You’ve done all of the journaling needed to choose your writing goal and you’re excited to get started. 

But, if you’re anything like me, then a part of you is already worried that you won’t be able to stick to your goal. 

To combat this fear, I’ve compiled 7 actionable steps to help you prioritize your writing goal this coming year.

Like any goal, stating that you’ll complete a task and following through on it are two different actions.

Our lives are busy and our writing goals may take a back seat sometimes. 

However, if we procrastinate for too long, then it’s likely that they’ll remain stagnant. 

Making consistent progress towards your goal emphasizes that you can keep promises to yourself and honour what is important to you. 

But, having the intention to work on your writing goal consistently – whether daily, weekly or monthly – is not enough. 

Your goal needs to be planned in advance with supportive habits that allow your intentions to be realized.

How do you do that?

Here are 7 steps that you can take to prioritize your writing goal.

In my blog post, How to Set Creative Writing Goals for the New Year, I discuss the importance of aligning your goal with your core desired feelings – a concept from Danielle Laporte’s The Desire Map.

Your core desired feelings, words such as creative, inspired and energized are your guides. They help you focus on your goal by ensuring that every step you take is in line with how you want to feel. 

Some people call this a theme for the year. It is your reason for accomplishing the goal.

Understanding the “why” behind your writing goal allows you to recognize its true value in your life.

Once you’ve got your “why” clarified, you can use any or all of these tips to help you reflect on your “why” frequently so that you don’t veer off course.

1. Place a post-it note with your “why” somewhere you see every day (ex. your desk, mirror etc.)
2. Keep your “why” visible within your journal.
3. Meditate on or state your “why” to yourself at the beginning of the day or before bed.
4. Rewrite it each week at the top of your to-do list.

We’ve all heard of SMART Goals. There is real value in taking the time to tease out our goals against this guideline.

For long-term goals such as writing a novel, getting clear on what that novel will Specifically be about, how you’ll Measure progress and determining a realistic Time frame for its achievement is crucial. 

A novel has so many elements to accomplish. It’s more than just sitting down to write. 

If you try that method you’re likely to feel stranded, lost amongst the endless directions you could take and unknown tasks to be attended to. 

Your success partially depends on your ability to understand what step comes next and when you’ll accomplish it.

Spend some time getting to know your goal.

Plan out your first few tasks. Clarify your direction.

Time blocking helps ensure that you prioritize your writing goal weekly.

Start by scheduling all of your obligations – appointments, work, commuting etc.

Then, find the spaces of extra time that can realistically be used to work on your writing projects.

Remember, these times don’t need to be every day or very long.

Even a half-hour writing session twice a week adds up over the coming months. 

It’s also important to take breaks.

As much as we’d like to be productivity machines, don’t cram every spare moment with your writing goal. You’ll likely burn out.

I like to plan on a giant table calendar, but a wall calendar or a planner works just as well. 

Digital schedule trackers like Google Calendar allow you to set reminders before your scheduled writing sessions.

Use a system that you can easily review each day.

Scheduling time to work on your writing goal is excellent! 

But, knowing what you can do this week to work towards your goal is going to provide you with manageable action steps.

If you leave your goal as the statement you’ve settled upon, like “I’m going to write a fantasy novel this year,” it can feel scary. 

Then, procrastination and overwhelm set in. You may never get your goal off the ground.

You don’t need to know everything necessary to accomplish your writing goal. Your steps may even change as you grow alongside it.

Start now to break it down into the first few steps so that you can find quick successes that will keep you motivated.

Take those action steps and write them into your scheduled blocks. Or, leave a post-it note on your desk. 

Make your task visible so that you can get started as soon as you enter writer’s mode.

James Clear’s notion of atomic habits has you identify the tiny habits before the habit that will get you from point A to B.

If your goal is to write one chapter each week, you need to consider what actions to take to get yourself into writer mode. 

Here are some questions that will help you identify these habits.

Do you need to keep your plot notes beside your laptop for easy access? 

Does a quick walk outside help you transition from the workday into your creative spirit? 

Does a physical to-do list allow you to check off each task so you know what comes next?

Have you considered when and how you’ll reflect on your progress?

What distractions do you need to remove before you sit down?

These questions are crucial to turning your goal into a consistent habit that is fluid within your busy life. 

Eventually, working on your goal will move beyond the tension of procrastination, fear or “I don’t feel like it” because your actions will signal to your brain that it’s time to write.

Prioritizing your writing goal means that you’ll give your skills and your actions every moment to flourish.

Whenever you set out to learn something new or to change a habit, there is almost always a trial-and-error period.

At the end of each week, set aside time for a check-in.

Use these times to reflect on the progress you’ve made and plan out your next steps. This is also a great opportunity to smooth out what isn’t working for you.

Here are 4 questions to start you off:

What went well?

What was tricky?

What will I change or keep for next week?

What is my next step?

A goal kept to yourself can be difficult to maintain. 

But, when you know that there are others out there rooting for you or even collaborating with you, then it’s a whole lot harder to delay your work.

If you join a writing group or have a friend who’s also writing their novel, you might commit to sharing your progress on a weekly or monthly basis.

If accountability partners feel overwhelming, then a digital accountability tool can help you manage your progress. Check out Forbes’ post on 13 Accountability Apps to get started.

Accountability keeps you consistent. Consistency supports the accomplishment of your writing goals!

The tools and habits that you use to prioritize your writing goal are personal to you.

Not every strategy works for everyone. 

Start small so that you can recognize your wins, building momentum to continue.

Remember to remain flexible. While schedules, deadlines and to-do lists help keep us on track, they aren’t set in stone. 

Sometimes, we miss a day or a week. Sometimes a deadline needs to be extended.

If you are gentle on yourself and can still witness progress toward your writing goal, then how long it takes to accomplish doesn’t matter. 

Your success is witnessed every time that you tackle a tiny step toward your goal whether it’s today, next week or next month. 

Consistency is important but it only works when flexibility can meet it halfway.

How do you plan to prioritize your writing goal this year?

Share your ideas in the comments!

Talk soon!

Julia