We talked about rewards a few weeks ago. I thought this time, instead of talking about how important they are, I’d share some concrete ideas for rewards. That is where I struggle. Coming up with rewards I will actually give myself. For example, I’d love to get a hand massage for reaching a goal. I’ve even listed that for certain goals. The problem is that no one in my family will give me one. LOL Having to pay someone to massage my hands “ups the price” in my mind (not to mention it feels too self-indulgent), so I feel like I have to accomplish an even bigger goal to justify it. The more I can automate and objectify this rewarding process, the better it works for me.

         What are the things I really enjoy doing? Those are the things I need to reward myself with. Here are a few things I consider fun:

• Lunch with a friend
• A chatty phone call
• Time spent on a jigsaw puzzle
• Time spent with a good book
• A writing retreat
• Sleeping in
• A day spent watching sappy movies
• And, as Shonna mentioned a couple of weeks ago, guilt-free time away from the writing.

         Those are the things that truly motivate me. I also like buying books, going clothes shopping, getting a massage or taking a vacation, but all those cost money. And spending that money creates the need, at least in my mind, for the accomplishment to be greater. To keep myself motivated, I need to reward even my small steps, so I save those “pricey” rewards for major accomplishments.

         This past year, as I have worked at establishing a regular writing routine, I have learned that I can consistently devote 2-4 hours each day to writing. My plan for this coming year is to maintain that schedule, with a minimum of 15 hours each week spent on fiction. I am a late night person. I love to stay up late and sleep in. And I can usually be productive doing that. Sometimes, though, I get lazy. I sleep til 9 or I get distracted by email and don’t get any writing done til afternoon, if then. This year, I think I’m going to implement a “routine” that forces myself up by 8 (yes, that is early for me LOL) and at the computer by 9. Once my 15 hours of fiction writing has been accomplished, my reward is that I don’t have to get up to the alarm. I can sleep til I naturally wake up. Or perhaps a better way to implement that is to assess my productivity at the end of each day. If that day’s writing “quota” was reached, I get to sleep in the next day. If not, the next day I use the alarm. Another schedule adjustment I’ll implement is a “writing-free” time zone. I’m not sure exactly when that will be, but probably all day Sundays, weekdays 5-11pm and Saturdays after 3 pm. That will force me to give myself the down-time I need to maintain creativity.

         I think this type of daily writing routine, with its built-in reward-consequence system is exactly what I need. I’m going to add in some milestones, like x-number of pages and attach a chatty phone call as a reward. I’m hopeful this will work with my strengths and personality while compelling me to maintain productivity. I’ll let you know how well I succeed!

         What are your plans?

Do intentions count? In our heart, yes; in the real world, not so much. Intentions are your goals and objectives, and it is really important to have them. They create a vision for us and what we want from life, but they are just the beginning. You have to push beyond that and focus on results.

The world is interested in what you actually accomplished. Your results are what separate your goals from your dreams. Dreams don’t have to come true, they are things you expect to happen to you. Goals are followed by action and they are a materialization of what you plan to do. It’s not enough to intend to finish that report, do those taxes, bake those cookies, or write that story.

So often we have other people affected by our intentions, this motivates us to complete the task. You don’t expect your boss, friend, school, or family to understand that you intended to do it but didn’t. Your intentions are part of a bigger picture, a relay race with someone at the end to pass the baton to (the completed goal). Unfortunately for many beginning writers it’s more of a marathon with a lot of personal battles along the way, a solo journey with a lot of personal satisfaction at the end. At the end it is you full of pride and joy, your manuscript/article, and the new intention to get published. How, when it is just you, do you turn your intentions into actual results?

One great way is a blog like this, which works to give you the tools to focus and find the right routine to meet your goals. You are part of an environment where you don’t have to feel alone. You can train and run your marathon with people just like you.

An often overlooked but vital tool for getting results is the evaluation process. You have a goal, you have a plan, but if you don’t track your progress and make adjustments, you may have a very big gap between what you intended to accomplish and what actually got accomplished. Now is not the time to let yourself down.

I really do think that the secret to your success is going to be found in the time to take to evaluate your progress and compare the final result with your intended target. It may seem unnecessary or a waste of time, but you are investing in long term solutions. You are giving yourself the tools to streamline and improve the process.

Evaluating as you go will help you see circumstances that need adjusting for, allow you to keep people updated on your progress and reward yourself for exceeding expectations. When you have your plan broken down to measurable elements you can track your progress. By making adjustments as you go, you are more likely to have your intended results line up with your actual results. You won’t be shocked by discrepancies and you’ll have a framework that is repeatable. That is vital. How amazing to be able to have created a system that you can comfortably repeat. Success to the end.

