![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Writing goals have always been hard for me. Between an inconsistent childhood, chronic depression, university and retail jobs, it's been hard for me to build to any kind of goal - especially one that has meant so much to me. I barely graduated, and that had an actual financial penalty (I was not going to drop out of university with nothing to show but £20k of debt).
I don't mean these to be excuses. I could've sorted myself out earlier. I just didn't want to. It was too difficult, too much work and effort.
2018, objectively terrible though it has generally been, has been a year of significant personal growth for me. I still don't have a career, but I have a job that I really like 80% of the time with colleagues I like 80% of the time. I don't have a partner, but I ended a relationship that was stifling. I don't have many friends, but the ones I do have are all great quality. I still can't afford to move out of my parents' attic, but I have a nice little savings fund.
My goals in 2019 are generally to continue with the path I'm already walking, just pushing myself a little more.
Every year I make a writing-related goal or resolution or whatever you want to call it. With Get Your Words Out, I don't even have to think about it! Not come up with any of my own calculations. Not trying to figure out how much is too much or too little.
When I've set my own writing goals, I've always set myself a word count target - like NaNoWriMo, but year round. And I always, always, always fail. I always feel terrible when this happens. I can't write thousands of words every day, and even breaking it down to '400 words every day for 365 days' falls apart.
400 words a day is easy! And yet, a month later, I'm over 3000 words behind. That's too much for me to catch up on; I don't have the mental stamina. I was a failure for not managing it. How could I call myself a real writer?
And then I saw GYWO's habit pledges, and it clicked. I don't have to write every day for writing to become a habit. I don't even have to write for it to count as writing time!
This isn't ever really something that comes up in advice for writers, and trust me, at 24, I've read a lot.
It's still a week to the new year, but I'm raring to go. 240 days of writing? Bring. it. on.
My Specific GYWO Writing Goals
1. Finish a bunch of fanfic.
I have dozens of WIPs on my folders. The endings are all planned out. So is the beginning. So are all the bits in between! And yet they languish on my hard drive.
2. Rewrite and polish up my meagre collection of short stories.
I'm not particularly good at short stories (it's always the 'short' part that does me in), and yet I keep trying. They greatly appeal to me as an artform, I'm just rubbish at it!
3. The Original Fiction Takes Priority.
I have three novel projects in development. What I want from these 240 days is proper outlines, thorough character sheets/descriptions, and multiple binders full of lore and worldbuilding.
I don't mean these to be excuses. I could've sorted myself out earlier. I just didn't want to. It was too difficult, too much work and effort.
2018, objectively terrible though it has generally been, has been a year of significant personal growth for me. I still don't have a career, but I have a job that I really like 80% of the time with colleagues I like 80% of the time. I don't have a partner, but I ended a relationship that was stifling. I don't have many friends, but the ones I do have are all great quality. I still can't afford to move out of my parents' attic, but I have a nice little savings fund.
My goals in 2019 are generally to continue with the path I'm already walking, just pushing myself a little more.
Every year I make a writing-related goal or resolution or whatever you want to call it. With Get Your Words Out, I don't even have to think about it! Not come up with any of my own calculations. Not trying to figure out how much is too much or too little.
When I've set my own writing goals, I've always set myself a word count target - like NaNoWriMo, but year round. And I always, always, always fail. I always feel terrible when this happens. I can't write thousands of words every day, and even breaking it down to '400 words every day for 365 days' falls apart.
400 words a day is easy! And yet, a month later, I'm over 3000 words behind. That's too much for me to catch up on; I don't have the mental stamina. I was a failure for not managing it. How could I call myself a real writer?
And then I saw GYWO's habit pledges, and it clicked. I don't have to write every day for writing to become a habit. I don't even have to write for it to count as writing time!
This isn't ever really something that comes up in advice for writers, and trust me, at 24, I've read a lot.
It's still a week to the new year, but I'm raring to go. 240 days of writing? Bring. it. on.
My Specific GYWO Writing Goals
1. Finish a bunch of fanfic.
I have dozens of WIPs on my folders. The endings are all planned out. So is the beginning. So are all the bits in between! And yet they languish on my hard drive.
2. Rewrite and polish up my meagre collection of short stories.
I'm not particularly good at short stories (it's always the 'short' part that does me in), and yet I keep trying. They greatly appeal to me as an artform, I'm just rubbish at it!
3. The Original Fiction Takes Priority.
I have three novel projects in development. What I want from these 240 days is proper outlines, thorough character sheets/descriptions, and multiple binders full of lore and worldbuilding.
