May is for winners: set a goal with me!
Spring has sprung, kids
Every spring, there comes a day when I go for a walk in the woods behind my house and I realize I am nearly euphoric with happiness and hope and lightness and creativity. (Mhmm, yes, like a lady walking around in the second half of a commercial for an SSRI medication.) This year, the experience fell this past Monday, as I tromped the trails with Baby Goop strapped to my chest.
Many times, I have capitalized on my Spring Fever Energy (that is the name of my SSRI medication) with some kind of writing goal. This time, I’ve decided to try something new here on our Substack and share my goal out loud, inviting others to join me.
If I may be so bold, this is a great time to set a writing goal. Just look at the calendar:
Oops just kidding here’s the calendar:
Look at that beautiful month! Four perfect weeks STARTING NEXT WEEK! These next couple days don’t even have to count if you want to take some time to think it over and join me!
I will not profess to be an expert in goal setting. I have never read Atomic Habits; I don’t remember what the SMART acronym stands for; and I just generally have never learned the subject well enough to teach it to others. All I’m going to do today is talk through how I came to set my * ~ * May Writing Goal * ~ * and if it inspires you to set your own, great. If you aren’t in a place for goals, been there, and respect. If you want to set a goal but my process1 isn’t working for you, perhaps try (A) Googling it, or (B) trusting your gut.
Take stock - where am I?
I’m working on a novel revision that feels like it’s been going on forever, and yet somehow it feels like I’m still at the beginning. I think it’s because I’ve been doing a lot of invisible work on the book: freewriting and brainstorming and letting questions percolate. Then there were the initial edits I made on quite a few opening chapters, only to realize they weren’t working. Then there was another re-write of the first chapters, and finally a couple breakthrough moments on (1) where to start, and (2) how to tell a particular character’s story, and I feel like I’m finally writing forward instead of spinning my wheels.
As for my mood, as I noted up top, it’s excellent. I feel excited and energized and like I’m going to be moving forward in the work in a new way (based on work that had to happen but was harder to see and appreciate).
Look ahead - where do I want to get?
My ultimate goal here is to finish this novel (many drafts out) and be in love with it. And before that can happen, I need to finish this current draft. If I tried to do that in a single month, I would end up giving up or burning out (or both).
For a while, I’ve been telling myself I’d like to get the draft done for July. Now that it’s May, I’m not sure that’s realistic. I know I was just harping about burnout, but I want to see what happens if I try to get through half of what I’ve got left by the end of May.
Don’t worry, I have a plan if it’s a mistake. You’ll see it in the math.
Do the math
My novel draft is around 450 pages in Word. I’m sure this will change by the time I’m done, but I’m not trying to get too technical here, and lately I’ve been cutting around as much as I add, so the page count has been hovering.
I’m around 50 pages in. That leaves 400 pages, ish, to revise. I’m going to call 250 halfway through what I’ve got left. 4 weeks in May means 50 pages a week, or 10 pages a day, assuming I am able to write 5 days per week.
This might be too much. So here is my plan: for the first full week, I will work to do 10 pages a day. At the end of the week (Friday May 9), I’ll assess. If I’m on track, I’ll be around page 100 in the manuscript. (Which, if I’m being honest, sounds crazy?) If it’s just not happening, I’ll adjust my goal for the coming weeks. I’m not interested in running myself into the ground, nor in doing a crappy job of editing just for the sake of a self-made goal. But if I’m on track, or nearly there, by golly I’ll carry on!
Support myself
It probably goes without saying, but I am not going to do every single one of these things with total regularity (or even more than once in the month), but here are some tools in my toolkit to keep my mindset healthy while I undertake a pretty ambitious goal:
Artist’s Way exercises and essays when emotional blocks arise
Unapologetic favoritism of lighthearted reading & viewing material
Walks in the woods
Exercise and/or stretching
Healthy foods; delicious treats; limited caffeine to savor
Mantras, rituals, meditation, visualization to meet the given moment
Baths! NAPS!
Focused family time, especially snuggles, imaginative play, and reading stories. Permission to tune out when whining ensues…
And, of course, adjustment of the goal if necessary. It’s just a goal.
Anyone with me? Because whether we make it a crazy writing month or not,
I took a free workshop today through the London Writers’ Salon, which was recorded and you might be able to access at this link; I’m not sure if that will work. But I believe they have future free events like this as well, if you want to check it out. This isn’t all from that, but there is definitely some heavy influence happening, particularly in the way I’ve ordered my piece, because you’ve got to put it in an order, even if it happens in your head over a long period of time in a kind of scattered manner. (Just me?)
I better get on this train before it leaves the station!
OK, weekly goals for May: minimum 3K each week on a 1st draft novella-ish project I am trying to finish. Ready, set, go!
How will I care for myself during this time? Well, I just ordered a beginner's embroidery kit as a stress reliever. I hope it works!
I'm going to do this and set a goal but I wanna see some other people go first!