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Write SMART: How to Create Terrific Writing Goals--And Achieve Them!

by: Katey Coffing, Ph.D.

Open up your favorite calendar and circle today's date.

Why? Because no matter what day it is, you've been given a wonderful gift: a bright and shiny year ahead to make your writing dreams come true.

What are your writing goals for the coming year? If you don't have any, this is the perfect time to create them. Clear goals help you stay focused as a writer. If you choose what you want to accomplish, you can arrange your time and priorities to get them done.

Take five minutes right now to decide what big things you'd like to achieve this year. (I'll focus on your writing, but this technique can work for any area of your life.)

A long-established acronym, SMART, can help you create great goals. SMART stands for

Specific
Measurable
Action-Oriented
Risk/Realistic
Timed

Here's how each of these words can help you succeed.

Specific:

When determining your goals, be precise. Instead of "I'll write more this year," consider "I'll complete a new chapter every two weeks."

Measurable:

For each goal you choose, make sure you can measure progress. For example, how will know you've completed it?

Action-oriented:

Choose goals you control so they're not at anyone else's mercy. Rather than "This year I'll get a book contract," set goals to complete and polish two novels or mail 30 queries to agents.

Risk/Realistic:

It's always good to stretch yourself. However, if writing ten pages usually takes you several weeks, don't count on writing six novels this year. Unrealistic expectations can get you so frustrated you'll lose momentum. Instead, create goals that motivate you without being burdens.

Timed:

Setting a particular deadline will help you pace yourself to get things done. For each of your goals, establish a completion date.

Next, take these big SMART goals and figure out what smaller steps you'll need to achieve each of them. Design these subgoals to be SMART too!

Once you have a list of goals for the year, put them where you'll see them every day. Print them out and tape them to your computer, your office wall, even your bathroom mirror.

See them, know them...do them.

Writers, I hope this coming year brings everything you wish for. More importantly, I want you to *make your dreams come true*!

About The Author

Katey Coffing, Ph.D. is a novelist and book coach who helps women delight in writing (and finishing!) their books. Visit her at http://www.Women-Ink.com/.
To receive additional articles and tips for women writers, subscribe to Katey's ezine, The Write Calling, at http://www.Women-Ink.com/the-write-calling.htm.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? Please do, as long as you include the above short bio and blurb with it. (A short note to Katey to let her know would be appreciated! Contact her at https://www.hform.com/form.cgi?1717945)

This article was posted on July 31, 2004

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Writing Help for College Students
by: Tamara Owen

Your literature professor has asked you to write a 7-page essay comparing Medieval and Renaissance poetry; your economics professor wants 15 pages on how globalization is affecting the economy in three different countries; and your mathematics professor has forgotten this is a mathematics class, and wants 5 pages on the quadratic formula. And you have been staring at the computer screen for over an hour wondering how on earth you are going to do all of this in the next four days.

This is an all-too-familiar scene to many students. Many students learn of these large assignments at the beginning of the semester when they receive their class syllabi, and immediately forget about them because November seems like years away. Other students are busy with extracurricular sports, trying to adjust to being away from home for the first time, and other events and issues. Still other students are quite frankly terrified of the writing process, believing the blank page to be worse than their worst nightmare, and so these assignments get shoved aside to remain untouched until the last minute.

It is an interesting fact of college life that all students, regardless of major or discipline, are asked to write about their subject matter -- often quite extensively. While it is certainly important that all individuals be literate, and know how to read and write in a variety of capacities, styles, and genres, it is also the case that not everyone has to be a professional academic writer (www.korepetycje.com/join_us.html). Engineers need to know how to design bridges or better towel racks; pilots need to be able to take off and land safely and smoothly; and physicians need to be able to diagnose illnesses and injuries and to prescribe the correct medical interventions. None of these people needs to know how to write a term paper.

What, then, are the options for the poor student struggling in the first paragraph? What will happen to the student who is a prodigy on the piano but is facing failure because she cannot write 10 pages on Beethoven? What will happen to the next Frank Lloyd Wright who is stuck in his psychology seminar, unable to write a series of vignettes portraying various mental illnesses?

There are a few options. Most college campuses have writing labs, where many students are helped with researching and writing their papers. Many students form study groups, where they help each other through the tough assignments. Some students write their custom essays and term papers (see: http://www.korepetycje.com/indexam.html) and then pay an editor to polish them. Still others turn to professional writing services for assistance with their assignments. This is where services such as CustomPapers.com come in. We have a large staff of professional writers who specialize in writing papers about a wide variety of disciplines ranging from economics to ecology, marketing to Mozart, Hemingway to heart murmurs. We can also assist students with related projects, such as PowerPoint Presentations. In the many years of our existence, we have found tremendous success helping students with assignments of all sizes, all levels of difficulty, and all subjects.

Regardless of what type of help you choose, the important thing is that you get through college as quickly and effectively as possible. College is a step leading up to the rest of your life -- don't let a term paper be the skateboard in your path.

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