,000 words a day — and don’t take the weekends off? You can slay 112,000 words by 2016.
It’s doable. It’s up to you. This is not the time for excuses. It’s time to hunker down and make some writing magic explode before your very eyes. Why don’t you surprise yourself? Challenge yourself. Get serious about getting things done. I’m not preaching here. I’m just as guilty as anyone is. This post is for me, too!
You think you don’t have it in you. Well then, you need to figure out how you can make it happen. How important is it to you? What do you need to do to make your goals a priority? It starts with trying to figure out why you’re doing this. Is it a hobby? That’s okay if it is.
If it is something more than a hobby, you need to dig deep and figure out your WHY. Once you bring your WHY to the surface, the rest is easy. It becomes easy to find the time to write. It becomes easy to market your books. It becomes easy to stand up in front of a group of people and tell your story.
How do you find your WHY? Ask yourself, “What’s important?” Is it your kids? Your significant other? Is it recovery or overcoming an illness? Is it about helping others through trying times? Is it about sharing your story? The key is to nail it. Find it. And — use it.
How do you use it? Post it. Think about it. Affirm it. Every time you reach out for your goals, let your WHY come to the surface. Let it guide you. Let it feed you with energy when you’ve worked a ten hour day and you’re exhausted. Let your WHY give you a laser focus when dive into your writing. Post a picture of your kids, your family, your dog — whatever motivates you.
The clock is ticking but so are you.
Put it down on paper and get ready to succeed. Get your goals for the end of the year in place and watch yourself knock them off — one by one. Don’t wait for NaNoWriMo to get started. Start today. November is a long way off and by then you’ve wasted another 22,500 possible words. Throw away your crutches.
Now is the time to end 2015 strong. No excuses. Let’s do this together and ring in 2016 going full steam ahead.
Crack that whip, Jim! Good reminder to seize the time and get it done. I’m 22,000 into my latest WIP, and I love to see that number grow.
Thanks, Melissa. It wasn’t intended as a whip, more like an internal pep talk for myself!
The clock is ticking, but so are you… good line, Jim!
Thanks, Shawn!
I usually accomplish my writing goals, but it’s my marketing goals that fall short. Somehow, I must resolve to put forth more effort to promote my books. You’re right, though, Jim. The last quarter of the year is a great time for gauging how far we’ve come and where we’d like to go from here!
Thanks, Linda. Marketing goals are as important as writing goals. Good luck with your final push.
Nice post, Jim. I’m a little behind on my writing goals for the year (let’s blame the tendinitis, even though that was a recent event). Still, I was looking at my word counts at the end of last month and made a concerted effort to go strong the remainder of the year, and so far, so good.
Even if you haven’t made your goals yet, now’s as good a time as any to recommit to your goals.
Thanks, RJ. That’s precisely what I was getting at. It’s never too late to reevaluate and succeed. Keep up the great work!
Like Linda Lee Williams it’s the marketing and promo I seem to slack off on. Time to rethink my plans.
Jim, your words leaped off the page and shouted in my ear. I am the Queen of Procrastination and I’ve just had that heavy crown knocked right off my head. It was quite a weight, slowing me down.Your post was just the thing to get me going again. Many thanks!
Awesome, Dianne. Love to hear comments like that.