September Just Do It Thread

You've heard the Nike ads - Just Do It! We all know it's not that easy - or is it? I'm creating this thread for those of us who just need to finally accomplish our goals. *

Simple rules:
1. Write down your goal(s).
2. Just Do It!
3. Post your progress here - in little steps taken along the way or at the end when you've accomplished the whole darn thing.

Hints:

• Create goals that are measurable.
• Be realistic but push the limits too...even if it's just a little.
• Choose a mode that gets you excited - word count, page count, chapters written, draft finished...whatever.
• Come here every day or two to check in and cheer others on.

Sorry this is starting on the 6th instead of the 1st. I intended to post this on the 1st but ended up getting sick. Geesh! Best laid plans, ya know?



Hope you'll join me! ~Karen


PS I'll be back to post my goal(s).

Welcome!

OK...even though your name has October in it, I'm gonna let you in the September club. LOL Thanks for joining in. My goals are related to my memoir. More in a sec. ~Karen

September Goals

I know my goals are over the top but I feel like I need to push myself. Here goes:

September Just Do It Goals:
1. 13,000 words by Sept. 16 (24,000 total)
2. 26,000 words by Sept. 23 (39,000 total)
3. 39,000 words by Sept. 30 (50,000 total)
4. Finish first draft of RUNNING IN CIRCLES by Sept 30

Yay! More joined. Very excited about that. May I just make a teensy suggestion? And remember, this is just an observation and suggestion. This board is for you, so make it yours!

Anyway, goals have the most power when they are measurable. What does that mean? Here are a few examples;

Not measurable:
Write more of my book, "How to Write a Book in Three Minutes."

Measurable:
Write 5,000 words of, "How to Write a Book in Three Minutes."
-or-
Write for 30 minutes, five days a week for the month of September.

The easiest way to know whether your goal is measurable is to ask yourself how you will know when you've accomplished the goal. If you say you're going to write "more", what does that mean? How will you know when you get there? It's like going on a trip without a plan and just saying you're going to drive south.

Creating measurable goals also has the added benefit of giving you a sense of accomplishment at the end of the month. You'll have something to check off and feel good about. That's my 2-cents.

As for me...I am behind. I got sick for more than a week and I tried to write but it just didn't happen much. So, I'm playing catch-up now. I'll post the specifics later.

Welcome to everyone who joined! How is it going so far? Do share! ~Karen

Melly - I know what you mean about word wars. They can be a really great technique for getting a lot of words written and turning off your internal editor! Have you ever done NaNoWriMo? ~Karen

Yeah, its not for everyone. That's for sure. I've done it three times. I finished it twice. I'm contemplating doing it this year. I don't know if I will. I'm not writing novels right now, and have an editor waiting for two books, so my thought was to try to see if I can work out writing one of them during that month. It's a creative nonfiction book. I think it would be a lot harder doing that, so not sure if I'll venture into it this time. We will see.

As for this month's goals, I'm not meeting my goals yet, but pushing along more than I would if it weren't for this thread. So that's good. I was having a terrible time getting going on this. I am already thinking about October goals. ~Karen

OK...so here's how I did on my goals. This month I wrote 8,098 words on my new memoir. I didn't accomplish my goal of finishing the book but I'm happy with having moved forward with it. I did get a lot of marketing done for my current book, but that wasn't one of my goals. I will continue in October. I'm highly motivated and have a lot to do. On to October thread! How did everyone else do?~Karen