Goal Setting for Writers by Julie Jarnagin

Terri here. I'm pleased to welcome my friend and USA Today Best Selling Author Julie Jarnagin to Seriously Write. Julie is a talented and goal driven author. I always find her advice helpful and I'm sure you will as well.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love all things goal setting and productivity. The research and science behind making new habits and reaching new goals is fascinating to me, especially as a writer…because writing is hard! Don’t you agree?

 

For me this writing journey takes willpower, concentration, and energy that some days I’m lacking. But when I look at my goals, I remember why it’s so important to make writing a priority in my life.

Here are 10 tips for setting and reaching your goals:

1. Make sure you have the right goal - Is it measurable? Is it realistic? Is it in your control? The last one is important. If your goal is to get a contract from your dream publisher by the end of the year, that’s something you can’t control. It’s an awesome dream, but not as useful as a goal. Instead, set a goal like – Have my manuscript complete and ready to pitch to the publisher at the conference or send out 15 query letters. These are measurable and in your control.

2. Look for the “why” behind your goal and visualize success – Why is this goal important to you? What makes the time and sacrifice worth it? How will you feel when you accomplish the goal? What would that look like? Knowing the why will help you know if you’re doing things for the right reasons and help get you through the tough times.

3. Limit the number of goals you’re focusing on at once – This is one reason so many people struggle with New Year’s Resolutions. They want to eat healthy, start a new exercise routine, find a new career, and get out of debt. We can’t do it all at once! This year, I broke my New Year’s resolutions down by month. Each month I focus on a different area. This means I can use all my willpower in one area – not ten.

4. Write down your goals and track your progress - Putting things on paper is powerful. Post your goal somewhere you can see it or share it with a trusted person in your life.

5. Do something concrete to help you achieve success - If your goal is to write more, schedule the date, time, and word count in your calendar. If your goal is to improve your writing craft, sign up for an online workshop or purchase the books you plan to read to make this happen.

6. Recognize that if you’re adding something to your life, you’re also going to have to give something up – Want to do more marketing? Where is the time going to come from? Are you going to give up one of your nightly television shows, wake up earlier, or spend less time on Pinterest. If you’re not careful, the time will be stolen from something you didn’t intend, like working on your manuscript or getting to bed at a decent hour.

7. Review your goals – Have a process for reviewing your goals regularly—whether that’s putting it in your calendar or putting a slip of paper with your goals in your wallet that you pull out every now and then. Revisit them to make sure you’re still on track.

8. Reward yourself - If your resolution is to work on your novel every day, reward yourself with a new book or a coffee from Starbucks each month that you write 20 or more days.

9. Don’t be afraid to fail – Nobody is perfect. If you get off track, get up and try again.

10. Give God room to work – Sometimes we think our list of goals is the best and only way to achieve success. Goals are good and useful, but only if we seek God when we’re setting them and seek God throughout the process. Goals are meant to keep us on track, but don’t be so set on your own road that you don’t notice if God is paving a new one for you.

Do you set specific writing goals? What are they? Do you write them down? How do you plan to stick to them?

Paige Morgan’s career is in shambles. What kind of wedding planner gets left at the altar? So when a job planning parties on a ranch in rural Texas comes her way, she jumps at it. So what if the cowboy who runs the place isn’t happy she’s there?

Rancher Nick Reid risked his heart once… and lost. Who needs love? He’s got a great life on the family ranch—so long as Paige Morgan and her city ideas don’t ruin it all. If only his family didn’t need her help to save their livelihood. And if only he wasn’t so darned drawn to the woman. But no sooner does Nick start to believe in love again, than a socialite shows up looking for Paige. Asking her to plan an elaborate wedding. Back in the city.

Both Paige and Nick need a second chance at love. But what will it cost them to take it?

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1QLy50m
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1odDd4g
iBooks: http://apple.co/1T3IEPZ

USA Today Best Selling author Julie Jarnagin writes sweet and inspirational romance. She grew up in a small Oklahoma town where her family farmed and ranched. These days she lives in a not-so-big city with her amazing husband and two young sons who tolerate all her nerdy quirks. Julie earned a B.A. in Journalism / Professional Writing from the University of Oklahoma and is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. www.JulieJarnagin.com. Sign up for her newsletter to be the first to learn about new releases and free books: http://eepurl.com/5y5k

 

 

 

Are You a Ready Writer? by Terri Weldon

Terri Weldon

When I sat down to write this post I didn’t have a clue what to write. It’s late enough in the month that all the great posts about the New Year have already been written. Valentine’s Day is approaching, but I couldn’t work up any inspiration for that topic. I asked my Westie, Nolly Grace, what she’d like for Valentine’s Day. I didn’t get a bit of help.

