Wild Card Goals

 Last week I talked about my SNAP plan from an Author MBA class I took. This blog is a continuation on that, showing just how great the SNAP plan is. Quick recap: a SNAP plan shows an at-a-glance summary of your career vision and action plan. The action plan breaks your goals down into the following categories: production, marketing, professional development, and a wild card.

I’ve been working on updating my SNAP plan. I have to update the plan often because I’m still learning how long it takes to do certain tasks, like revising a NaNoWriMo novel (which Jordan E. Rosenfeld, author of the new Writer’s Digest book, Make a Scene, is going to help us do in January!)

So here’s what I talk myself through:

Start with the big idea. What do you want to get done by the end of the year? At Author MBA this is called your One-Year Intentions. In Stephanie’s blog on Monday she talked about your one main objective. What one thing do you want to get done this year?

Let’s say you kind of know what you want to do in the new year. You have a vague dream, but it depends on other events not in your control. You have a manuscript under consideration. If the editor takes it, your writing goals will switch to plan B. If the editor passes, you continue on with plan A.

Your plan A always involves the events you can control. The books you write. The article ideas you develop. The queries you send out.

Plan B is kind of the dream plan; the events outside of your control. This is when all your hard work pays off and you are going to be published. Or your published book is going to get a big-budget marketing campaign. Or….[fill in your wild card.]

In the SNAP plan outline, Plan B could fall under a Wild Card goal. In the past, my Wild Card has merely been another goal I wanted to achieve. But as I look ahead, I think the timing is right that I need to have a different plan for a Wild Card—a response to an event not under my control (like signing with an agent or selling a book to an editor.)

If you are like me, you are prepared for the “no’s.” We’re told every step of the way to expect rejection and keep pressing forward. But are you prepared for a “yes?” What do you do next when you get the yes? Panic, LOL? Or take a look at your business plan to see what you have already thought out?