 Hello, hello, writers. I'm Christine Kiefer, author of fantasy fiction and creative writing resources and you are listening to the well-sturried podcast where I share insights, encouragement and actionable advice designed to help you craft sensational novels and build your best writing life. Always in 30 minutes or less, so you can get back to writing, of course. Ready for the show? Let's get talking. Hello, hello, once again, writers, and thank you for joining me for today's episode of the podcast. Today we are talking all about how to set truly effective writing goals. This is a topic that I am super excited to cover as a very type A person. I love my goals, to-do lists, etc. And if you are one in the same, I think you're really going to enjoy this episode. But even if you aren't someone who typically thrives on goal setting, definitely give this episode a listen because goals are powerful and today I am going to show you how to set them and then actually achieve them. Today's topic was actually recommended to me by the wonderful Jen LaSalle, who is a fellow writer and also one of the beta readers who provided feedback for me on my upcoming non-fiction book, Build Your Best Writing Life. More on that in the weeks and months to come. But it's taken me a few weeks to get around to covering this topic. I actually started to write this article several weeks back and then realized that I couldn't really talk about goals without talking about writing practices. And so that's why one of our most recent episodes here on the podcast was all about how you can build a sustainable writing practice. If you haven't listened to that episode yet, make sure to go ahead and give it a listen. You can definitely still listen to this episode first, but this episode works much better within the larger context of writing practices as a whole. But nevertheless, let's dive into this episode's kind of teaser here. Today's episode on how to set truly effective writing goals will share with you why you so often fail to achieve your writing goals in the past, the role that goals should play on both a micro and macro scale in your writing life, and the exact steps you can take to set truly effective writing goals that will help you both find creative focus and avoid the spiral into shame and frustration that I don't know about you, but has so often plagued my writing life in the past when I've failed to achieve the goals that I've set. But before we dive into today's episode, a quick behind-the-scenes update at Well-Storied. Most excitingly, the new tools page on the Well-Storied website is now live. I am often asked about what my favorite tools and resources are for writers, so finally I got my act together and created one whole resource, one webpage that you can go and visit to find all of my favorite apps and services for writers, all of my favorite courses and online workshops, and even all of my favorite writing books. This webpage, like I said, is now live and it's available at well-storied.com slash tools. So make sure to go check that out. Also exciting news to share this week is that it is the final day. Well, let me take a step back. If you are listening in on the day that this episode is premiering or on the weekend after it has premiered, then we are in the final hours of being able to purchase C.S. Lakin's new e-course, Emotional Mastery for Fiction Writers for 50% off. This is a super incredible deal that I have been just so excited to share with you guys all month. I first mentioned it in a few episodes back, but in case you haven't heard of this before and it's not yet September 1st, 2019, here's the deal. C.S. Lakin is a freelance editor and author with more than 20 years of experience in the industry and she has created many online courses and workshops for writers over the years, but her most recent course, which will be premiering on September 1st, 2019, is Emotional Mastery for Fiction Writers and this course is a masterclass in both writing and helping readers work through the emotional cycles that our characters undergo throughout their journeys, but also creating a strong emotional connection between our characters and our readers, really helping readers get invested in our characters and their stories. So if you would like to check out this course, I will leave a link for you below. Just a heads up that it is an affiliate link, which means if you choose to enroll, I will make a small commission on your enrollment at no extra cost to you and that really helps keep the lights on here while storied and helps keep this podcast rolling. So thank you for supporting the podcast in this way. If it is before September 1st, 2019, you can also use the code Early Bird at checkout to enroll in the course for 50% off. Alright, now on to the podcast proper. Today's episode of the podcast translates the latest article from the well-stoyed blog Into Audio titled How to Set Truly Effective Writing Goals. You can find the article that also serves as the episode transcript at www.well-stoyed.com slash goals. Now let's dive in. Sitting down to write isn't always easy. When creative work proves difficult, many writers turn to goal setting to motivate themselves to action, only to experience shame and frustration as they fail to fulfill their goals. Sound familiar? You aren't alone. Goal setting often proves an ineffective productivity hack for one simple reason. A goal is an aim, not an action plan. In his book Atomic Habits, author James Clear poses an interesting question. If you completely ignored your goals and focused only on your system, would you still succeed? Clear defines a system as a plan for achieving consistent progress, in other words, a habit. If you ignored your goal to finish your first draft and instead made a habit out of writing, would you still finish your first draft? If you stopped dwelling on your goal to sell 5,000 copies and instead made a habit out of marketing your work, would you still improve your sales? A goal may show you where you want to be in your writing life, but it cannot help you get there, not on its own. But when you pair a writing goal with an established writing habit, you empower yourself to make the progress