By Francine Puckly Are you still with me on this long-term planning journey? I hope so! This month I’d like to share Step 3 (of 4) of the planning process – the one-year plan. We dreamed big in June (http://www.24carrotwriting.com/-blog/anything-but-ordinary) and charted our five year goals in July (http://www.24carrotwriting.com/-blog/planning-part-two-charting-your-5-year-plan). Now it’s time to take that five-year plan and map out the first year, looking at the first large project or set of smaller projects you’d like to undertake. As I’ve said before, the fall is the perfect time of year for planning and goal setting. We’re rejuvenated from our holidays and vacations (or just plain ecstatic the extended family has gone home!) and the humidity is finally dropping. This leaves us with enthusiasm and renewed energy for our tasks. Assessing Your Time The first step in laying out an annual plan is to think about how much time you have to devote to your writing or other creative pursuits in the twelve months ahead of us. It’s important to be honest and realistic about what lies ahead. Family demands, buying or selling a house, hosting visitors, workshops and conferences, and “real job” requirements all drain your time. These events must be factored into your plan as accurately as possible. For me, I write 20 minutes a day, not matter what. During the school year, I have an additional 20 hours a week, which ends up being more like 15-18 hours once I factor in errands, doctor’s appointments, and unexpected demands. I make sure to flag certain weeks I know I won’t be productive. My daughter has a tech week for a musical? Forget it. I might only get 8-10 hours of writing in those weeks because of last minute errands, visitors, etc. The organizations for which I volunteer also have predictable events that require more of my time, so I go lighter on writing those weeks. I also block off the week before Christmas. In each of those weeks, I do my minimum 20 minutes of writing each day, but they’re not weeks I should plan to finish any drafts! Keeping in mind these variables in my life, I make a guestimate for the year. Once you have an idea of how many of the 52 weeks will be productive weeks and how many hours you think you can devote to your craft, now look at those projects. Remember, these estimates must include research time, any number of drafts, simmer or resting time, critique time, and any editor/agent research or submission tracking that might happen. All of these steps take time. Laying it out Now it’s time to lay out your plan. Ask yourself the following questions: · At the end of twelve months, what are you expecting to have accomplished? Write that under the heading “One year from now.” · What is halfway for that goal? That will be your six-month target. Write that under “Six months from now.” · What is halfway to your six-month goal? That will become your three-month goal or quarterly target. · From there, the quarterly goal is broken down into monthly goals (one third of the goal for each month). We'll talk about the quarterly and weekly plans next month! And there you have it. A year at a glance! It’s important to do this when you have a couple of hours of uninterrupted time. Brew a cup of coffee or tea and sit down with your notepad. Look at those dreams from June and your five-year plan from July. Then think about what comes first in your priorities. I’ve attached a couple forms that might be helpful in laying out an annual plan, but quite honestly, a pad of paper is all you need! Write a one-year header, followed by six months, then three months, and you have a plan in place to get started. As I mentioned above, next month we’ll talk about making weekly plans and really getting to work! Until then, happy planning! And have a great month! Francine
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by Francine Puckly In June I wrote about the benefits of carving out time to contemplate the things you’d like to bring to fruition over the next three, five or ten years (http://www.24carrotwriting.com/-blog/anything-but-ordinary). I hope the warm, summer days have provided a restful backdrop for sitting and thinking, because it’s time to dive into Part Two--translating those dreams into concrete goals over the next five years. Five years might as well be eons from now, especially when you don’t know what you’re serving for dinner tonight! But trust me! Thinking several years into the future helps get our heads out of the sand. When we think beyond our day-to-day minutiae, worries and overaggressive to-do lists, we remove the anxiety and pressure to produce something right now. Instead we think logically about those big leaps we want--and will--make. Just like planning a novel, laying our five-year vision is exciting and energizing. Anything is possible. It’s a clean slate. But just as the novel can’t be written without an outline or a plot, we, too, must write down the details of our plan so that we can march toward the larger goals, one step at a time. First, we must lay structure to the five-year window. What two or three big things do we want to accomplish in our careers in the next several years? As a writer of longer fiction, I can realistically attempt three manuscripts in a five-year span. That's it. For those of you working on shorter pieces, your five-year outlook might include several completed manuscripts or magazine articles per year, but you might chart career growth by targeting bigger publications over time or ones that you feel are too much of a reach right now but would be doable with a little more growth. Second, our projects (and subsequent timelines) should take into consideration: · research · three or four drafts (sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on how you write and edit) · “simmer time” (Our manuscripts need time to rest in the drawer.) · time for beta readers or critique groups to read and offer feedback · editor/agent research (Who's right for this style of story?) · submission tracking Our last step is to layer on annual conferences, writing retreats, and any specific workshops you want to take to develop your craft. Workshops will vary by project, depending on the skills you require, but make sure to plan for them each year. With these on your calendar well in advance, they are attainable. Time and money are allocated, and you won't be faced with short-notice indecision (or worse--excuses) causing the workshop to inevitably pass you by. In the next few weeks, seriously consider the direction you'd like your career to take. ANYTHING is possible, especially with appropriate planning. Take an hour or two to put these goals in writing for the remainder of 2015 right on through 2020. Next month we'll take these goals to the next level - planning your one-year tasks! Happy dreaming, happy writing! Francine ~by Amanda Smith My kids’ Summer break started last week. As most moms I am relieved. Relieved to be done with the crazy schedules and the school projects and “Do your homework.” Like most moms I look forward to slow mornings, relaxed afternoons, time for creativity, puttering in the garden, long-legged boys snuggling in my lap, fun day trips, lawn games, evening barbecues and all the other things that come with lazy summer days. But as a writer, I am experiencing heart palpitations. Because come summertime, my writing skids to a screeching halt; or happens in rushed, frustrated intervals, filled with equal parts resentment and guilt. At the start of these glorious three months filled with sticky kids and popsicles, I am more than three quarters through the rewrite of my novel. Having worked on it every week day since March, I have the momentum of a rhino on roller skates. I am motivated. I am in the GROOVE, baby. And I am stressed. However, thanks to my 24 Carrot Writing colleagues and our commitment to goal setting, I have a plan. I boiled and seasoned my goal brew until I had it neatly reduced down to a robust, concentrated, doable list of summer goals. Here are a few tips to help you come up with your own sturdy summer writing plan: · Have a designated writing time. I plan to get up early and write before the kids crawl out of bed. · Shorten your writing time. You will most likely not be able to write for multiple hours each day. Aim for 20 minute miracles. · Fly by the seat of your pants. Grab those quiet moments. If your kids are contently playing or reading, seize 20 minutes. These are bonus moments, though, on top of your designated time and no resentment is allowed if you are interrupted. · Do shorter projects, like picture books, or work on the behind the scenes stuff, like character maps or world building. · Work on organizational tasks, like o Filing those conference notes o Marking submission dates for editors and agents on a calendar o Researching agents o Organizing your work space o Planning a submission schedule o Rethinking your yearly goals · Work on query letters and pitches. HINT: Do not send any queries out with children underfoot. Tragic mistakes are made this way. Save all send-button clicking for your designated (quiet!) writing time · Read for research. Summer is quintessential reading time. Dive into possible mentor texts; submerge yourself in your genre; treasure-hunt for comp. titles. And give yourself permission to relax. To hug little ones close. To play. Because we are, after all, kid people. How will you modify your goals to leave room for Summer fun? By Francine Puckly I’m thrilled to have been treated to a celebration of a dear friend’s 50th birthday in NYC this past weekend. He’s not an ordinary person, and it wasn’t your ordinary bash. We enjoyed a packed event in Times Square with an eclectic group of friends, family and Broadway colleagues—a star-studded singing extravaganza. It was a treat to see old friends and a true gift to share in the love and admiration for our friend. The atmosphere was both joyous and exhilarating, and it was a reminder of how much each of our lives—and life’s work—touches others in large and small ways. I left the evening of merriment with gratitude for all I have, while at the same time crackling with excitement and anticipation for all the marvelous things that still await me on my journey. We’re all on this planet to fulfill our life’s work, which includes celebrating love and friendship with each other along the way. Our endeavors may be great or small, but these passions are what motivate us. Besides looking forward to spending time with my wonderful family, I get up because each day brings endless possibility. While I’ll concede that not every morning feels this way, a vast majority of my days I awake with a sense of hope and adventure for what life has in store for me. I might stumble on an idea for a new story or a plot twist so intriguing it makes me forget my morning chocolate break, or I might discover a workshop that will improve my writing (or, perhaps more importantly, provide an avenue to meet a new colleague or friend). Other days, I'm buoyed by friends who inspire me to be brave. My daughter’s 96-year-old dance teacher still sings, dances and performs for audiences, runs her own business, and recently made a momentous change to her annual production of the Nutcracker with enthusiasm some of us half her age wouldn’t exude. Our friend in NYC was told as a young child he wouldn't amount to anything, yet he has a loving family, runs a very successful