Evaluation of Goal progress

So.  March.  How did that happen?  My experiment in self-publishing is indicating that I should not quit my day job.  So far I could get a nice dinner… at McDonalds.  I am very far away from reaching my goal of earning a thousand dollars writing this year.  Part of the problem is not hacking out the time to work on writing.

Every now and then it is good to stop and take stock of your progress toward your goals.  I find the end of each month an excellent time to do so.  Evaluation is not the same thing as self-flagellating in guilt-ridden defeat.  No.  You are looking at what works and figuring out what is getting in your way.

dials and switches

You ask the right questions. You come up with solutions for your obstacles.

I realized I was trying to force a story to work when it wasn’t working.  I had a setting and a character, but no plot.  I need to put that one aside and let it percolate in the back of my mind.  Instead I’m going to go between working on two projects.  One is a rewrite of a kids’ novel, the other one is a humorous guide to running a library.  If any librarians reading this have funny anecdotes about the heady joys of library management, send them to me!

In order to fix my progress I need to work on time management.  Once I sit down to my writing time, I will turn off my network connection.  That will cut off the nervous and repetitive checking of updates.  I will inform my husband of when writing time begins and ends and ask for his help to prevent interruptions. My other issue is confidence.  That I’m working on in two ways.  One, I remind myself that really bad writing is published every day, so why not let it be mine!  Two, I focus on getting the work done, not how it will be received.  If I treat it like homework, something that must be finished, no matter what, the work will get done.  A huge part of success is just showing up.

2 Comments

  1. Some loony said:

    you CAN do it.
    I accept you.

    March 2, 2013
  2. Kathleen said:

    i like that. A huge amount of success is just showing up!

    March 3, 2013

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