So I decided to turn to the Bible to see what I should write about. Psalm 45:1 seemed to leap out during my search, “My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.”

The part of the verse that touched my soul is the pen of a ready writer. Am I a ready writer? Is my pen, or computer, prepared and ready to go?

Christian authors either feel called to write or they write as an offering to the Lord. Giving to Him from the talents He has blessed us with. Either way we are writing for God. So what exactly is a ready writer and how do I prepare to become one?

To me a ready writer is always prepared – meaning they listen for the stories God gives them to write. Whether those ideas come to us while reading, dreaming, or through a good friend who says, “Have I got the perfect story for you.”

A ready writer spends time writing. They hone their craft. They put their backside in a chair and their fingers on the keyboard and get busy writing. Sounds easy, I know, but I’ll tell on myself. My sister is my accountability partner in many areas and she just had to ask me if I’d been writing my blog post or staring at Facebook. Whoops – busted!

And last but not least, a ready writer doesn’t make excuses. She doesn’t say that she’s tired or doesn’t have time, or she’s working out a story issue not napping. A ready writer is professional, whether she’s published or not, and makes time – tired or not. I have a friend with two young sons who gets up an hour early in the mornings and writes. Now that’s a ready writer.

Since I’ve confessed all my lazy ways to you, how about sharing some habits you’ve honed over the years to make you a ready writer. Because after reading this post a second time it is obvious I need them! Oh, and in my defense I will say I’m telling you all my bad writing habits. Surely I have one or two good ones, but that’s a post for another day.

Terri Weldon is a lead analyst by day and an author by night. She enjoys gardening, reading, and playing in the hand bell choir. One of her favorite pastimes is volunteering as the librarian at her church. It allows her to shop for books and spend someone else’s money! Plus, she has the great joy of introducing people to Christian fiction. She lives with her family in Oklahoma. Terri has two adorable Westies – Crosby and Nolly Grace. Terri is a member of ACFW and OCFW, a local chapter of ACFW. Her dream of becoming a published novelist came true in November 2013 when Mistletoe Magic, released from White Rose Publishing.

Readers can connect with Terri:

Website: www.TerriWeldon.com.

Blog: Seriously Write

Writing for Me by Normandie Fischer

Normandie Fischer

Writing for me.

What, for an audience of one?

Les Edgerton (as quoted in Chip MacGregor’s recent blog post on finding your writer’s voice) suggests that we write for us. That we don’t talk down or up or around as if to an ideal reader, but that we imagine ourselves as the one picking up our book. As I read his words, I thought of the talk I gave last week in Portland, Oregon, on “Writing the Crossover Book.”

My intended reader has always been the me I used to be. (Although the me I am watches over her shoulder.) That me questioned everything and had no clue God existed outside of all that shouting from nature—you know, the sunsets and the sunrises, the trees and the rocks, the sea . . . oh, yes, the sea. That me was rather appalled by what I’d seen of church goers. Their behavior didn’t resemble their message, not from my side of the room. My atheist mother was kind and loving. Those other folk gossiped and judged and condemned. Some of them were racist. Some cruel.

“You need God,” the grandmother I barely knew said. Well, if I did, he’d better not look like those pew-sitters or rote-spouters. A God who still parted Red Seas? Maybe. A God who transcended man’s inadequacies, who had answers for this skeptic? He’d have to be a whole lot more than what I’d seen by my twenty-seventh year.

He was. He showed up and showed off. No, I didn’t turn into a perfect person, but I found a perfect God, one who hears and cares and delivers from bondage all who cry out to him.

I am my audience. The me of my twenties and thirties and forties and fifties. (Well, that gave it away, didn’t it?) The me who once questioned, who failed and still fails, and who has been yanked out of the mire again and again.

