With consistent effort, your words per hour will increase, too. An 80,000-word book will take 80 hours, not including researching and outlining. Let’s say you write 1,000 words in that time. Consider this your working “words per hour” rate to account for interruptions, breaks, or rough days. Repeat, so you’ve spent a total of an hour. This will help create a timeline that’s personalized to you.Īn easy way to do that? Write for 20 minutes, then take a 10-minute break. There can be goals after that, but let’s focus on finishing the first draft.Ī big part of this goal, and the goals most writers will set, is establishing your writing pace. Whichever you choose, your timeline might involve the following:įor the purposes of our goal (I want to write the first draft of an 80,000-word novel about a revolution in a mining colony on Io in 180 days), it’s clear that finishing the first draft is our goal. Is your goal to finish your first draft? Query an agent or publisher? Self-publish? Your timeline will depend on the ultimate end point of your goal. But, early on in your writing career, give yourself more time than you think you need. Your timeline for each book will grow shorter as you write more books. The time it takes depends on the writer, the book’s length, and all the prep work you need to do. Writing a book takes time-there’s no way around that truth. Let’s make our goal “I want to write the first draft of an 80,000-word novel about a revolution in a mining colony on Io in 180 days.” Without time to hold you accountable, it’s easy to push your goal back over and over again. Time-bound - This might be the most critical aspect of a SMART goal. This could include establishing your author brand, learning more about the writing process, etc. Consider smaller goals that are relevant, too. Likewise, make sure you actually want to be a writer if your goal is to write a book. Relevant - If you want to be an author, setting a goal to write a screenplay isn’t helpful. Now our goal will be “I want to write the first draft of an 80,000-word novel about a revolution in a mining colony on Io.” Or, if you are writing a full-length book, make sure you learn about structure, character development, and everything else you need, and give yourself enough time. If you’ve never written before, maybe write a short story first. “I want to write an 80,000-word novel about a revolution in a mining colony on Io” adds an element you can record and monitor with every word you write.Īttainable - Setting a goal you could never accomplish is another way to end with disappointment. The most effective goals can be chunked into smaller pieces you can recognize and celebrate along the way. Measurable - A goal isn’t good if it can only be complete or incomplete. “I want to write a novel about a revolution in a mining colony on Io” is a much better start, though we will add to it along the way. “I want to write a book” isn’t a specific goal. It will be too difficult to measure your progress or make meaningful changes to help you along the way. If you’ve never heard of them or just need a refresher, SMART stands for the following: Even if you haven’t browsed our articles on characters, themes, or making money from your writing, you might have heard this term before. If you’ve read any DabbleU articles involving goals and habits, you’ve probably read about SMART goals at least once. So let’s ensure we’re starting with our best foot forward by establishing some reasonable writing goals. Worst case scenario? You get so discouraged by failing to reach your goals that you stop writing. In fact, setting goals that don’t make sense or are unreachable will do a heck of a lot more harm than good. In this article, we’re going to set you up for success when it comes to your writing goals. And guess what? You can use goals to do the same.īut not all goals are created equal. Instead, I want to highlight how much of an impact setting goals and establishing routines has on writing. I’m not saying all this to brag, I promise. With my latest ( admittedly shorter) project, it only took a few months. Then I started setting goals for my writing, and the next book went from idea to market in less than a year and a half. In fact, I’m pretty sure I scoffed at people who touted the values of goal setting.Īnd it took me five years to take my book from idea to reality. Before I wrote my first book, I wasn’t a goal setter.
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