Tips to Help You Create Writing Goals.

Goals can help you figure out what you want and develop a strategy for attaining it. You might become forgetful or distracted—and never finish the book you've always wanted to write—without goals. To write a novel, you must first devise a plan for accomplishing it, which includes more than simply deciding to do so.

You'll want to establish smart goals that will take you step-by-step toward finishing your book, such as establishing daily word, or page count benchmarks. Setting goals helps to make huge tasks much more manageable

Now let's dive into some of our top tips for setting writing goals!

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1. Set Achievable Goals

 If your goals are unrealistic, you will be unable to fulfill them. Don't let your desire to complete your novel drive you to work yourself too hard and set goals that are impossible. It's difficult to know what is realistic unless you first establish some goals. For example, it might not be reasonable to aim for completing your book in a month. Neither should you aim for 10,000 words per day—particularly if you have other responsibilities. Setting attainable targets from the start will help you achieve them much more easily in the future

Set reasonable writing goals that you can accomplish one step at a time. The greatest thing you can do is establish daily routines that will enable you to achieve your goals—rather than getting disappointed early on with high aspirations for yourself. Here are some goals that many writers will set for themselves:

  • Write 1,000 words every day

  • Write for 2 hours every day

  • Complete one chapter a week

  • Start morning journaling

With WriteMore, setting a daily word goal is made easy with our build in analytics. If you already have an account, check out your progress so far now!

2. Create Measurable Goals

When you reach a goal, you'll experience a burst of energy that urges you to keep writing—but if your goals are too general (for example, "I want to improve as a writer"), you won't know whether you've accomplished them. Create goals that you can measure and check off as you go. This will assist you in developing long-term writing skills by producing smaller goals that will pay off.

Goals that have numerals or deadlines attached to them are more likely to be kept track of. For example, you might set a goal for yourself of writing a specific number of words each day and check in at the end of the month. You may also decide to complete a certain number of pages by a certain date.

Determine when you want to finish your project. This might be a set length of time, or you may wish to complete it before the end of the year. Make a daily commitment to focus on a little portion of your work and, at the end of the year, you could just have your completed book.

 

3. Track Your Progress

It doesn't matter what sort of writing project you're working on—whether it's a novel, a screenplay, short stories, or nonfiction book—you'll be writing hundreds of pages and possibly hundreds of thousands of words. Don't forget how far you've come. If you're keeping track of your goals as you go, you'll know how close you are to finishing your first draft and crossing that finish line.

A calendar is the simplest approach to keep track of your goals. You may make a list of your goals for each day and cross them off as you go. To document how you're doing, consider keeping a writing diary. Perhaps your goals were too ambitious, or maybe not ambitious enough! You may discover that you have less time to write in a given day than you expected.

You can change and create new goals as needed to best satisfy your demands.

4. Hold Yourself Accountable

Make your goals a top priority if you want to achieve them. Otherwise, you'll find any reason not to make them happen, and you'll lose sight of your long-term aspirations. This is your chance to acquire essential time-management skills and become an author for the first time. 

You should think about your schedule and decide when and where you'll be writing every day. You should be totally committed and time-bound to finish your daily objective during this pre-planned writing period.

 

5. Find Your Motivation

Every author has his or her own reasons for writing. Understanding why you enjoy writing and tapping into that enthusiasm can help you keep going when you're doubtful about your ability to continue—you don't want to give up your writing profession due to writer's block.

Consider using a reward system to encourage yourself while you progress toward long-term goals. For example, if you write every day for a month, you could treat yourself to something nice. You might also get a day off if you reach a certain word count.

If you're having trouble feeling motivated to write, listen to a writing podcast, read blogs by individuals who are working on their own projects, or watch writers give presentations at conferences. Knowing how great writers were able to accomplish their writing goals may inspire you to achieve your own. You may discover a lot about how to create good writing goals and improve as a writer by reading excellent writers. You may also seek out local organizations of authors who can assist you throughout the process of writing.

  

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