I don’t write for the ones who have answers, but for the ones who crave answers—even if  they don’t yet know the questions. I write for the hurting and the broken—even if they don’t yet recognize their brokenness.

I write about the real, the pain, the guilt, even if some of my stories flit in frothy bits of fun as they chase what-ifs. I want my stories to touch hearts like mine. My voice is the me crying to be heard above the noises that would blot us out and press us down.

About the Author

Becalmed
by Normandie Fischer

About Normandie Fischer 

I sail and I write. I also edit (as Acquisitions and Executive Editor of Wayside Press) and mess about at home in North Carolina with my husband and mother when we’re not heading off on board our lovely ketch, Sea Venture. Two of my women’s fiction books release this spring and summer, Becalmed and Sailing out of Darkness.

Becalmed, from Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas.
​​When a Southern woman with a broken heart falls for a widower with a broken boat, it's anything but smooth sailing.​

Sailing out of Darkness
by Normandie Fischer

Sailing out of Darkness, from WhiteFire Publishing. 

An unexplained apparition, wanderings through Italy, and mayhem back home push four lives toward their day of reckoning.​​​ Sailing out of Darkness is the haunting story of mistakes and loss and the grace that abounds through forgiveness.​

Connect with Normandie Fischer
Blog - www.writingonboard.com
Website - www.normandiefischer.com

​

After the Glitter, Get Inspired by Dianne Christner

When the glitter settles, I often discover that my creativity has gravitated from the work place to family, friends, and holiday festivities. In other words, it goes into play mode. Christmas can leave me feeling unmotivated to return to the hard task of writing. When this happens, a pep talk is in order to remind the creative side of my brain that it loves writing.  I find it helpful to think about a time when I was able to produce and convince myself that I’m capable of doing so again. I try to focus on the positive and not entertain negative thoughts or lingering distractions so that I can prepare the way for my inner writer to quicken.

I know that I must allow the left side of my brain (the logical or analytical side) to provide a safe uncluttered place for my creative right side to emerge.

In other words, I clean up the glitter. For me, it’s getting my hair done, putting away the Christmas decorations, and cleaning off my desk and workspace. I organize my desk and schedule and make necessary adjustments to reincorporate my writing time. I order a calendar for the upcoming year. I often need to re-prioritize my writing goals and ask, “What is my next step? What day and time will I begin?” I allow my left side to formulate a plan for my inner writer, rather like one friend spurring another to do something great.

With the glitter removed, I coax my right side to get back to my fiction writing.

 I stoke the dim flickering desire by intentionally doing things that heat up the inspiration. I may read a book on writing, go to a writing blog, or connect with another writer. I dig out the inspirational quotes. If I’m lazy, I may read a novel or two. I think about my readers.

When my motivation intensifies, I know it’s time to get started.

Even if it doesn’t, when the designated appointment time arrives, I sit at my desk. It feels familiar like I’m coming home again. I begin by reading what I last wrote or looking over my plot outline.  When my creative mind knows I mean business, it will emerge–sometimes slow and sulky and other times eager and crashing through the gates. My lips quirk into a smile and my fingers glide over the keyboard. It may feel rusty, but I know this isn’t the time for me to worry about perfection, but just be thankful that I’m writing again.

How do you go from glitter to inspired?

Dianne lives in Phoenix, Arizona, where life sizzles, at least in the summer when temperatures soar above 100 degrees. Before writing, Dianne balanced a career of office management with raising a family and serving the Lord in her local church.

She has been married for thirty-nine years. Dianne and Jim have two married children, Mike and Rachel, and five grandchildren.

With several historical fictions to her credit, she hopes you enjoy her new contemporary series - The Plain City Bridesmaids. If you want to learn more about Dianne's writing and personal life, visit her blog. She loves interacting with her readers.

This and That Thursday: What To Do When You Feel Like You Can't Write Another Word

Hi! It’s my turn (Ocieanna) to take on This and That Thursday. One of my great passions is prayer. I love talking to God about ... everything. This writing journey calls for a lot of conversations with the Lord, so I thought I’d share a few of my recent ponderings about prayer. At the end, I'll share one.

First, I “enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart.” Even if the writing journey has me depressed or anxious (not that writers ever feel that way!), I try to come before my Father with a praise in my heart. He’s put me on this journey, and it’s ungrateful to complain about it. I thank Him for the privilege of writing, for His loving hand of providence over my choices and career moves, that He will never leave me, and that He guides my every step in this journey.