financial services business, appears regularly on TV, and produces Broadway musicals. He's done all of this, and then some, because he lets the naysayers say no to their own lives, not his. Our midyear point is the perfect time to assess our goals (as Kelly suggests in her May 19th blog, “Happy June Year’s Eve – Time to Revise Your Writing Goals”) but also to ponder our longer-range, further-reaching future. In the coming week, carve out an hour or two from your busy schedule to consider all that you’d like to bring to fruition. What would you like to see in the next three, five or ten years of your life? It could be a delayed creative endeavor, a long-desired trip, or a new business venture. Imagine it. And write it down! (I’ll be back to talk about mapping out action plans for these ambitions in a month or two.) Set your sights on achieving these dreams. Because today is anything but ordinary, and who knows what tomorrow might bring! - Francine by Kelly Carey In January, bubbly with champagne excitement and intoxicated by the shimmering crystal ball in Time’s Square, we all set down our writing goals for 2015. Since writers are ambitious dreamers, we probably set very lofty goals. To that I say, good for us! That drive and stamina to succeed will get our manuscripts published. But did you over promise? Did some unforeseen event steal time and attention from your writing? Did your January va-va-voom sput-sput-sputter somewhere in March? Then I would like to be the first to wish you a Happy June Year’s Eve! June marks the mid-year point and is an excellent time to track our progress and make sure we are well positioned for writing success. On June 1, 2015 writing goals and resolutions everywhere can be given a solid scrubbing and be reset, recharged and REVISED for success. You set New Year’s resolutions, now is the time for June Year’s resolutions. As writers, we are not only intimately aware of the power of revision, but we are also experts at revising. It is time to apply that skill not to our manuscripts, but to our writing goals. Read through your goals, keep what is working and toss those goals that just don’t fit or make sense anymore. Maybe that middle grade novel whispered to you on a cold day in March (which frankly could have been any day in March since they were all cold) and you put aside your picture book plans. Perhaps you had a light bulb moment while attending a conference, reading a blog, or while brushing your teeth (true story, just ask Amanda!). Great! Time to make your 2015 writing goals match that reality. Just reminding yourself of the promises you made and the plans you had will refocus your energy for the next six months. This is not a bash session. Do not beat yourself up over missed goals. You are not giving up, you are revising. What writer would forsake revision? I’d like to clink a glass with you on New Year’s 2016 in celebration of hitting our 2015 writing goals. The best way to make this happen is with a serious mid-year goal revision. Happy June Year’s Eve and happy goal revising! by Kelly Carey When you are reviewing your monthly goals and bemoaning the targets you failed to hit (or even shoot at), don’t forget to congratulate yourself on the bulls-eyes and the good shots! We seem to do an excellent job of recalling our failings but we downplay or forget our successes. Don’t fall into this trap. I have sat at monthly meetings with my 24 Carrot Writing teammates and heard us say, “I didn’t really do much this month.” This is usually followed by a checklist of things that we all know our writing friend did accomplish. It’s fine to recognize that you missed your goal to add 3000 words to your MG novel, but don’t discount the fact that you added 1000 words. You may have hoped to rewrite three manuscripts in a month, and found that only one got done. Don’t hang your head in despair; instead rejoice that you rewrote one manuscript. In an industry that is ripe with rejection and criticism, don’t miss the opportunity to applaud your victories. As you stridently work to set goals, use them to motivate not to castigate. They are there to inspire and encourage but never as ammunition for those ridiculous voices in your head to make you feel less. Did you take even one step toward one goal this month? Then celebrate and get on with next month. In an April 2015 interview in Children’s Book Insider, author Anne Tews Schwab said, “It's ultimately much easier, psychologically speaking, to write than it is to berate myself for not writing.” She is right. Quiet the goal police in your head. You will not hit every goal you set each month. I would argue that if you did then you need to set tougher goals. And when you don’t quite hit each goal, there is no detention, no ticket and no go directly to writing jail and feel crummy about yourself spot on the monopoly board of writing. And if your writing game board has that spot, throw it out and get a better game. by Francine Puckly This blog is late for a number of reasons, but the most notable cause is burnout. I began 2015 convinced that I had only a few short weeks of revision remaining for my current YA manuscript. I dashed off on a three-week sprint to finish the story. Those three weeks came and went while I slogged through the quagmire of subplot placement and character development. “That’s okay,” I told myself. “I know I can finish in another two weeks.” I pounced on the manuscript with almost the same enthusiasm. Almost. But my commitment to this draft was soon smothered with life—fundraising for a non-profit I support, events planning for another, a family medical emergency, band concerts, budget meetings, and snowstorms. “It’s okay,” I still told myself. “If I cut my sleep a