Goals, goals, goals! Boy, when I decided to sign up for the ROW80 challenge, I sure made a lot of ’em.
This week I’ve been banging my head up against my laptop and breaking the cardinal rule of writing the first draft: just keep your hand moving.
Instead, I hit a brick wall on my WIP and avoided it all day yesterday :-(. I was having trouble with one scene, and instead of making a note in my MS and skipping over it, (like I should have done) I just didn’t write.
The good news? I had an epiphany. I figured out where to go next, and am working on that scene today.
So, here’s how this week has played out so far:
- I’ve written a page in my journal every day.
- I’m about 45 pages into Wild Mind and am working on a writing prompt I found in the book.
- I brainstormed Monday night and now have lots of ideas for blog posts (can’t wait to share 😉 )
- Writing in my WIP: so far, I’ve only gotten in 820 words on Monday, 0 on Tuesday and today I’ve written 245 toward my daily goal of 800 words.
Amanda Bretz 
Yeah, having too many goals can backfire and be like not having any. However it can really work for you if you have a primary goal and then several secondary goals.
I’ve heard of people who intentionally psych themselves out by setting an unimportant — but not easy — goal as their primary, and then put their REAL top goal in second place. Then they do their second goal while avoiding the first.
Hmmm. I’ve never heard that before. Thanks for sharing! I’m thinking I need to start doing that with my household chore goals. Next time I need to clean my bathroom, I’ll make it second on my to-do list and make something easy the top priority :-).
i don’t really like to skip whole scenes, so sometimes i take a day off from my WIP and it seems to increase the odds of an epiphany moment. i’m glad that’s what happened for you! good luck with your goals over the rest of the week!
Thanks! I may have to try that next time I’m stumped, especially if it results in greater productivity the following day 😉
I love and hate Wild Mind. Sometimes it inspires me and I can just get up from reading and go write and other times it just feels as if the advice is so stupid. But I am reading it for the fourth time so something must be working for it.
Gerhi,
I can understand what you’re saying. Goldberg seems to offer extreme advice sometimes, but occasionally, I know I need more extreme writing advice. 🙂