“Goals transform a random walk into a chase.” – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Are you a goal setter? Or do you prefer the random walk?
What are some of your current goals?
13 thoughts on “Reader Friday: Goals”
Definitely. Always. When I’m writing, I set a daily goal of 3000 publishable words of fiction per day (3 hours, with breaks). What a fun ride!
I’m not real good at goals. My desktop is cluttered with to-do lists.
Right now, though, my goal is to make sure I get my WIP, For Love of a Father, revised in time for Killer Nashville, just in case someone is willing to look at it. I got comments back from a beta reader who seemed to have misinterpreted the whole story line. Need to figure out if it was her or me …she or I [?].
I don’t set word goals, since most of my time is spent revising rather than rewriting. (I just became aware that both Connelly and Bell do a rewrite for their second draft. I can’t imagine doing that.)
I’m a random walker. I have daily writing goals, but I don’t fret if I don’t meet them as long as those are one-off days. I have a goal of 7500 steps and 10 flights of stairs a day, but I don’t fret when I don’t meet them, either.
I’m totally a goal-setter. I set quarterly goals, and this quarter’s writing goals are:
1) Finish current draft of WIP by 9/30.
2) Read 6 books about bugs and China for my next project.
3) Study the craft 3 hours/week.
I may have to kill Harvey. Three thousand words in three hours…with breaks…Really? It takes me all day to get 3k! lol. When I’m writing I set weekly goals of either 10K or 15K, depending on where I am in the book. At the beginning, it’s more like the 10k, if that. My deadlines set my goals.
Yet another prompt for a novel.
Definitely a goal setter. An EFFECTIVE goal setter? Well, that needs work. But I do the best I can to juggle through a million interests in what little free time there is.
RE: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, does anybody know of a published author with a more complicated last name than that? 😎
Also regarding Mr. Csikszentmihalyi, I’ve read his other book on Creativity, which is good. If you have read both his Flow/Creativity book and the above, do you find them similar works or both worth a read? Just curious.
* Read more Lee Child
* Search for casters for new dryer
* Find another beta reader
* Fix that gutter over garage
* Finalize new cover options
I guess that’s more of a To Do list. Oh well…
I’m a reluctant and infrequent goal setter—despite the fact that I feel better when I have them, and enjoy trampling them.
My current goal is to lose x amount of weight over the next year, and be able to wear my wedding rings again. I’ve never set such a long term goal before, but I have mini goals along the way.
First, I want to learn how to pronounce Mihaly’s last name.
LOL.
It’s MEE-high Chick-SENT-mee-high
So many goals, so little time. ..
Number 1 is to finish the first draft of WIP by end of year, so that I can shred it into something ready for submission in 2020.
Though… I should probably get out of my pyjamas first…
Definitely. Always. When I’m writing, I set a daily goal of 3000 publishable words of fiction per day (3 hours, with breaks). What a fun ride!
I’m not real good at goals. My desktop is cluttered with to-do lists.
Right now, though, my goal is to make sure I get my WIP, For Love of a Father, revised in time for Killer Nashville, just in case someone is willing to look at it. I got comments back from a beta reader who seemed to have misinterpreted the whole story line. Need to figure out if it was her or me …she or I [?].
I don’t set word goals, since most of my time is spent revising rather than rewriting. (I just became aware that both Connelly and Bell do a rewrite for their second draft. I can’t imagine doing that.)
I’m a random walker. I have daily writing goals, but I don’t fret if I don’t meet them as long as those are one-off days. I have a goal of 7500 steps and 10 flights of stairs a day, but I don’t fret when I don’t meet them, either.
I’m totally a goal-setter. I set quarterly goals, and this quarter’s writing goals are:
1) Finish current draft of WIP by 9/30.
2) Read 6 books about bugs and China for my next project.
3) Study the craft 3 hours/week.
I may have to kill Harvey. Three thousand words in three hours…with breaks…Really? It takes me all day to get 3k! lol. When I’m writing I set weekly goals of either 10K or 15K, depending on where I am in the book. At the beginning, it’s more like the 10k, if that. My deadlines set my goals.
Yet another prompt for a novel.
Definitely a goal setter. An EFFECTIVE goal setter? Well, that needs work. But I do the best I can to juggle through a million interests in what little free time there is.
RE: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, does anybody know of a published author with a more complicated last name than that? 😎
Also regarding Mr. Csikszentmihalyi, I’ve read his other book on Creativity, which is good. If you have read both his Flow/Creativity book and the above, do you find them similar works or both worth a read? Just curious.
* Read more Lee Child
* Search for casters for new dryer
* Find another beta reader
* Fix that gutter over garage
* Finalize new cover options
I guess that’s more of a To Do list. Oh well…
I’m a reluctant and infrequent goal setter—despite the fact that I feel better when I have them, and enjoy trampling them.
My current goal is to lose x amount of weight over the next year, and be able to wear my wedding rings again. I’ve never set such a long term goal before, but I have mini goals along the way.
First, I want to learn how to pronounce Mihaly’s last name.
LOL.
It’s MEE-high Chick-SENT-mee-high
So many goals, so little time. ..
Number 1 is to finish the first draft of WIP by end of year, so that I can shred it into something ready for submission in 2020.
Though… I should probably get out of my pyjamas first…