Set your own S.M.A.R.T goals for 2015….

S.M.A.R.T  is a goal oriented strategy that has been around since the 1980s. I don’t know if it works for every activity but I do know it is good for writers.

S = specific. Don’t be vague and put down something like write more. How about write a 1000 words a day or a week.
M = measurable. So not write  a short story I feel happy about but something like complete three short stories by Easter.
A = attainable. Your goal should be something under your control. Better to aim at submitting your novel for publication than committing  yourself to having a three book deal in your handbag by next Christmas.
R = relevant. Choose a goal that has a direct impact on what you want to get from your writing. Are you a serial giver-upper? Perhaps you could aim to finish some (how many?) of the stories you’ve started. Or if you feel isolated perhaps what you really need is to connect with a community of writers. Aim to attend writer events such as book launches, talks and writer groups. Or take yourself more seriously by investing hard cash. Enrol in a course or workshop, subscribe to a writing magazine. Get your sad computer fixed. Seek out a mentor with whom you can work.
T = timely. Make a number of short-term and long-term do-able plans. What can you achieve in six weeks time? Six months?

Me? I’ve set up my own SMART goal (s) connected to self-publishing more non fiction books in 2015 AND working on my second novel. But I’m not going to say anymore because one of my sensible but un-SMART resolutions is not to talk in detail about the things I’m going to do, only about the things I’ve done. SHOW don’t TELL works for writing and I think it probably does for personal development as well. Anyway, I’m going to give it a go.

Happy New Year everyone. I wish you the clarity of bright winter days and the gentleness of soft rain. I wish you the mischief of spring and the warmth of lasting friendships. Most of all I hope that the rhytmn of words stays with you in the year ahead, so that you can dance with sentences and sometimes sing with them too. And that occasionally you’ll let the gilded, verbose side of you out – just as I’ve done in this paragraph – for the sheer bloody fun of it.

photo credit: kevin dooley via photopin cc

photo credit: oooo oooo via photopin cc

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