By Morgan Hazelwood, week ending: Jan 16, 2020 08:30 am Read in browser »
Goals aren’t for everyone. Goals in January? Even less so.
For some of us, setting goals is just setting ourselves up for failure. You need to take a good hard look at where you are, where you want to go, and what stands in your way.
1. Current Obligations
If you are already over-committed, you might want to re-examine your priorities and see if you actually have the bandwidth to take on new tasks.
If not? This probably isn’t the right time for you to set new goals. Instead, you might want to look into what steps you could take to free up your bandwidth — to either get a better handle on everything you’re currently trying to do, or make space for new goals in the future.
2. Emotional State
Check in with yourself, first. If you’re not in the right space, emotionally, setting goals can end up hurting you.
Some people are naturally contrary, and when faced with a goal, find ourselves doing anything else.
Others? We have trouble dealing with the setbacks and failures that are intrinsically a part of striving for something that’s not in our reach, yet.
If you know that you won’t be able to roll with the setbacks and keep at it? Your priority should be working on getting yourself back on more stable ground, emotionally. And making sure that you have a firm support network that will be able to help you through any setbacks and push you toward your better self.
Instead of setting goals, just work on whatever project seems to be flowing better and concentrate on making progress. Let your creative side out, without burdening it with expectations.
Of course, if you find setting and meeting goals intrinsically encouraging and reinforcing, then do so. Just make sure they’re achievable and things you actually have control over.
For writers? Setting word count or page-edit goals are something you can control. Self-publishing or querying 50 agents is something you can control. Getting an agent or traditionally published? Not so much.
3. Timing
Basically, whether it’s the right time for you to set goals, or not, just boils down to timing.
Timing of obligations.
Timing of dealing with everything life throws at you.
For me? New Years Resolutions are a GREAT time to set goals and plan out how I’m going to approach them.
Why? Because October is busy and has #OctPoWriMo, November is PACKED and has #NaNoWriMo, and before I can catch my breath? December is there with all the holiday cards and decorations and baking and gatherings.
January? Is my first chance to breath since the start of fall. It’s my first chance to take a step back, see where I am, and decide the best way to get from here to where I want to go.
But, your annual cycle doesn’t necessarily look like mine. For professors or teachers, summer might be your time. For tax accountants? May. For parents? September (or October, after all those open houses and back-to-school activities and the first wave of brought-home-germs).
Don’t feel like you’re doing things wrong if your schedule doesn’t match up with the calendar, or what everyone else is doing.
As I’m fond of saying at my dayjob, processes exist to help you accomplish stuff. If the process is getting in the way, you need to either adapt the process for your purposes, or find a new process.
Did you set New Year’s Resolutions?
If so, share them with me!
If not, did one of these three things contribute toward that decision? Or was it something else, entirely?
By Morgan Hazelwood, week ending: Jan 14, 2020 08:25 am Read in browser »
prolific sff author, commonly referred to as the Muse in writing communities
Readers! Let’s give a good hearty welcome to Kelly Blanchard.
Kelly Blanchard is the author of the fantasy/science fiction series, The Chronicles of Lorrek. She lives in Texas in the middle of nowhere with her doberman, two cats, and her husband.
When she’s not writing and publishing books, she works closely with the online writing community, seeking to encourage and inspire beginning writers.
Kelly, thanks for agreeing to be here today. Most interviews start off with bios and such, and while I’ll get to that as always, let’s start with the important stuff!
If you could have any pet (real/fantasy/no-allergies/no worries about feeding it) what would it be?
A cheetah. I absolutely love cheetahs and really want to meet one in real life. They PURR!
What a lovely choice. I believe my niece would like to be a cheetah when she grows up.
What do you write and how did you get started?
I write a blend of fantasy/science fiction. What got me started with writing was honestly just reading a bunch of fan fiction, especially Star Wars fan fiction. I decided one day that I wanted to write my own stories, and the rest is history!
That’s awesome. I know there are tons of genre writers who got their start with fanfic. You’re pretty prolific, so your fans are very lucky.
What do you like to read?
When I have time to read, I like to read mainly fantasy stories, but I also like science fiction. And sometimes, when I’m bored, I’ll revisit old fan fiction sites and see what’s new. There are some really good fan fiction stories out there!
Genre fiction is my home as well. Glad to know that becoming a writer hasn’t turned you off your fanfic roots.
Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that doesn’t work for you.
Dialogue Tags
Dialogue tags. I rarely use them because they don’t work for me. The only time I ever use them is when three or more characters are in a conversation or if a character isn’t making an expression or moving. Otherwise, I use body language.
Oooh. That can be tricksy when there’s a lot of dialogue, but you’re right. In real life, people usually don’t stop moving and gesticulating when they start talking. There’s probably always some body language you can show.
Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that they can pry out of your cold, dead hands.
Show. Don’t Tell.
I guess it would be ‘show, don’t tell’. I really like showing as much as possible.
You’re approach to dialogue tags already proves that you practice what you preach.
Shameless Self-Promotion time!
The final book in the 9 book series ‘The Chronicles of Lorrek‘ just came out! If you haven’t been reading it, here’s the blurb for book 1: Someday I’ll Be Redeemed.
Sorcerer Prince Lorrek discovers he has been wrongfully accused of a heinous crime. He is one of three people who know actually what happened, but one died and the memories of the other have been erased, so now only Lorrek remains. As Lorrek goes to clear his name, the kingdoms around him dissolve into war, but he can’t go home yet to help them. He wants his accuser to admit to the lie, but even that comes at a price. Will paying the cost for his redemption pit Lorrek against his family in the war?
‘Someday I’ll Be Redeemed‘ is the first book in a fantasy/sci-fi series where medieval magic and high technology strive against one another, mysteries abound, and difficult choices must be made. If you like an unpredictable story, realistic male and female characters, a new take on old familiar tropes, and a tale that is different from any other, you will love Kelly Blanchard’s page-turning series.
If you’re at all interested in reading any of my books, you can find them on Amazon here (they’re free on Kindle limited!).
Check out my website and if you’d like to follow me on social media, there are a lot of places you can find me!
![Someday I'll Be Redeemed (The Chronicles of Lorrek Book 1) by [Blanchard, Kelly]](https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/S4W1A1YQjUQfG_wgKXkfcLaEXZjUR0AhUN5c0YgnyvmKhRWZbLrdYUvONjiwg0Su6mEd7xR4DpXj2dr45UTppZAxxqd4HNhWZXzSM5TzlAO3ysw=s0-d-e1-ft#https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51vIXz34pNL.jpg)
