Setting Goals

Happy 2011, Everyone!

I have never been a resolution kind of person. I break them, so they seem pretty rediculous to swear once a year. Usually they are scoping things, utopian ideas I want to achieve which require a lot more energy than I want to spend.

Conversely, I've always been a big proponant of setting goals and milestones. Admittedly this comes from my "former" life of project management and a sick craving to check off little boxes and watch a project plan unfold.

So I dragged out that project plan before we went into the new year -- this poor spreadsheet that has been running for three years and has so many uncoordinated colors a blind man would cringe -- and looked at what I'd set and where I'd succeeded and didn't, as well as plugging in new things.

I noticed something. Now... I should have been aware of this all along. But it never really stood out to me until I started listening to other people talk about their goals and really looking at what I wanted to accomplish. What I observed?

The only things I've accomplished are the things I can directly control. The things I, and myself alone, can own.

We all have great big scoping dreams as authors. We write a book that we love, our immediate first round readers love, and we let that project grow. We dream with that project, maybe even while we're working on something else. There's nothing wrong with that. If there's no motivation to achieve a dream, that dream doesn't have the first chance at surviving much longer than the short space of time it took to flit across our brain.

But this is one of the few careers I am aware of where the work put into achieving a dream is not necessarily going to make it happen. For instance, as a teenager I held the dream of riding in the olympics. It's totally doable for almost anyone who shares that vision. Have a horse that can do it, put the hours and hours into training, enter competitions, and nine times out of ten training is directly proportional to success. Corporate world -- put in the hours, study the field, most often you'll see promotions.

But writing is different in so many respects. Our training comes from practicing the habit and I still heavily believe anyone can do it if they put in the time and effort. The when becomes the issue, and as we all know, the struggle to get there discourages many people from pursuit.

So... what's the trick to sticking in there when the changing nature of the publishing industry makes things even more difficult to predict and expect?

Goals. Goals that a writer can hold complete ownership over.

This means... strike out all entries that look like: "Get an Agent, Sell XYZ" Don't discard them, but modify them so they are yours. This translates to a larger list of goals and things you can look at as accomplishments.

"Get an Agent" becomes: Finish book. Write synoposis. Write query. Shop query to agent xyz.

Same thing with Sell XYZ, only if you've got an agent doing this work for you, modify that to again, "Shop, xyz to AHouse, BHouse"

You control the completion of the book. You control the effort put into doing all the right things to accomplish the dream. You do not control whether someone else chooses to accept your work. And getting frustrated about it doesn't accomplish anything. While you're doing one thing for one book, do something else for another... keep your productivity rolling so you don't have all your eggs in one proverbial basket.

When the end of the year comes around and you go into another, you won't have frustrations. You will have a solid list of achievements that will make you feel good about what you're doing.

Good luck everyone! I look forward to hearing all your accomplishments as 2011 continues. May this year be your year for success.

~Claire

How bad do you want it?

Do you stew every second of the day, thinking about it? Do you imagine grandeur moments of receiving a phone call from a huge publisher seeking to publish your book? Taste it with each typed word? Well, if you’re a dedicated author, determined to succeed, then yes, you do. And why wouldn’t you? Like me, you’ve worked hard to hone your craft.

You prepare a submission, send it off and wait. After a few weeks, most of the time months, a response arrives. Sigh...it’s a rejection. So, do you give up? Hum, your determination isn’t great and powerful enough if you do.

So you join a critique group. After posting some of your novel, you wait for your fellow critique partners to comment on the story. They do and the blinding red splotched across the pages inspires a defensive reaction. Why? Don’t you want to hone your craft? Remember, all the people whom you hope will buy your book will each have a different interpretation of your story. So what do you do?
Give up? Or look through the comments and see which ones are common and which ones are opinionated. You make the corrections and post again. You’re learning and growing with your craft.

Hurray! You’re finally published and the finished product sent off to a reviewer. You wait for what seems like forever. A review shows up on your Google alert. Yes! You zip over to read it and your mouth drops open. The reviewer hated the story. So was your book that bad or was the reviewer having a bad day when she read your work? Time to look inside and see if the problem is with yourself and your writing. It’s your call on whether you’re being honest and admitting maybe, just maybe there’s some truth to the reviewers comments. If not, then ignore it. Not everyone will love or understand your story.

Next, you receive your cover. Omigod! It’s the worse cover an author can have. The hair color for both hero and heroine is off. Their faces aren’t what you described in the book. The colors are hideous. Embarrassed, you rush an email to the editor but it doesn’t do any good. The cover stands as is. Do you accept it and move on or complain and whine until you make the editor and publisher angry?

Writing takes a tremendous amount of discipline and dedication. There are many ups and downs. An author must realize this at the start. If you don’t then the trip down the writing yellow brick road will end up worse than Dorothy’s and Oz will remain simply a mirage along the horizon. Writing also takes some intense soul searching too. For me, writing is humbling and reminds me I’m not perfect. I strive everyday to improve my ability by learning more and more about the craft. Why? Because I want the reviewer to love my story, I desire my critique partners to love my story, I yearn for readers to develop a passion for my books, but most of all, I crave to do the best I can with my talent.

So, how much do you want a publishing contract? Do you step on the roller coaster ride to publication or do you talk the talk but skip away from the walk? Let me know what writing and seeking publication means to you.

Be sure and take a minute to look at my books on my website.