July Contest

I am interrupting a very important Potty Party to announce this contest. If my child wets his pants while I write this, someone is going to pay.

So, the contest. In order to jumpstart our writing and get over the kids-at-home-which-means-no-writing hurdles,AQA! we would you like you to list three writing and/or reading goals for the month.

A few things:

With each goal, make smaller, achievable goals to help you get to the finish line. For example if you want to finish a novel by the end of the month, make sure to write how you will do this (write 1000 words a day, go on a writing retreat for a weekend, turn off the internet after eight pm each night, reward each writing session with an episode of Brooklyn 99, etc.).

Make the goals things you can actually do. You can write every day. You can outline your mystery. You can revise 50 pages etc. You can make a website. You can be more active on Twitter. You can query 15 agents. Then there are things that you can’t control: Get an agent, hit the bestseller list, sell your book, etc.

Give yourself a prize that you really want. We are going to organize an end of summer celebration party (pool party? bowling? laser tag? (not laser tag–I hate laser tag)) for goal-reachers but we don’t know what will motivate you personally. So come up with something that will really make you go for it.

Tell everyone what know about your goals and have them help you make a plan to achieve them. The more support, the better. In fact, you can ask them what goals (not necessarily writing goals) they have for July and how you can help them.

Write your goals down. Post them somewhere where you can see them. Pray about them, talk about them, take small bites each day to reach them and be okay if you miss a couple days, but then get back on task.

That’s it! Write your goals in comments so we can keep track of each other. We’ll check in each week and write about our progress and yours. We’re going to get out of this summer lazy-sit-at-the-pool-and-do-nothing HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA funk.

My goals:

1. Revise copyedit draft of my novel (spend an hour a day doing this–I don’t love copyediting).
2. Write and polish 50 pages of WIP (I like this. This will be my most fun goal–1000 words a day).
3. Finish draft of novel with Carol (this is going to be hard because we’re stuck and it’s a mess and I’m supposed to write my part but I don’t know what to do next so that means I need to ALSO make time to meet with Carol, to make a plan and then force myself to do hard things).

What are your goals?

*Also, this month I’m going to read both of Adam Gidtwitz’s books out loud to my boys and I’m going to read some Ramona books. I love them and they remind me that small things are really big things to kids. What will you read?