Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Resetting Goals


Earlier yesterday I opened my 2010 goals document and took stock of what goals I had already accomplished and what I had yet to do. I do this every 2-3 months. Yesterday was the 2nd time I opened the document this year. And what I discovered was eye opening.

In January when I’d originally put together the goals list, I had very specific things I wanted to get finished and accomplish. Then, around May 1st, I’d pretty much tossed everything out the window because somehow during the course of the year, my goals had changed. Slightly at first then once small things shifted, the rest fell like an avalanche.

I cleared my schedule. Wiped clean everything from my calendar. Will I write the books I had planned? I’d like to but don’t really know at this point. And that’s okay. The ideas are still in a folder, but I'm not sure I want (or even need) them anymore.

I have bigger plans. Higher goals. More dazzling dreams. In short, I want to defy gravity and I can’t do that with clipped wings.

Right now, I’m involved with two fairly sizable projects. One is a fantasy romance. It’s been slow going for me because it’s a new genre and fantasy writing can be tedious at times with all the world building, rule making, etc. I’m excited though and I’m hoping for big things from this book.

The other project is a historical romance and so far, it’s going strong. With this book, I feel I have a chance at garnering an agent’s attention. Only time will tell.

As for the rest of the year, I only have two short pieces I’ve promised and that’s it. I’m not taking on anything else. I don’t intend to write anything else until these are wrapped up to the best of my ability, gone over with a fine tooth comb, self-edited, rewritten and fussed over until they're awesome. My concentration will be on these two books until they are finished or my energy leaves me completely LOL Sometimes, it’s not about how much you can put out during the year. Sometimes, it’s about the quality of the work and really getting to know the writing inside and out and making the book a masterpiece.

Sure, new ideas are constantly flowing. They get dumped into a Word document for a later time. For the foreseeable future, these two books are the only things I need.

Sorry if this post sounds selfish, but my point was it’s okay to reassess yourself mid-stream and change tactics. In fact, you might just find it’s exactly what you needed to do all along.

Until the next time, happy writing, reading or simply being.

7 comments:

Rebecca Royce said...

Sandi, you always write quality work. I'm sure your goals will be met!

Sandra Sookoo said...

Thanks Rebecca!

Kristabel Reed said...

I haven't made any goals, I'm really a goal-setter. Despite you scrapping them, I think you may be onto something about having them to begin with.

Afternoon goal: Figure out what I want to do in the next month/3 months/6 months and with plenty of room for changes.

Thanks for the motivation! :)

Catherine Gayle said...

I think its great that you not only set goals and check on your progress, but you recognize when it is time to move on with something else. I think I need to be more diligent with my goal-setting. Maybe I'll work on that later today.

Sandra Sookoo said...

Thanks for coming Kristabel. Good luck with setting your own goals :-)

Hi Catherine! Sometimes the goals we set months ago no longer work with what we've learned or what we want. Then it requires a reset and a new goal to shoot for :-)

Christa Paige said...

Last year's goal of finding a home for my story Bound By Deception was met in a surprisingly quick manner. After that, I really had no other goals. So, I just wrote a couple more things and found them a home too. Now, I would like to say I am goal-less because all I have left are wips in various stages. I do have that secret-wish goal of finishing my first 90k word length novel and shopping it around. In the meantime though, my goal is to just get some writing done each week. When I hit "the end" on something, then I will have to go back and consider what goal comes next. Life is so crazy busy with my kids and family, completing a chapter is the best goal, right now.
Thanks for sharing how you keep track of things like goals and story ideas, it is very inspiring.
Christa

Annie Nicholas said...

I agree with you Sandra. Quality over quantity always wins.