TWC SPOTLIGHT

Do you make New Year's Resolutions? Goals are my preference, and goals have taken me much further than resolutions ever did. In Linda's Organization and Goal Setting chat in December, a couple people were taking notes on my goal-setting process. I've explained it  more thoroughly in this month's article.  

We are thrilled to welcome Kim Richards to the TWC team!  She will be gradually working her way in as Linda Hutchinson works her way out. Linda has decided she needs more time for writing, if she's ever going to get that novel out of her head. We all wish her the best of luck with it, and we'll be right here backing her up and cheering her on. I can't wait to book her as a guest! 

Before deciding to move on, Linda set up a launch party for another debut author. Check out the blurb below this note, and you can be part of the launch too. Can you imagine having your first three novels coming out, from a major publisher, in a three month period? We are so excited to be part of this! 

In case you didn't get organized in time to start the new year, Linda has given you another article on the topic. Renee also shares a couple more web links that didn't make it into last month's Spotlight.  

...You're still here? With all that info waiting for you below? What are you waiting for?  

Audrey

For the last year, Jordan has been doing everything we've been preachin' and teachin' here to get her name "out there".  She's showing us how it's done, and she'll be one to watch in coming years. 

If you'd like to be a part of this "launch" by:  reviewing a galley of her first release, taking part in a "blog blast", or by interviewing her and then posting the interview on your website or blogs, please contact me at linda@lindajhutchinson.com.  Let me know (in 50 words or fewer, please) why you'd like to be a part of this special event.  (We still have 5 galleys to send out to reviewers and would like to have at least 15 bloggers and at least 10 interviewers.) 

Resolutions give no leeway. You either hit them, or you don't. Success or failure. No middle ground.  

I prefer setting goals. Goals give you wiggle room. You can make it halfway to a goal. You can't make it halfway to a resolution.  

Since I went into business for myself, I've discovered how important goals are. If you don't have a set goal, you can't expect to get anywhere. As the old saying goes, "If you fail to plan, you're planning to fail". If you don't know where you're headed, how will you know when you get there?  

Would you go on a long trip without a map? Then how do you expect to succeed if you don't have a set goal? How do you find the right road?  

Setting a goal is simply deciding where you want to go. Once your destination is determined, you create a "map". Break the trip to your goal down into smaller steps. Let's say I want to go to Pittsburgh. First I'll take 119 south. Then I'll take 422 west to Kittanning. Just outside of Kittanning, I'll take the Pittsburgh exit to 28 south.  

Use the same system for your career. You want to sell five short stories this year. Figure out where you are, to start. You only have three stories written and polished. First step would be to find markets and submit those three. Next step is to write two more stories.  

Story #1 gets rejected. Send it back out while you finish story #4. Submit #4. Start #5. #2 gets rejected. Find new market, resubmit #2. Finish #5. Submit #5. #3 is accepted! Have a small party to celebrate. #4 is rejected. Resubmit.  Etc.

When you reach your goal, take a short break and celebrate your success. Then set a new goal and start over again. 

Write your goals down and post them where you can see them often. That will constantly remind you that YOU HAVE WORK TO DO. It will also keep your subconscious mind working on your goals even when you aren't.

I sat down early last year and figured out my lifetime goals. A big list of the things I want to accomplish in my life. Those goals are hanging on the wall above my monitor. 

In December of each year, I review those goals and decide what, in the next year, will bring me closer to those goals. I write those things down and hang them beside the lifetime goals. Those are my goals for the year. 

Next, I look at the yearly goals and decide what I need to do in the first quarter of the year. Those first quarter goals are written down and hung alongside the other two lists. 

Before I go to bed at night, I sit down and make a to-do list for the next day. I used to do it on paper, but now I use the Simpleology software. When I stumble to my computer in the morning, my plan for the day is laid out on the screen. Once I ingest enough caffeine to start my brain, I pick one thing from the list and get to work.  

At the end of each quarter, I sit down with my goal lists again. I review the quarter ending, pat myself on the back for the successes, and figure out what happened on the unmet goals. Then I set new goals for the next quarter. 

This may sound like a lot of work, but I've accomplished amazing things this way. This method lead to paying off my mortgage in 2003, leaving my job (six months ahead of plan), starting a business and making it successful enough to live on. Goals and planning have helped take The Writer's Chatroom from a corner of my personal website and 700 subscribers, to a full scale website (on Writer's Digest's Top 100 Sites list), and over 1500 subscribers.  

Always remember that your goals are flexible. Goals, even lifetime goals, can be changed. Where you want to go today isn't necessarily where you want to go tomorrow. Today's goal may be to get your book published with a big NY publisher. If Tom Hanks calls tomorrow and says "Hey! I want to make that story into a movie. Sell me an option so I can get to work on it"...are you REALLY going to say no?  

Gasp for air and say "Well, movie rights are still available. How much money are we talking about here?" While you're negotiating, pull your goals down off the wall, cross out "find publisher" and write in "Sell movie rights to Tom Hanks". Then, when the check arrives, you've met your goal! 

