What Would You Do With a Goal and a Deadline?

  • B Lynn Goodwin

    What Would You Do With a Goal and a Deadline?

    Guest Blogger:

    B. Lynn Goodwin

    NaNoWriMo, www.nanowrimo.org, invites you to draft a 50,000 word novel in one month. I’m doing it for the second time, and I’m going for higher word totals than the 1667 suggested daily allotment. I just want this first draft out of my head. I want material to work with.

    Not a fiction writer? You can still achieve a 30-day goal with memoir, biography, or any other form of non-fiction thanks to author and writing coach Nina Amir’s WINFIN, http://writenonfictioninnovember.com/about-2/. WINFIN (Write Nonfiction in November) is “an annual challenge to create a work of nonfiction in 30 days.”

    The rules are simple: Decide what you’re going to complete and go for it. You can create “an article, an essay, a book, a book proposal, a white paper, or a manifesto” The program “operates on an honor system…no word counts logged in here. It’s a personal challenge, not a contest.” Simply describe the nature of your project and come back at the end of the month and say how you did.

    Working on a memoir? Guest blogger Dennis Ledoux provides a day- by-day guide that conveniently runs for 30 days: http://writenonfictionnow.com/how-to-write-your-memoir-in-30-days-2/. November 1 is an arbitrary start date, of course. Pick your own starting day, but pick it soon, and commit yourself to working on the project for the next 30 days. Need weekends off? Commit yourself to working for the next 40 days.

    The author of the bestselling How to Blog a Book: How to Write, Publish and Promote Your Work One Post at a Time (Writer’s Digest Books), Nina Amir is a nonfiction editor, proposal consultant, author and book coach, and blog-to-book coach with more than 34 years of experience in the publishing field.

    The other day I thought about starting a National Journaling Month. Journaling primes the pump and greases the wheels. It gets writers started. It helps them dig deeper into their thoughts and find multi-dimensional truths. Participants in the National Journaling Month could record daily events, track their eating or exercising or arguing behaviors, analyze and resolve a decision about school or work or parenting, derail a negative thought pattern, or celebrate the joys of life. Journaling is an outstanding preparation for any writing project. It helps you figure out what you really want to say.

    Journaling for 30 days can achieve its own set of miracles, just like completing a non-fiction project or even writing a 50,000-word novel. Set a goal. Then share it with a community of writers. You’ll never know what you can accomplish if you dream of writing instead of actually doing it.

    B. Lynn Goodwin is the owner of Writer Advice, www.writeradvice.com, and the author of You Want Me to Do WHAT? Journaling for Caregivers, available on Amazon. Her stories and articles have been published in Voices of Caregivers; Hip Mama; the Oakland Tribune; the Contra Costa Times; the Danville Weekly; Staying Sane When You’re Dieting; Small Press Review; Dramatics Magazine; Career; We Care; Thickjam.com, Friction Literary Journal, and The Sun.

    A former teacher, she conducts workshops and writes reviews for Story Circle Network and InspireMeToday. She’s working on a YA novel and brainstorming a memoir.

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  • Are you the type of person who needs to clear your desk before getting down to the business of writing?  Me, too. I have to pay the bills, sort, organize, stack things on my desk.  Satisfied, but not ready to get to writing, I look around. Oh, I really need to do the laundry, clean the bathroom, clean the floor, check the refrigerator, look outside, get a drink of water. Sometimes it seems I’ll do everything except write.

    One year I participated in NaNoWriMo for the month of November. I loved it. This year I’m going to participate in Write Nonfiction in November (WNFIN), founded by Nina Amir. But I know I’ll only be successful if I plan ahead.

    Here are Twelve Steps to get to that writing we so want to do.

    1. For the next two weeks, get caught up. Get organized, file those pieces of paper that clutter your desk, your counter, your life.

    2. For the next two weeks, spend extra time crossing things off your actual or mental to-do list. Whatever you’ve been putting off doing. . . do it now.

    3. Plan ahead. What do you usually do in November that you can do now? Put all the Thanksgiving and holiday items in a box (tablecloth, napkins, decorations, plates, etc).

    4. Get a box ready for all the incoming stuff. . . mail and paperwork that can wait until December.

    5. Get another box for important, don’t-want-to-forget items. As things arrive, put them here. Then, once a week in November, take care of business. . . spend as little time as possible. Just get this stuff done so you can get back to writing.

    6. Plan snacks. Make a list of perishable snacks you want to have on hand, so you don’t have to think when the time comes to purchase the snacks. Just take your list to the store. Then get back to writing.

    7. Plan meals. Same as above. Keep meals really easy. Soup and sandwiches. Simple salads.

    8. Purchase whatever you can now for your food needs/wants/cravings. Yes, you will have cravings. Plan for them. Don’t agonize over this. Keep your mind deep in the Land of Writing. But you will need motivation to keep going, not a reason to sneak off for ice cream.  Fill freezer, pantry and cupboards with food stuff you know you will want.

    9. Tell your friends and family whatever you want. . . you have a contagious disease, you have laryngitis, you’re on deadline (you are) . . . but you aren’t accessible to babysit, carpool, lend an ear or a shoulder. This is Your Time to write.

    10. Have everything lined up that you will need . . . paper, pens, ink cartridges, list of writing prompts as daily warm-ups, ashtray (just kidding, unless you really do smoke), water, snacks.

    11.  Turn your phone off, do not look at Facebook until the end of the day, do not get distracted with tweeting, twittering, looking, sneaking, freaking, or any of the many things that will tempt you to distraction.

    12.  Set up your good luck charms, talismans, touchstones, candles, lucky rabbit’s foot . . . whatever it takes to remind you . . . for the month of November. . . You Are A Writer.

    Write that on a post-it note. Post it prominently. Look at it. Remember it. Believe it. You Are A Writer.

    What helps you to keep focused on your writing? What steps would you add to being a successful writer?