Writing In 2015 - Understanding Control

Down to the last couple of days in this year and I am getting ready to gear up for something different. This writer is writing again and, with some effort, I won't stop again. I've been thinking about goals. Here's a quote from writer, James Scott Bell:

"Why set goals? Because you can either control your own destiny or hand it over to circumstance. I'd much rather be acting than reacting. I'd rather have a plan than have time and tide devour me."

I really like this. Bell's quote cuts to the heart of matter for me. It's a succinct way to express the concept of control. As with everyone else, writers have dreams. We want accolades or to hit bestsellers' lists, or maybe get a big publishing contract with traditional publishers. Or maybe we want to hit a home run with a book or series, selling hundreds of thousands of copies, getting our stories optioned by Hollywood, and so on. The thing with dreams though is that we basically have zero control over them. 

I have dreams too. But, I can't make big sales happen. I can't control that. However, I can control how much I write. I can control how many books and short stories I get published via my publishing company. These are things that can be controlled. So what does this have to do with goals?

Goals are things that you can control. They can be used to build the road to your dreams. Goals are acting on plans with an end purpose or dream in mind. The work of setting and accomplishing goals doesn't guarantee you achieve your dreams, but they can get you on the right path to do so, given time, patience, and perseverance. That's what I'm learning anyways.

Dean Wesley Smith is talking about this same subject on his blog. The latest post, New World of Publishing: Control, unpacks these same ideas with Smith's trademark wisdom and wit. He gives you some important steps to help you plan and set goals for your writing in the new year. I find that I need to revisit some of the steps relate to setting production goals. 

There are issues of strategy too when it comes to what I do with my finished stories and novels. I think mixing it up and sending stories to outside markets and publishing books and collections through Founders House Publishing still makes sense. I have to work out the details. But I have steps I can take so that's really more than half the battle for me. 

Writing In 2015 - Setting Goals?

There's nothing particularly original about setting goals. I mean this is the time of year when people make all sorts of goals and resolutions for change and setting new habits in the new year. This is the time for wiping the slate clean. We release a deep sigh and mouth the word "do-over" with a hesitant smile on our faces. Or at least some of us do.

Ever the big fan of veteran pro writer, Dean Wesley Smith, I'll include a link to his latest blog post, a new installment in his ongoing "New World Of Publishing" series. Smith has made it a habit to give some end of the year tips about goals and such to help propel writers in the coming year. Check out the blog post, "New World of Publishing: Failure Must Be An Option." It's the first of a set that'll be coming along during this final week of 2014.

I've said it before though, I am lousy at setting and hitting goals. I've failed in much the way that Smith illustrates. However, I can't let that become a reason or an excuse to quit or to give up. Failure's a built-in dynamic of this writing life and I have to be ready to take a hit when it comes my way. I have to remember what's within my control and set goals that reflect this common sense idea.

Being the writer, I can actively set goals for writing and finishing projects. While life's complications may make it necessary to rethink certain aspects it is still more than possible to write and finish something. I'd say it's fair to mention Heinlein's Rules of Business, a guide that many writers have used to make money in the writing business. I keep a copy of them right in front of me in my office and you can find one in the right column on this site.

Those rules might be a good place to start when it comes to making plans and setting goals for your writing in 2015. At least I think they are. Honestly, if there's any place I should make a more serious effort is in apply those simple (on the surface) rules to my own work.

No matter what sort of plans or strategy you have in place for executing goals in the coming year, I wish you the best in your endeavors. If you have a way you'd like to share with me, please feel free to comment.

Catch you next time.

Writing In 2015 - Don't Look Back

This year's about up now and I'm not going to look backwards now when it's far more important to look forward. Half-finished projects will either be completed or shelved as I strive for momentum in my writing life as the new year dawns. I'm wearied with making pronouncements that don't pan out, but I still want to challenge myself. I could do that in a number of ways.

I set out to write twenty short stories this year, but only managed a fraction of that number. I'm not going to beat myself up about not hitting the goal. I did get some stories written. I didn't completely fail.  I could set another challenge like that. I could also set one for writing books too. In the end, it doesn't matter what shape the challenges take but only that I attempt them. The attempt matters.

There's a lot to learn from failures -- provided that it leads to successes rather than paralysis.

I have hopes for 2015. It's good to be hopeful about one's prospects rather than caught up in a cycle of disappointment, doubt, and frustration. Like most writers, I've been dealt with those sorts of issues. I've been too critical and being critical has sapped my creativity. It kept me from the page more times than I'd like to admit.

Though I'm still thoughtful about how these patterns might play out in the new year, I'm more interested in how I can bolster my personal creativity and let that voice out to play again. Fiction writing should be a fun activity and not a reason to get stressed out. At least that's the philosophy I prefer.

There is promise in a new year, but it takes work to make that promise bear any sort of fruit. This blog will remain a place where I share something of that writerly journey with those who read. I'll tell you when I have new work coming out and update you on the progress of any challenges I set. I'll probably note interesting articles and blogs about writing and publishing as I cross them.

Here's to a great 2015!

Writing In 2015

How is it December already?

Yeah, that's the question echoing in my head. I'm at that point in the year (you know, the end) where I wax philosophically, get all introspective, and generally get down in the dumps when I look back how the year went. Not, really that unique, I know. Everybody experiences this kind of thing.

As a writer, I recollect the year and see not only what I was able to accomplish but how far I fell short of whatever ideal goals I'd set for myself back in January. I look at things in terms of books and stories I completed or how many words I wrote, day in and day out. What I've found is that I had a pretty lousy year. The writing dropped way down. I didn't get a book done. I did manage a few short stories. Not at all the quantity or pace I'd hoped for in the beginning.

The other side of being in December is you start looking ahead at the coming year. I'm in this process of not looking back at 2014 but rather looking into the possibilities available in 2015. Do I want a repeat of 2014? Absolutely not! However, if I don't want to get caught up in a rut I need to be constructive when it comes to what I can honestly accomplish. What is realistic? What sort of potential is really there to grow and build up myself as a writer? These kinds of probing questions are washing over me even now and will continue through the last few weeks of the year.

How do I avoid flippancy or the sort of wishy-washiness that undermines a productive writing life? Good question. Does procrastination have to win? No. No it doesn't.

I know that I need to reorder life to better accommodate my writing. In that way, I must wrest control away from other dimensions of myself that seek to hog all of my time. Distractions abound but if I let them, they'll wreck everything.

These are all things to acknowledge when I contemplate writing in 2015.