I’m currently taking a workshop from Lisa Garr at The Aware Show titled, Reset Your Brain for Success. Part of today’s lesson is to ask other people how they accomplish something that you want to do or get better at. So I thought I’d throw this out to you all.
How do you keep on track of your goals or projects?
It can be any goal, but my goal is to keep on track or on schedule with my writing. Right now I’m working on Book 2 of my Virago Series, Diablero. The first book, Perdition, is published, and hit a couple of Amazon category best selling lists. There are, however, six books planned for the series, so I need to keep up a good pace to get them all done in a reasonable amount of time. It annoys me more when a series I’m reading is so long between books that I forgot what happened in the previous stories. So I wasn’t to avoid that with the books I’m writing.
I know what I’m doing to keep on track, but I’m sure there’s room for improvement. I’ll add my two cents later as we get some answers banked.
So please comment on this email (the comment link is under this post’s title above) and let me know what system or tricks you use to keep on track with your goals. I look forward to hearing from you!
For me, the best thing — by a country mile — is to make task lists. It turns large, daunting tasks into collections of small, simple ones, and when I do that, I find that I get a lot more done and have more time spare as well. It’s all good.
I am a cross between a pantser and a plotter. I write by story beats, but have no idea what’s happening between the beats. I have a series spreadsheet where I add each of the things I know have to happen in each book. I leave several lines between them and fill them in as the story unfolds. It keeps me on track without forcing me to write the dreaded outline.
Pam,
this post just reminded me I have to set a goal. 😛
I set firm deadlines with other people so that I have to get my work done or risk mucking them about. Setting up an editing date before writing my draft means I know when I have to complete it and hand it over. Setting up a pre-order for when I have to finish my edits means they get done on time, otherwise I lose pre-order privileges for a year! I found that deadlines that I set for myself tend to go whooshing by without too much concern but if someone else is involved, it’s set in concrete.
I’m lucky since I have a wonderful writing partner, so we keep each other motivated. When one of us is lagging, the other gives a much-needed kick in the pants. 😉
I set a personal goal of 1,000 words/day. Some days I get much more, some days less, but in about two months I have a completed novel.
I use spreadsheets. I always have. I log my word count most days and I have pre-calculated what I need to do to write ‘enough’, so every Friday I compare.
If I miss my deadlines I just set some more, but I prioritise writing, specific projects and up my word count so that I eventually catch up. It’s a technique I learned while doing NaNoWriMo and never dropped because it works for me.
Of course, I have also learned to cheat and set low deadlines but in the end I’m only sabotaging myself.