Evaluating the final results is just as crucial. Don’t skip this step. Yes you’re tired, anxious, and glad it’s all over, but until you look at the process with hindsight it’s not really over. This step is important to ensuring you understand what went right and what went wrong. You will need this information to improve the results and tighten the gap between your intentions and actuality the next time you map out your goals. This is your chance to begin the next project with hindsight, to pull out your final evaluation on your last project and factor in the things that worked and didn’t work.

The evaluation process is a vital tool to creating a system that is manageable, enjoyable, and successful. Give yourself the time to take your best intentions and turn them into a successful actuality.

Last week I said that I ask myself a lot of questions when I’m making new goals. Am I feeling confident or nervous or discouraged - right now? Do I need a carrot or a threat or a reward - right now? The point to adding “right now” is that you may find your goals need to be adjusted as life moves and changes around you.

Day by day, I may choose to lower my daily writing goal if my husband is home sick. (I can tell you, my goal is definitely lowered if I am home sick!) I increase my daily goals when on a writing retreat. And I try to meet the long-term totals monthly, quarterly and annually by catching up on good days.

I’m a planner, so when I make my goals for the new year, I am looking at all the times I know I’ll be out of town, all the holidays and other occasions I know I’m going to want to spend with family and friends, and anything else I know is coming. In 2009, I am moving to the other side of the world! My husband will be working on Happy Feet 2 in Sydney, Australia, so not only do I have to plan around moving, I have to plan around feeling like I’m on permanent vacation!

What is on your schedule next year? What “normal” things and what one-time events (a wedding?) do you have to plan your writing around? If you make goals that are specific and have a time limit, you can find a sense of accomplishment and success. And if you look at it as a long-term flexible process, you can continually adjust your goals up or down as you need to in order to continue in a mindset of success and not failure. (This is easier said than done, but keep trying!)

I also try to evaluate which goals I want to have a ceiling and/or a floor. For instance, starting in January I’m going to try a new way to get more writing done, writing all day three days a week. (I find it difficult to stop what I’m doing and move on to something else, so I’m going to try this new system. If it doesn’t work, I’ll go back to my half day, five days a week schedule and look for other ways to make it work for me.) So I’ll have a floor of three days of writing a week, and a ceiling of six days a week.

I promised last week that I would commit to my 2009 goals here today. Eeek! Asking myself the questions above, I decided I’m confident and a little nervous, and I want the reward of finishing a couple of books as well as the carrot of taking time off to enjoy the move. So -

Finish 1 category romance and send it out by April 30, 2009
Finish a second category romance and send it out by December 15, 2009
Finish the rewrite on my single title and send it out by December 15, 2009

I’ll be moving in July, so this schedule gives me enough time to write and get all my “life” stuff done. I’ll reevaluate my goals on those dates and/or when I finish those books. If I finish early, I may want to add another writing goal. If I find myself pressed for time because of the move, I may want to extend the dates. Either way, the more I plan for success and set myself up for success, the more likely I will be successful!

What about you? What are your goals for the new year?

Goal setting is easy for me – I think of something I want and I decide to go after it. Like the 1793 times I’ve made a goal to lose weight. Or the 47 times I’ve made a goal to stop using swear words. Or the 16 times I’ve made a goal to write every day. See? Goal setting is easy! I’ve done it thousands of times!

Follow through, that’s my problem. I make my goals too lofty – lose forty pounds in two months, finish my entire To Do list today, make everyone happy – and then I can’t achieve them. But I’ve heard several different speakers in the last few months talk about making goals you can achieve so you set yourself up for success. Making goals you can’t achieve sets you up for failure, then you fail, then you see yourself as a failure. Bingo! That’s what I’d been doing to myself for years!

Because I’d worked myself into the rut of believing I sucked as a human being, let alone as a writer, I had to start out with ridiculously small goals to build myself back up again. Sometimes my goal for a writing project was “Don’t Quit.” Sometimes it was “Write at least one sentence before you go to bed.” When my confidence increased, I’d say today’s goal is to not do anything else (check email, answer the phone, wash the dishes) during my scheduled writing time. On a really good day, my goal might be to not stop until I have another chapter done. But that would have been far too lofty a goal for me in my “rut” period. And perhaps too much for a holiday period. (Hint, hint!)

When I am making new goals, I ask myself a lot of questions. Am I feeling confident, or nervous, or discouraged? Do I need a carrot or a threat or a reward right now? What would help me work more consistently? What would keep me from quitting? Am I in a planning mood (and can plan 4-12 months in advance) or a “now” mood (and can plan no more than a month or so at a time)?

I also ask myself spiritually leading questions like, what do I think God is leading me toward right now? What doors or windows seem to be opening and which seem to be closing? What project or schedule seems “right” for me right now? Is there something I’m supposed to be learning, or something I’m supposed to be teaching right now?

