Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Goals...who needs em?

Oh, y'all...I don't even want to talk about goals. I'm sitting on a good portion of the 20 extra pounds I've packed on in the last 2 years. And as I'm writing this, I realize the beds haven't been made yet. *sigh* But my butt is what happens when you vow to get healthy "soon." And the absence of my name on the front of any book in the Barnes and Noble bookshelves is a result of planning to write said book "someday." When life slows down, when I'm not working full-time, when the kids are older, etc., etc. But it's time to get off that crazy train, peeps. Especially when it comes to our writing.

If you're a writer, particularly one who is writing around their "real" life, believe me -- you NEED goals. I know, I know. If you make a concrete goal it makes for some serious crazy when real life starts intervening. Kids WILL get sick. YOU will get sick. Vacations will happen. Friends will visit. You will always need to make a grocery run for whatever you forgot the LAST time you made a grocery run. But a set writing goal will help hold your feet to the fire when all you want to do is watch every DVRed episode of Big Bang Theory while eating an entire can of Pringles (or is that just me?). 

Anyhow, just so you know I'm practicing what I preach. My goal for 2012 is to complete a draft of the story I've outlined. ONLY this story. Meaning, I don't get to dabble with some other story I've started and abandoned or some shiny new idea on the side. I'm going to be lean, mean and focused. 

I have to be. I'm a wife and a mother to 4 very young children and my everyday life is no cakewalk. But you do what is important and setting goals helps elevate our writing to a level on par with the rest of our "real" life responsibilities. Like dragging my giant butt to the gym. 

Good luck to us all in 2012!

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