Tuesday, July 3, 2018

IWSG & Writing Goals

by Jemi Fraser

Welcome to another fabulous IWSG day! Thanks to the amazing Alex J. Cavanaugh and his merry band of delightful minions and clones, we have a day where we can support and encourage each other as we travel this fascinating journey of publication.

Check out the list of other IWSG writers here and find some new friends to visit this month!
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July's question: What are your ultimate writing goals, and how have they changed over time (if at all)?

My writing goals have definitely changed over time.

1st Level Goal: Write for fun! (= 2 or 3 drafts)

2nd Level Goals: Meet other writers and learn things (= AgentQueryConnect.com, incredible crit buddies, and the realization that I knew nothing!!)

3rd Level Goals: Learn more things & write a draft that someone else might want to read (= learned the rudiments of editing, social media, & more drafts ... I can first draft forever!!!)

4th Level Goals: Learn more things, polish a story, & query (= sent out a few queries, some full requests, excellent feedback, learned more about pacing & conflict)

5th Level Goals: Learn more things, learn to plot (= so much angst over plotting!!!, several more drafts)

6th Level Goals: Learn more things, take some risks (= enter a #Pitchwars contest where I made awesome new friends & got excellent feedback, enter a IWSG contest and got a story chosen for the Tick Tock: A Stitch in Crime anthology!)

7th Level Goals: Learn more things, take more risks, finish a good draft using an outline, write more short stories, get my stories ready to head out into the world, consider querying & self-publishing 


And that's where I am today. Still learning, still growing, still risking, still thinking about publishing paths, and (most importantly) still having fun writing!

How about you? Have your goals evolved with time? Doesn't it feel great when you achieve a goal? (I know I'm still Happy Dancing over UNTIL RELEASE being out and about in the world!)

55 comments:

  1. Yes, the ultimate is: have fun writing!

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  2. This sounds a lot like my goal evolution!

    Until Release is a great story!!

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  3. Learning needs to be at every step in the process.

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    1. It truly does - there is always so much to know!

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  4. I love that your goals started small and grew with your writing. That's definitely the way to go.

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    1. It's working so far - just need some confidence to take the next step with my novels!

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  5. Oh how we change over time by just dipping our toe into the writing pool. ;-)

    Anna from elements of emaginette

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  6. I love how you illustrated that in levels. We're definitely all growing and changing as we go, eh? It doesn't matter how far you've gone either. There's always more to learn.

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  7. You've got your priorities in order, Jemi! Good for you.

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  8. Great process! For me, having fun and continuing to learn are always the first level priority. But moving up through the levels definitely enriches the experience.

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    1. Agreed! Having fun is the only way to survive! :)

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  9. I don't think I'll ever stop learning and hopefully improving by applying what I learned.

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  10. My goals continue to change, too. We're growing!

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  11. Having fun writing is definitely the most important goal - it's why we all start writing. It's important not to forget that.

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    1. I agree - I've seen it happen with some friends and it makes me sad

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  12. Good for you for keeping an eye on your goals and changing them as needed.

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    1. This is probably more of a 'hindsight goal analysis' as I'm not the best at thinking of explicit goals in the present! :P

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  13. Loved seeing your goals. I admire how you are expanding them over time. Mine have changed too though now I write more for fun and to learn about writing.

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  14. I love your goals and your list, Jemi! Great way to look at growth.

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    1. It's fun to look back and see how it's all changed! :)

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  15. There's a definite theme in your goals... :)

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  16. "...and (most importantly) still having fun writing!" I agree!
    For me, it MUST be fun.
    I'm not saying that there won't be times when writing is really hard BUT as long as the element of excitement is there, then all is good.

    "Still learning, still growing, still risking, still thinking about publishing paths..." Me too.
    Though I'm not a spring chicken so time is not really on my side. LOL

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    1. I'm with you on that - but let's just say we have life experiences on our side!!! :)

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  17. I love this ... Still learning, still growing, still risking, still thinking about publishing paths, and (most importantly) still having fun writing!

    I think I'm afraid to write my overall goals even now. :)

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    1. I do much better when I use hindsight to set previous goals! :)

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  18. It's great to put so much effort and focus on learning! Way to go on all you've accomplished so far.

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  19. It's been one step forward, one back for me (not two, thank goodness) as far as meeting my goals. There's lots of time still left though. :)

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    1. Definitely lots of time! I want to do a lot of learning before I jump to publishing - and make sure I'm on the path I want to be on! :)

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  20. I like how you split your goals into levels - makes it seem more manageable that way and you can celebrate each step of the way.

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    1. Have to admit, it's mostly a hindsight look at goals as I'm the worst about writing them down in advance! :)

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  21. Nicely broken down, Jemi. I’d say you’re well on your way!

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  22. I love your goal levels and how "take more risks" is part of a few of them. :)

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    1. I started off a real Nervous Nellie - still am in many ways - but forcing myself to be braver is more fun than I thought it might be! :)

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  23. It is great that we always have something more to achieve. No chance of getting bored!

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    1. Exactly! Absolutely zero on the boredom scale in this journey!!! :)

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  24. Jen, so many levels you should receive a colored belt of some kind when you finish.

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  25. My goals have definitely evolved over time. They've downgraded. When I was a kid, if you'd told me I'd be this age and NOT be a multimillionaire, bestselling author with a palace, I would have been devastated.

    Now I just want to eke out a semi-comfortable living with my writing, so I can focus on it 100%.

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    1. Ah, the dreams of the young! Almost always so grand as to be unattainable!
      I love the new goal! :)

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  26. My goal is always to tell the stories I want to tell and make each project better than the last. It would be great to move to the next level professionally, but in the end, it's all about the stories.

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