Last night I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural meeting of the Willamette Writers Vancouver Chapter. Our guest speaker was author Sage Cohen, and she gave us so much wisdom that touched on the things I’ve been writing about this past month, I wanted to share it with you.

Sage Cohen is the author of Fierce on the Page, The Productive Writer, and Writing the Life Poetic, all from Writer’s Digest Books. Sage’s prizewinning poems, essays, fiction, and how-to articles have appeared in a wide range of publications. She has been sought out as a literary instructor, writing coach, presenter, performer, and judge. Learn more at https://sagecohen.com.

And seriously, check out her website. She has lots of cool stuff, including some free downloads here: https://sagecohen.com/products/free-gifts-for-you. Also, the material she spoke on last night (that I’m sharing with you today) is not from any of her writing books (yet).

Sage opened with a comment about Martin Luther King Jr. and how he had a dream. Not five dreams. One dream that his life centered around. He likely wouldn’t have been as effective had he been talking about five (or more) dreams.

That really spoke to me. You know how many ideas I have. It’s no secret. And it’s part of who I am. *ahem* Random. *ahem* But trying to do all the things all the time makes me not so effective at anything. I had already decided to pick a book already and work on it until I finished, but Sage’s Martin Luther King Jr. example and her entire talk solidified this decision in a way that made me really excited. I hope it will help you too. That said, here are Sage’s ten strategies to help you set a goal for 2019!

Strategy 1: Choose One Thing

Choose one thing to work on. One thing to devote your creative time to. This doesn’t mean you can’t work on a different creative thing later. The idea is to choose a single project, put all your focus into it, then work on it until you finish.

Strategy 2: What Motivates You?

Why is this goal important to you? Why do you want it so badly? What is it that’s dangling on a stick out in front of the rabbit? Is it about money? success? prestige? making a difference? helping a certain people group?
the joy of creating art? Define it so that you can continually remind yourself why you’re working so hard.

Strategy 3: Focus on Forming Habits

Focus on forming new, productive and healthy habits over the mere reaching of your goals. Perhaps you get up each day and write FIRST THING for 30 minutes or an hour. Perhaps you go on a daily brainstorming walk. Or maybe it’s a daily brain clearing walk. Maybe you simply unwind and enjoy nature so that when you sit back down at the keyboard, you are refreshed. Perhaps each night before you go to bed you read one chapter of a book in your genre. Whatever it is that helps you be more productive, practice those healthy habits.

If you need more ideas, check out Sage Cohen’s book The Productive Writer. Here’s the back cover blurb: The creative process can be treacherous, even for the most experienced writer. Facing the blank page, staying inspired, sustaining momentum, managing competing priorities and coping with rejection are just a few of the challenges writers face regularly. The Productive Writer is your guide to learning the systems, strategies and psychology that can help you transform possibilities into probabilities and create the writing life you most desire.

Strategy 4: Time Matters

Whether you have two hours a day to write or twenty minutes a day, make that time matter. Traci Hilton told me about her friend who wrote a book on his phone during lunch breaks at school. (He was a teacher.) And while he also wrote other books at night or on the weekends, it was his little lunchtime project that hit big. Sometimes our best work is done when we’re in a time crunch. So don’t look down on twenty minutes. You could do your best work in that amount of time.

Also remember that it’s easy to waste time. BUT we can always refocus our attentions and buckle down. We choose how to spend our time, so choose wisely!

Strategy 5: Don’t Let Fear Drive

It’s okay and completely normal to be afraid of your goal or the work it’s going to take to achieve it. Fear is normal. Sage said that “Fear is always going to be in the car with you. I just don’t let fear get behind the wheel.” Know what it is you’re afraid of, recognize that, then make that fear get in the backseat of your car where it can’t take control of your life.

Strategy 6: Use Deadlines

I’ve always been a fan of deadlines. They create an urgency that gets the job done. It’s probably why, when I don’t have a deadline, I tend to procrastinate. Since I’m currently writing a book that isn’t under contract, I had to set my own deadline this time. I knew I wanted to get this book to my agent before grad school started, so I studied my calendar, planned out how long writing the book would take, did some math to determine how many words I needed to write each week to meet that goal, then decided on a date. All that to say, if you don’t have a deadline, set one.

Strategy 7: Schedule It

Once I had my deadline, I was able to write it on my calendar. That’s not all. Having that deadline enabled me to make a few more mini deadlines. I chose a deadline to finish the first draft, a deadline to edit it by, and a deadline for beta readers to get their thoughts back to me. Then I also divided my word count and wrote word count goals and chapter editing goals on each week of my calendar. Now I have lots of mini goals I can tackle one at a time.

Strategy 8: Be Accountable

I shared all this with my friend Traci. She and I message each other about our writing projects to keep each other accountable and cheer each other on. Find at least one person who can do this for you.

Strategy 9: Measure Your Progress

Track all your mini goals and new habits and see how things are working out. If something isn’t working, adjust things until it does. Or drop it and try another strategy.

Strategy 10: Celebrate Your Wins

Whether or not you finish the goal (did you hear that?), celebrate! “Hooray! I set a goal and worked hard at it. I didn’t finish, but I did develop a new habit of writing each morning.” Or “I did finish my book, and I pitched it to three publishers and got three rejections. Whoo hoo!” It’s important to celebrate these milestones because all of this builds a case for your bravery in facing your fears. The more you do this, the stronger you become.

Was this helpful? It was to me. A big thank you to Sage Cohen for sharing her wisdom. I came home and jotted down all my new goals on my calendar. I’m excited to have this direction. I know these are deadlines I can reach. And now that I shared them here, you can hold me accountable too.

If you have to choose ONE goal for 2019 (or the first part of 2019), what would it be? Get specific here. Put down a goal and a deadline for it. Also, what habits you could work on to help you be more productive with the time you have?