How Should Fiction Writers Set Goals?

As my late grandfather always used to say, "You will never reach your goals, if you do not make them in the first place." And he was right. Fiction writers often have trouble setting goals, I think, because we begin to think in abstract, artistic terms, instead of business-like ones. We go on about 'writer's block' and 'waiting for my muse' and sometimes cease to get anything done at all.

In order to be a successful, published fiction writer, you must set goals. These goals must be attainable, yet challenging. The goals should also be broken into manageable chunks. The first step in setting goals for a fiction writer is determining what you want to accomplish.

First, ask yourself what your ultimate goal is: the biggie, the final thing you want to achieve. For most fiction writers, that goal is to get a novel or short story published.

Step one: write down your ultimate goal. A while back, there was a supposed study done by Yale University that proved that writing down a goal would make it more likely to come true. That study was a hoax. However, writing down your goals WILL help them come true. Tack it up on the wall or a bulletin board in your home. It will give you a concrete agenda, something you can look at every day to remind yourself.

Step two: figure out what you need to do in order to achieve your ultimate goal. Fiction writers wishing to have a novel published will need to do the following things: write a novel (let's say 100,000 words), find an agent and/or find a publisher.

Step three: break down the things you need to do into mini goals. In order to complete the 100,000 words, you must set a daily word goal. After all, of those 1,000 word goals are complete, you must contact and query agents until you find one. Give yourself a goal of querying one every week, or month.

Once you have your goals in place, the most important thing for you to do is be honest with yourself about completing them. Making yourself a daily to-do list is a big help in achieving your goals. For a fiction writer, a daily to-do list might look like this:

1) Write 1,000 words in novel
2) Edit Chapter One
3) List five agents or publishers to query when I am done.

As you complete your mini goals, you should keep a record of what you have accomplished. You can make a simple spreadsheet on the computer, or a giant wall chart with gold star stickers. Completing your goals should be cause for celebration.

My dear grandmother had another favorite saying, "If you pinch the pennies, the dollars will look after themselves." And the same is true in fiction writing. If you achieve your 1,000 words per day goal, you will achieve the goal of writing a 100,000 word novel. Writing down your ultimate goal, breaking it up into small, attainable goals, and then tracking your progress and rewarding yourself for their completion, will bring you success. Someday, when you are feverishly signing your brand-new hardcover novel for your adoring fans, you will smile to think how it all began: with a small scrap of paper tacked up on the board that says, "I will get a novel published."