(Every week I receive such articles from Trent Steele of http://www.writestreet.com/, and this one in particular may be useful for many of us.)

If you want to write more and write better, you need to know how to set and achieve writing goals.

Even if you were never the type of person before to set goals for yourself, it will be important to do it for your writing. A common problem in the writing scene is to form a lot of ideas and then have trouble completing them all.

If you find you’re getting ahead of yourself with many great ideas that you struggle to complete, then it may be time that you learn how to set and achieve writing goals. You should form both short and long term goals and put your goals in writing or text in some manner.

This is an important part of the process, giving you the ability to look back on these goals later and hold yourself accountable for your tasks. It’s not enough just to say you’re going to do something. You need to create a plan to achieve it and know what steps you need to take to get there.

When it comes to how to set and achieve writing goals, here are the steps you need to take.

1. Determine what your short term and long term goals are. Write them down.

2. Create a plan for your short term goals and the steps you will need to take to achieve them.

3. Create a plan for your long term goals and the steps you will need to take to achieve them.

4. Narrow these goals into specific mini-goals that you can reach more easily and that add up to larger goals.

5. Determine how much time you have each day to write and how much time you plan to devote to your writing.

6. Create a daily schedule that helps you keep to your steps to achieving your goals.

7. Track your progress as you complete steps needed to reach your goals.

8. Remember to reward yourself when you reach goals to give you the motivation to continue on your journey.

These steps will help you set writing goals for yourself and create the plan you need to achieve these goals.

This means you will be able to stop simply thinking and talking about writing — and actually get writing goals completed!

Adapted from an original article by Lisa Mason.

2 Responses to “How to Set and Achieve Writing Goals”