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We all have times when life interferes with our plans.  Sometimes it seems that everything goes wrong at once. That really throws off your writing schedule.

Lately, my life has had far more downs than ups. I have family members with severe medical crises on both sides of the family. The holidays didn’t help me keep my schedule either, but because of the circumstances, I ignored them for the most part.

Everyone is out of the hospital now.

(At least as of this very minute.) Still, there are three or four of my family members who will never truly be well again.

I’ve come to some realizations lately. The most important is that writing keeps me sane.

We lose sight of the need to care for and nurture ourselves in the middle of all the chaos. We can’t care for others until we take care of ourselves.

Writing help me stay sane when things go wrong by…

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You know the signs. You pick up a new book and find a clever plot idea.  You think that you should have thought of the idea. Or maybe you did have that idea, but you didn’t write the book.

Your muse has run away from home and gone to work for someone else. She’ll do that if she doesn’t feel nurtured. I suspect my muse moonlights for Nora Roberts, or sometimes for Julie Kenner. The slut isn’t picky. She’ll work for anyone who treats her right.

How can you nurture your muse and keep her from roaming?

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Where do you want your writing career to be this time next year?  How many books, articles, blog post, and short stories do you want to have written?

Work backwards to figure out what your short-term goals need to be to accomplish these goals. Be sure to set goals for your writing, promotional activities, and development of your craft.

Writing goals

You probably won’t be able to write every day. Start by blocking out vacations, holidays, and other times that you know you probably won’t be able to write.

How much do you need to write daily to accomplish your goals? Be realistic in your estimates.

If you really plan to write as much as possible, set your daily goal low. You’ll feel great when you meet it and most days you will be able to exceed it. Join or start your own Club 100. Write 100 words per day for 100 days. This builds up your writing habit. It also pleases your muse. Online groups are great because you check in and are accountable to the rest of the group.

Promotional goals

Do you want to be a bestseller?   What steps do you need to take to get your there.

If your goal is to be an Amazon bestseller, a great place to start is with Kathleen Gage’s course on how to be an Amazon bestseller. Click the link above to check out her free preview call.  Kathleen knows a lot about marketing books and using the Internet to your best advantage.

What steps do you need to take daily to build up your readership?

• Attend conferences
• Network online
• Blog

Craft goals

What skill do you need to improve? Will you take classes online or in person? Do you need mentorship?

Be sure to set goals which you can control. You can’t set a goal to be published or to find an agent. You can set a goal to send out a certain number of submissions to your list of top editors and agents. Set goals that optimize your chances of publishing or finding that special editor or agent.

Most important of all is to take steps everyday to reach your goals.

Set long-term, intermediate, and short term goals. Evaluate your progress along the way.

What are your goals for 2009? How will you reach them

?

Write on,

Lynn Jordan