One of my post categories on this blog is “goals,” and that’s because setting and keeping goals has been one of the strategies I have found most useful while trying to develop myself as a professional writer.
One of the advantages of goal-setting is that it keeps you thinking about what kind of writer you want to be, and what kind of progress you’re making towards that definition.When you’re writing outside of academia, without grades or the academic calendar or even degree requirements, it’s really up to you to figure out what kind of writer you want to be. What are your strengths? What types of writing would you like to do better? What kind of markets do you want to be a part of, and how do you work towards those? These are all crucial questions to keep asking yourself as you build a reputation and/or career, and setting periodic goals will help you answer them.
I like to make both immediate, short-term and long-term writing goals for myself. Once I set up this website, for example, I crossed off several items on my long-term list, including having a writer’s site and also having one central place where as many of my clips as possible are organized and labeled. Right now my immediate list includes revising two poems I’ve just gotten comments on from my writing buddy, and my short-term list includes sending those poems out as submissions. My long-term list includes publishing a short story, having enough polished poems to form a manuscript and going through my notebooks and reviving old beginnings.
What are your writing goals? Post any lists or thoughts in comments!