you seek. To learn how to build a personal and sustainable writing practice, make sure to check out the episode of the podcast Two Episodes Back. What do effective writing goals look like? The purpose of a goal is to provide focus in your practice. On a macro scale, a goal is the outcome you wish will result from the habit you've created. The first step in setting an effective goal is therefore to understand what you want from your writing life. Ask yourself, what does writing success mean to me? If you're unsure how to answer this question, make sure to check out the article I've linked for you in today's episode transcript at well-storied.com. When you can answer this question with honesty and clarity, it's time to determine the first significant milestone in your path to success. Do you need to finish your first draft? Get your latest revision to your editor? Finally set up your author website? Whatever the case, your big picture goal should drive your writing sessions. Avoid the temptation to add a deadline to this goal. Though a deadline may inspire a short-term spike in productivity, it also introduces an unhealthy pressure to succeed. This pressure frequently pushes writers to work beyond their limits, leading to creative burnout and broken writing practices. Such long-term creative turbulence simply isn't worth the short-term gain. Speaking of the short-term, many writers fail to achieve their everyday writing goals as surely as the significant milestones in their journeys. Why? Because they're focused on productivity over progress. An effective everyday writing goal is one you can easily achieve, especially one that honors input over output. If you're putting in focused time and effort, the volume of work you produce shouldn't matter. You're making progress and effective goals value long-term progress over short-term productivity. Again, if you're ready to build a writing practice around an everyday micro goal you can actually sustain, make sure to check out the article I've linked for you in today's episode transcript or our podcast episode on this topic from two episodes back. Setting Flexible Goals to Avoid Writing Burnout Big picture goals can help you find focus in your writing practice, while an achievable everyday goal is the foundation on which your practice will thrive. But hitting your goals with consistency isn't always possible. Life is messy, and your creative energies ebb and flow over time. If you're too rigid in your goals and expectations, your writing practice may not survive the turbulence. Having tiered writing goals in place helps me remain flexible in my practice and avoid the burnout that can so easily smash a writing habit to smithereens. What do these tiered goals look like? Let's take a look together. First up, I create a maintenance goal. This goal is the foundation of your writing habit, and achieving it helps you maintain the practice you've established. A good maintenance goal is one you can easily achieve on an average day when you're feeling neither drained nor overly inspired. Every writer's maintenance goal will be unique based on their personal writing practice, and it can also change over time. My current maintenance goal is 30 minutes of revision as I work on the fourth draft of my debut fantasy novel, Lady Legacy. The second goal I set is a stretch goal. Some days you'll find that your creative will runneth over and you create in a flurry of inspiration, but when you're high on creative energy, it's easy to push too far, running straight into writing burnout. Because of this, I like to set a specific stretch goal rather than writing until I run out of steam. When I reach my stretch goal, I take a moment to evaluate my creative energy levels. If I feel I'm pushing myself too hard, I call my session complete, but if I'm doing fine, I write until I reach my stretch goal a second time. I then evaluate my creative energy levels once again. This mindful approach helps me maximize my creative energy while avoiding writing burnout. My current stretch goal is an extra 15 minutes of revision. When drafting, it's usually an additional 250 words. And finally, the third goal I set is a recovery goal. Just because your writing practice is sustainable doesn't mean you won't experience a low creative energy level from time to time. When you do, it's helpful to have a recovery goal in place. Rebuilding a broken writing habit is far more difficult than simply asking a bit less of your writing practice on any given day. By necessity, a recovery goal should be less demanding than your maintenance goal. My own is currently 15 minutes of revision rather than my typical 30. Every day, when I sit down to write, I take a moment to consider where my creative energy level stands. I don't want to run into writing burnout true enough. But having tiered writing goals in place also helps me avoid the shame and frustration that can come with failing to flawlessly execute my writing practice every single day. As you set out to build the writing life you long to lead, don't hinge your hopes and dreams on goal setting. Instead, use writing goals as a tool to focus your creative efforts. By harnessing goals as part of a larger system, you can't fail to make meaningful progress toward your personal definition of writing success. And I can't wait to celebrate with you in all that you achieve. Thank you for listening to today's episode of The Podcast Writer. I hope you found it helpful to your writing journey. If so, make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss a new episode. And to give the podcast a quick rating and review. Doing so goes a long way toward helping the podcast reach new writers and lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm creating. You can also give me a shout out directly on Twitter at Kristen underscore keeper. For additional guidance as you work to craft sensational novels and build your best writing life, be sure to head on over to www.well-storied.com where I share blog posts, workbooks, e-courses, and other helpful resources for writers. Again, that's w-e-l-l-s-t-o-r-i-e-d.com. Thank you again for tuning in to today's episode my friend. Until next time, happy writing!