As opposed to a set of vague and far-reaching goals and ambitions (“I’d like to write a novel that will sell a gajillion copies!”), good execution depends upon linking goals to a small set of highly-specific, well-defined tasks with a clear idea of the means necessary to accomplish them (“I’m going to write 1,000 words today on the train in my moleskine notebook because I’m going to be away from my laptop.”).
Thus as I look ahead into the second half of 2014 I’m going to resist making a list of all the things I would love to write in the coming months. Of course I would love to write a novel, a screenplay, a stage play, short audio plays, a new Patria novel, etc. etc. It’s all too easy to make such lists, and even easier to forget all about them. So I’m going to concentrate simply on this month of July in which I would like to finish 1 literary short story as well as write no less than 20,000 words toward the next Kingdom of Patria novel. Breaking these goals down into daily tasks looks like:
- no less than 500 words per writing day toward a literary short story, working every other writing day until the draft is done; then into revision mode
- no less than 800 words per day toward next Kingdom of Patria novel
On any given day, of course, these tasks will have to be broken down into even smaller ones: “Given that I finished the draft of the short story yesterday, I’m going to let it “cool” for a few days while I devote 1,000+ words per day to the Patria novel.” (I hope this day comes soon!)
How, then, are you distinguishing between writing goals and writing tasks?
I wish I had that kind of discipline. What do you do when you hit a “dry” spell? Do you take a break, or just bang out those words until they make sense?
Looking at your daily goals again, they actually seem pretty reasonable.
I hope these July goals/tasks are reasonable, Rob, we’ll have to see at the end of the month. I have a notorious habit of imagining achieving all sorts of wonderful goals–all well-intentioned, all hopelessly unrealistic. But I think the tasks I’ve set for July are fairly doable. Of course, there will be dry spells, misfires, cul-de-sacs, and just plain bad writing. One needs to keep chugging through it all, however, hitting the daily word count no matter what–at least as one is going through the first draft. Thanks for your comment!