little bit more, I know I’ll finish in two weeks!” And it was okay. Until it wasn’t. A medical trip to my parents’ home for four days forced a reevaluation of my writing process. Despite missing my self-imposed deadlines repeatedly, I had become a workaholic. I didn’t reduce other commitments. Instead, I took from myself. I gave up the good things in life that could have, and should have, sustained me. It was only after stepping away from this destructive routine that I could see I had to stop the madness. But old habits die hard, and I posted my April goals, telling myself (and the world!) I would complete my manuscript (again)! You’d think I’d learn. I went in tonight and changed my goals. I don’t know if I can finish the manuscript this month without hurting all that’s good in my life. A more realistic goal is taking time for four two-hour sessions each week over and above my 20 minutes a day. Not word count. Not page numbers. Not completion. What will I do instead? I’m taking steps to regain my physical fitness, treating my son to dinner after shoe shopping, and reading books outside in the first moderate temperatures we've had in months. And I just might go see "Cinderella." And the manuscript? Oh, I suppose I’ll finish it. Someday. After a good night’s sleep and a long walk. - Francine ESTABLISHING INCENTIVES by Francine Puckly The journey to honing your craft and completing large projects is a long, arduous one. It takes dedication and commitment, and even the most driven and confident individuals need incentives to keep going during those hair-pulling, “why-am-I-doing-this-anyway?” moments of doubt. It is imperative that we take the time to reward and recognize our creative spirits for the completion of the hard work we tackle each day. As Annie mentioned in The SMART Key to Your Carrots (Sept. 22, 2014), it’s critical that your established goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant to the task at hand, and timely—a realistic timeframe in which to complete the work. In creative work, it’s easy to lose the long-term focus as we march toward the completion of a project that may take six, twelve or eighteen months to finish. In the novel writing I undertake, large projects are broken into smaller tasks, and rewards are set in proportion to the completed work. I establish a large carrot that encompasses the entire project, but each of the smaller tasks has a small reward associated with it. These baby carrots are nothing big and expensive—I’m a starving artist, remember! It might be a single rose for my desk, a steaming cup of chai from my favorite café, or an hour to play hooky and browse the travel section at my local bookstore. But the large reward at the end of the project? Now that’s something pretty special. It has to be in order to keep me moving toward the horizon. So what projects need carrots? Ask yourself: What are the things standing between me and my long-term goals? What am I having a hard time completing, either from procrastination, time constraints or intimidation? What task haven’t I started because I’m afraid to fail? These are carrot-worthy tasks. Afraid to dip your toes in the ocean of social media but your agent or editor expects a strong presence? Give yourself a reward for opening a twitter account. Indulge in a bigger reward after you’ve made 10 tweets and learned how to retweet something you loved. Struggling with designing your website? Give yourself a carrot for setting up and purchasing your domain name. Then give yourself little rewards for each page you design (your home page, your blog page, etc.). Then a BIG reward when it goes live! Illustrating a picture book? Reward yourself when you complete the sketches. Pamper yourself after each completed spread. Reward yourself handsomely for the completed project. It doesn’t matter if it sells or not. You must keep rewarding your creative spirit. Try it for a week. A month. A year. See how much you can accomplish when you give yourself the credit you deserve! --FRANCINE THE SMART KEY TO YOUR CARROTS ~Annie Cronin Romano If you’re planning on jumping aboard the writing carrot cart, the first thing you’ve got to do is set a writing goal. This may sound straightforward, but it’s not quite as simple as you might think. Setting goals is, in itself, a kind of art. “I am going to write a novel” is not going to cut it. Why? Believe it or not, it’s too broad. Of course, you need this overall objective, but you’ll want to break it down. To be viable, writing goals, like all goals, need have certain elements. In business and education, these are called SMART goals. Really! I’m not making this up. Let’s take a look at these, shall we? SMART is an acronym which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely (or Time-based). These are the characteristics you want your writing goal to have. First, your goal needs to be specific. What are you going to be working on? A poem? Generating ideas for picture books? A chapter of your novel? Researching agents? Decide what project your goal relates to and specifically state it. “I’m going to work on a picture book draft.” Good start. Making your goal measurable will help you gauge your progress. How much are you going to accomplish? You need your writing goal to state how you are going to measure your progress. Are you going to write three poems? Come up with five picture book ideas? Complete one chapter of your novel? “I’m going to complete a 600-word picture book draft.” Even better. Is your writing goal attainable? That means you’ve got to be realistic. Ah, we writers are totally based in reality, aren’t we? When my book hits the NY Times Bestseller List… Be honest! We’ve all thought it! And there’s nothing wrong