Changing a goal is not a failure. If you're half way to San Francisco and the man/woman of your dreams proposes and wants to take you home to Texas, are you going to refuse? Maybe you'll never make it to San Fran. But if you're living the life of your dreams in Texas, who cares? 

1. Set goals and write them down.
2. Break them into manageable steps.
3. Do something every day to move you closer to your goals.
4. Sell your screenplay to Tom Hanks...I mean, be flexible.
5. Celebrate reaching goals, then set new ones.

Rinse and repeat as needed.

Bio: Audrey Shaffer has staggered into 2008 a week behind on just about everything. But she'll catch up. She always does!

January 6

January 13

January 20 Illona Haus

January 27 Publicist PJ Nunn of BreakThrough Promotions

For more information, visit our schedule page.

All chats start at 7 pm EST.

The weekly chats at The Writer's Chatroom are wonderful!  Each night I attend a chat, I learn something new.  The support and encouragement during the "general chats" keeps me motivated and excited about writing. The weekly "guest" chats are informative, educational and fun!  I leave each chat saying  "I can do it, I know I can.      Patty Hopkins

Article

"Out of clutter, find simplicity ... From discord find harmony... In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." Albert Einstein 

For more than two years I've been showing TWC members how to become more organized so that each could find more time to write.  This year, I'm going to depart from that a bit while taking some cues from Albert Einstein.   

Einstein was likely one of the most intelligent humans on the planet in his time.  He believed more in "efficiency" rather than in being organized.  If you've ever seen photos of his work area, you'd think him not very organized, indeed.   

However, he believed:  that we should put only enough energy into an effort to achieve what really matters to us, thereby not wasting time or energy; one should know what matters and what doesn't and then don't sweat the small stuff; live your life by drawing close only those things that are important to your success; and, knowing where to find what you need is better than wasting your time memorizing information that you may or may not need.  Of course, I'm paraphrasing and probably putting words in the old think-master's mouth that I shouldn't, but you get the idea. 

I did a quick Google search to find information on organization for our first Spotlight of 2008.  There are specialized courses to train us to become professional organizers.  Literally thousands of companies are listed, and get paid huge sums of money to do nothing but organize our homes, our offices, our closets, our cubicles, our ...

Fr*e advice is plentiful at Ramona Creel's OnlineOrganizing.com.  At www.onlineorganizing.com/expertadvicetoolbox.asp you'll find free-to-publish articles on how to organize just about everything.  Good advice, freely shared, is a very efficient means of helping ourselves and others.

From an article by Nathan Shaw, The Organize Doctor:  "Organization is about orderliness: a place for everything, and everything in its place." He goes on to say:  "Efficiency is about cutting waste out of your way and going straight for the maximum value opportunity. Even when conditions aren't perfect, or things aren't 100% perfectly ordered."

Of course we need to "be organized" to write.  We need to be able to find what we need when we need it.  We need to track our submissions.  We need to know which editor is looking for our best work.  We need to be in top sparring form to fight our way to the top of the heap.

We all know we should have the basics of office supplies and equipment and most of us do.  Some of us are better at using those supplies than others.

Even those of us who should know better can get caught with our pants down.

I received a phone call just before Christmas from the PR guy at a community college.  I'd covered a story for a magazine that involved moving a donated FedEx plane from the airport, down a heavily traveled street to the college, using all manner of specialized and custom-built equipment.  The college will transform the plane into a first class, one-of-a-kind simulator, to train law enforcement and homeland security personnel.

The PR guy wanted to know if I had any extra copies of the published article suitable for framing.  I do.  But ... I'm so far behind on filing, I couldn't lay my hands on them during the phone call. 

My internal justifier told me I couldn't find them because dear husband had gotten me out of the shower to take the call and I was standing in my office wrapped in a towel.  This is not a mental image I'd like to leave anyone with, and we all know the truth.  I've since made sure he'll get the copies (containing my byline), but it was embarrassing at the time.

Lucky for me, he still gave me information and contact names for a future article for the same magazine, this time about specialized training offered at the college on the latest state-of-the-art commercial heavy equipment--information I won't misplace.

While researching for this article I found some sites so basic a third grader could have done them better.  Those didn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling about their ability to teach me, or anyone else, how to be organized--or efficient. 

There are a few ebooks for sale to teach us how to be organized.  I haven't read them, so I won't endorse them.  I doubt they cover any more than what we've taught right here at TWC--for fr*e.

I also found a link to a book at amazon.com about organizing corpses.  Now, that one intrigues me.  I might draw that one closer, in the interest of being a more efficient mystery writer.

In the end, each of knows what we need to do to get and to stay organized.  It's the getting it done that gets in the way.  If we truly want to succeed as writers we'll each find a system that works for us.  Or, we won't be successful writers.  Not being successful isn't an option for many of us.

To give you a jumpstart on getting organized and meeting your goals, get your fr*e writer's calendar here:  http://www.organizedwriter.com/calendar/CalendarFREE.pdf   

Here's to a very productive AND successfully efficient 2008 for each and all of us!   

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