My writer productivity skyrockets when I set monthly writer goals, and it’s time to share…
Let’s Set Goals {September 2020}
I’m big on setting monthly goals. By listing them and breaking them down into manageable chunks, I accomplish more than I think possible. My process is to set monthly goals, then at the beginning of each week, I create daily goals that will work within my current schedule.
Each month I share how I did the previous month as well as my new goals. Let’s get to it!
How Did I Do? Jill’s August 2020 Goals
- Writing
- Revise/polish and submit the short story I wrote last month. CHECK!
- Revise/polish the full manuscript for a single-title novel. CHECK!
- Health
- Exercise 5 days/week and add strength routine twice a week. CHECK!
- Go back to logging food with MyFitnessPal and eat fewer calories M-F. CHECK! I was motivated to make changes this month, and I am back to consistent exercise and calorie tracking. Woohoo!
- Other
- My youngest moves into his dorm later this month! Waahh!! NO CHECK. Due to new campus housing rules (Covid), my son decided to commute. It was depressing all around, but he’s making the best of it!
- Continue reading fiction for a minimum of 20 minutes every weekday. I have two books on order from our library that I can’t wait to come in. CHECK! I’ve been loving all the books I’ve been getting!
- Once my writing goals for the month are met, I’m taking a few days to plan out the next several months of work. I do this at the end of every August or early September, and I love it. It sets the tone for the next nine months! CHECK! I actually created a 2-year production plan, and this week it begins. Yay!!
August felt very 2020, if you know what I mean. From our son no longer dorming, to learning the Big Ten cancelled football, to the continued unrest across our nation, I wasn’t quite a hot mess, but I was definitely a limp one. For me, August could be summed up with just a long, long sigh.
But good things happened, too. I met all my goals! I lost 2 pounds (finally)! And I have some exciting news to share as soon as it’s official.
September always feels like a fresh start to me. I’m returning to my stricter/longer work schedule this week. I have so many projects I want to work on–enthusiasm is everything!
Jill’s September 2020 Goals
- Writing
- Write 42K words of current project.
- Loosely plot two books.
- Promote my new book releasing September 29! The Cowboy’s Christmas Blessings is such a sweet book!
- Health
- Exercise 5 days/week and add strength routine twice a week.
- Log calories using MyFitnessPal and stay in calorie range M-F.
- Other
- Enjoy the warm weather for as long as possible. In no time, it will be COLD.
- Continue reading fiction for a minimum of 20 minutes every weekday.
- Put together the new puzzle I bought.
- Pack away my summer clothes and get out my winter clothes.
How did you do last month? Are you excited about fall? If you could accomplish one thing this month, what would it be?
Enjoy your week!
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Great goals Jill! You motivate and inspire me to aim for my goals. 🙂
I hear you! When I hear other writers meeting their goals, it motivates me too!
Thanks Jill. My main writing goals were to finish the draft of my third Western Dreams book and send it to the beta readers, check, and to do the first round of editors’ edits on my Christmas novella and send it back, check. That’s pretty much consumed me, but with COVID 19, I had the time. I also set up a couple of guest blogs for fall and worked on stockpiling blog posts.
Didn’t do great on my salad and walking goals, but did better than I did in the first five months of COVID, so there’s that.
And I started to tackle the closet-cleaning, with an eye to having to leave this house at some point. Ain’t takin’ nothin’ for my journey…
Goals for September:
Pray about my next writing project. I’m coming off a 10-year span of working on a series of three novels and two novellas, so I’ll be seeking a new project.
Promote my current new release, out this past July.
Wrap up my nonfiction history book, which is stalled because of Technical Difficulties and COVID. Oh that tech. Oh that COVID.
Continue working on The House. There are things I don’t want my children to have to deal with when they clean it out. Cleaning out my father’s place was a nightmare. He wasn’t a hoarder but he was a pack rat. Pack rats are cleaner than hoarders and they don’t have pets.
Continue to work on the walking and eating right.
These are all pretty amorphous and open-ended. A lot of it, like the history book, rests in the hands of other people, and a fair amount, like the new project, can’t be worked on until I know what I’m working on.
Thanks Jill for giving us this forum.
Kathy Bailey
You made a lot of progress, Kathy! Nice job! I understand your concerns about cleaning out your house AND determining your next writing project. Praying for you!
Jill, I really like reading your monthly goals and your progress report. You motivated me to do something similar. I never seem to accomplish my goals. Maybe this will work for me.
Writing down the goals is a big step to meeting them, Sandy! I don’t meet mine every month, but I get a lot of satisfaction seeing how much I accomplish when I stay on track. 🙂 Best wishes to you this month!