Second, I acknowledge my inability to write without Him. With all the other commitments and activities in my life, writing sometimes seems like an insurmountable task. I treasure painting my thoughts with words, but at times I forget my passion and just feel like I can’t do it. That’s a good place to be! It forces me to trust the Lord with greater zeal. Even when I’m not feeling that way, but think I’ve got the writing thing down pat, the truth is I can’t do it without His strength. Embracing this truth in prayer helps me remember this, and humbly rely on the Lord for each word.

Finally, I spew it all out. God knows my fears and anxieties. He knows my insecurities and impatience and jealousy. No confession I could make will shock Him. “He desires truth in the inmost being,” so I release it all to Him. He loves me and wants to carry my burdens. Where there’s sin, He lovingly convicts. Where there’s hurting, He heals. And all the time He carries me.

I couldn’t write without Him. Prayer gives me strength for each day.


Dear Lord,
I thank You for this path You’ve chosen for me. It’s a privilege to write, and I’m grateful for the desire and skills You’ve given me. Thank You for the strength to sit at this computer and write. Please help me not to grow lazy, but work diligently to grown in excellence in order to glorify You. Let my words bring honor to Your name and not dishonor. I pray that my words will encourage and bless others. Let them bring refreshment and joy and a desire to seek you.

Father, I can’t do this on my own. I have no ability to finish this project or even write the next word without your strength. I need you more than the food I eat or the water I drink. I give this page to You, Lord, even though it’s already Yours. Help me to write with clarity and conviction. Give me wisdom with the path my story will take. By Your loving hand of providence, guide me where my characters should go.

Finally, I confess that I’m afraid, dear Father. I’m overwhelmed and can’t see my way. I have more to do than time to do it, and I worry that my projects won’t be published or received well. This is my own insecurity, Lord, for You are a great and mighty God who promised to take care of me. Help me to trust You and not myself. Make each word excellent, true, and beautiful—for your glory alone.

Thank You, Father, for hearing my prayers.

Amen

Who Likes Being Held Accountable?

Thursdays - Devotions for Writers

Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what is
Caesar's and to God what is God's.” (Mark 12: 17 NIV)

Who likes being held accountable?

Even though I know it’s usually good for me, I admit there are times when it would be nice to go along my merry way without having to be accountable to anyone. Confession . . . I’m a closet rebel. Most people probably don’t have a clue that I have a problem with authority. You can ask me to do almost anything – but tell me I HAVE to do something and the shot of adrenaline that surges through my body causes my heart rate to soar. I’d hate to have my blood pressure checked at that moment!

On the other hand, if I request to be held accountable, that’s another story. I asked one of my daughters – the exercise guru – to help me get back on track with staying fit. On Monday mornings she e-mails the routine she wants me to follow for the week, based on my schedule. Every morning I climb 50 stairs from the parking garage to the floor where my office is located. During lunch, I usually do three sets of stairs. So on most days, I climb a total of 200 stairs. Climb. NOT RUN. Just to be clear! Some days she adds time on the treadmill or a few minutes of weights after I get home. She e-mails every day to encourage me and check in to see if I’ve done what I’m supposed to do. She holds me accountable. She does it because she loves and wants the best for me.

Do you think I would do those stairs every morning and afternoon if I wasn’t held accountable? No way! I’d come up with all kinds of excuses here and there, and before you knew it—I wouldn’t be doing them at all.

We need to be held accountable in many things. And that includes our writing.

Why?

Because we should “Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.” Any gift, talent, or passion for writing that we have comes from Him. It is His. We are only vessels He’s chosen to use.

Although we’re accountable to God, He doesn’t stand over us with a stick. He doesn’t request a report at the end of the week. So it helps to enlist our critique groups or friends in asking, “How’s the writing coming?”

I encourage you to find at least one person in your life who is willing to hold you accountable. Having that person (or group) will help keep you focused on what, where, when, and why you write.

We’re to give God what is God’s. Being held accountable will help us give our best. And isn’t that what we all want? To give our best?

Now don't you all start e-mailing, asking if I've climbed the stairs. ;-D

Dawn