with that. Yet it’s crucial that your writing goal is based in reality, or you’ll set yourself up for failure. Life will get in the way and prevent you from meeting goals from time to time. That’s okay. But if you only have two hours free this week, then setting a goal to write ten chapters of your book is probably not feasible. Make sure you have--or are willing to make—the time. You want to push yourself…just not over a cliff! “I’ll draft, revise, edit and my entire novel, research editors, and have my manuscript submitted by the end of this month.” Whoa! Really? Good luck with that. “I’m going to complete a 500-word picture book draft by the end of the month.” Now you’re getting somewhere, Sparky! Be relevant. “This week, I am going to teach myself how to make the perfect chocolate soufflé.” Good for you. I always wanted to try making one of those myself. But what does that have to do with writing? Unless you’re writing a cookbook or a culinary memoir, that goal isn’t relevant. Make sure to keep your goals in line with your writing project. “This month I am going to read four middle grade novels with 1st person narrators to get myself in the mind frame of 1st person point of view for my book.” There you go! Relevant! Timing is everything, isn’t it? And having a timely, or time-based, goal is key. Saying you’re going to write a novel is terrific, but if you don’t give yourself a time frame, you could still be saying that ten years from now. Set a deadline and stick to it. “I will draft the first three chapters of my novel by May 15.” Ha! You got it! Consider all these SMART goal elements when setting goals for your writing. Of course, you’ll have a big-picture goal (I’m going to write a young adult novel), but breaking that goal into specific, doable pieces and sticking to your deadlines will help you make progress and meet your ultimate writing goal. Now go set those SMART-y pants goals and earn those carrots! Chocolate, that bottle of wine, a round of golf, a trip to the book store, a beach day, chocolate…did I suggest chocolate already? Hmm… ~Annie Like everything in life, your writing career will require balance. A balance between writing and the work of writing. 24 Carrot Writing is a mental tool you can use to find that balance. Every month, set two writing goals. One goal will focus on writing, while the other should focus on the business or work of being a writer. Writing Goal Once you have found the amazing writing community, you will be overwhelmed with all the buzz and activity: blogs, webcasts, seminars, conferences, Facebook groups, pages and pages of information and sharing and support. But don’t get so lost in the sea of community that you forget to write. Or worse, you use it as an excuse not to write. While it is essential that we continue to work on craft, like we have to keep going to the gym, we also need to just write. Don’t let that wonderful basic act of writing get lost in the slew of learning, rules and marketing. Your first goal each month will be a writing goal. The writing goal you set involves just you and your manuscript. No blogging, no websites, no chat rooms and if it frees you up – no grammar or spelling. Just write. In the words of Jane Yolen, butt in chair! Make sure your goal has a purpose by assigning it a measurement like words, pages, or chapters. You can target a picture book revision, or a rough draft, or a plot outline. The only rule is that it needs to be a quiet moment just between you and your writing. Think a date with your writing. No kids and no distractions. Light a candle and get in the mood to write! Work of Writing Goal Your second goal each month will require you to spend time managing the business of being a writer. Put your manuscript away. This is a time for learning and connecting with the craft of writing and with the writing community. Use this goal to set targets like researching agents, attending a seminar, reading those writing bulletins sitting in your inbox, or managing your website. Again, give yourself an attainable but measurable goal. I will research five agents or I will read bulletins for an hour a week this month. Or be brave and use the time to write two query letters and send out two manuscripts. This is the goal that asks you to improve your craft. You can take a writing class, expand your writing community by having tea with a fellow writer, or move yourself toward publication by connecting with an agent or editor. This is not a solo goal but rather asks you to interact with the industry and community of children’s writing. Carrots Now that you have set your two goals for the month – and written them down to keep yourself honest – it is time for carrots. Carrots are the rewards you offer yourself for hitting your targets. You can motivate yourself to complete your goals by promising a manicure, or a trip to the book store, or a treat from TJ Maxx (the place my husband calls the crack house because I am addicted to TJ Maxx carrots!). Just like your goals, carrots need to be specific and attainable. You cannot pick a fourteen day trip to Paris with Brad Pitt as a travel companion as a carrot, but you can decide to spend the day dreaming about that trip as your carrot. Personally, I’d rather have a new pair of shoes from TJ Maxx but we all have our own carrots. Everyone needs carrots on the long road to publication. Reward yourself for every step you take towards realizing your dream of being a successful children’s author. If you set two goals a month and hit them, by the end of one year you will have rewarded yourself with 24 carrots and you will be a 24 Carrot Writer. Set your goals and pick your carrots! Kelly |
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