The beginning of the school year is another chance for you to start anew with your writing dreams.  In order to get your aspirations off the ground you need to work SMART.  Teachers learn about goal setting in their classrooms.  TSWBAT stands for The Student Will Be Able To…and then an achievable, concrete goal is developed, one that has a measurable outcome.

We can take this concept and apply it to our writing using the acronym SMART.

S-is the goal specific? Is it designed to stretch your abilities? I will be able to write 500 words a day five days a week is specific.

M-is the goal meaningful to you as a writer? Will the above goal get you to your over arching goal-that of completing a story or novel?

A- is the goal achievable?  Can you measure your progress? Is the goal too easy, or too difficult?  A goal should stretch you but not discourage you. It may take a bit of trial and error to refine an achievable goal.

R-Is it realistic?  If your goal is achievable, do you have a plan for getting there?  If you set a goal of 5,000 words a day, have you exercised your writing muscles enough to get there or do you have to work up to it?    if you’ve never written a word before 5,000 words is not going to be realistic.

T-is your goal timely?  Do you have an end date you are aiming for?  Will the goal you’ve set be something you can accomplish by the end date? Do you need to rethink either the goal or the date you’d like it to be finished by?  Do a little math.  If you have a goal to write a 60,000 word novel by the end of the year, how many words do you need to write in a week?  How many days of a week are you willing to write?

If you are SMART you can set stretchable, achievable goals and look forward to a bevy of accomplishments.