If you see your life more like the ocean, understanding that everything has an ebb and flow, and not trying to set everything in stone, you may find you actually accomplish more and have more joy doing it. And that is a good enough reason for me to make goals. There is so much I want to do in life, and I don’t want to wake up one morning and realize I’d done some nice things, but I could’ve done so many cool things if I’d taken the time to plan things a little better. I also want to know how far I’ve come, and have a method for deciding if this or that is worth my time.

Next week we’ll talk about how and when to evaluate your goals. I’ll tell you how I decide when the goal needs to be adjusted, and when I need to work harder (or differently) to meet the goal. I’ll even commit right now to having my 2009 writing goals ready to share by then! Eek!

I’ve read in some books on writing that you should write on topics that interest you but that you don’t have all the answers for. The searching and agonizing will bring passion to your work. In that case, writing on how to keep your priorities straight is my topic! LOL!

Case in point: This month is my last month handling a big job with my RWA chapter and I am trying to get everything I do written up in a combination checklist/manual for the new person. I also have to let a couple dozen other people know there’s a new person and introduce them all by email. I took a class on managing the time to write – and haven’t had time to finish all the homework! LOL! Ironic, huh?!

My husband was home sick from work today, and I wasn’t feeling 100% so we both spent most of the day in front of the TV. But I have a friend coming over tomorrow and my apartment needs at least a cursory cleaning to keep me from being embarrassed. I have to return some moldy cheese to the store, pick up packages at our postal box, call about an incorrect bill, bake a ham for our Bible study’s Christmas party, plan and pack for a trip, color my hair, and the list goes on! That doesn’t include all my “normal” stuff like sleep, eat, run (training for a half marathon), shower, answer email, or even mail Christmas cards!

I wrote all this down so that hopefully you wouldn’t feel alone in your overwhelming life. How do you prioritize all this? Does it matter when I return moldy cheese? (Really, at what point is it too moldy to complain about?) How clean does my apartment need to be? (Can I keep my friend from using the bathroom?) How long can I go without calling my mother before I’m a bad daughter? (I called her Sunday to tell her I’d call again when I had more time to talk.) I’m sitting here grinning and shaking my head because I don’t know the answers!

But I believe flexibility is the key to staying sane, and sanity is the key to getting more done. And not long ago I came up with a new idea to at least keep me from going insane. {grin} The last few months I’ve tried to keep in mind that I can’t do everything (part of me still doesn’t believe it!), so I start the day finding a calm center. For me, that means having a start of the day meeting with God to get focused on what needs to be done. Then I pick the one or two next things that I feel really need to be done now. I do them. Then I sit down and think for a moment about the next one or two things.

Sometimes I’m so overwhelmed by my list that my first two things to do are “eat breakfast” and “brush my teeth.” Maybe the next two things are “email Doug” and “pay American Express.” At this point, I must not look at the new emails that arrived since yesterday. I only send the one email I must send now, and go pay that bill. Then I think about the next one or two things.

We all know what our priorities are in a perfect world. Mine are God, John, family and friends, writing, and everything else. But my world is far from perfect and it’s scary how many days I look back and see I only worked on “everything else” and spent nary a minute on my first four priorities! My overwhelming aggravation with this recurring problem led me to find and try the solution above.

It doesn’t work every day, but it’s lowered my stress level significantly. If you didn’t notice it already, I’ll point out that my overarching problem is I have TOO MUCH TO DO. Sometimes that’s something you can change. (I can, and I’m working on it with exciting success!) Sometimes you just have to get through a rough period in life. Either way, asking others what they do, reading articles on time management, trying new solutions and then trying some more – these are worthwhile ways to actively keep your priorities straight on a daily basis. I wrote this blog at 10 o’clock last night because I very much enjoyed spending unexpected time with John – and I ended up keeping those two priorities in the right order!  {grin}

If I may point out two other blogs you might be interested in, I wrote one yesterday about not being afraid to write what you need to write. And an RWA friend, Dr. Debra Holland, wrote one about dealing with stress – scroll down to the December 3 entry.

I hope you have a very calm, if busy, week!  ☺

I, for one, can be highly motivated to accomplish a task given the right reward. When I was in high school and college, I would go to any length to improve my grade point average. I even missed out on a BILLY JOEL concert, 3rd row seats, in order to study for an Economics exam. (Yes, book smart, life stupid! LOL!)

But the wrong reward doesn’t do me any good. For instance, I’m one of those funny people who can’t be content with a job just because the pay is good. If you offer to pay me more to do something I don’t want to do, it isn’t going to change the fact that I don’t want to do it. (I actually thought everybody was like this, but I noticed in the corporate world that I seemed to be in the minority on this point.)

During a discussion about the next online class I just had to take, Shonna suggested I use online classes as a reward: finish a goal, take an online class. That doesn’t seem to work for me either. I don’t consider them extras like a Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino with double chocolate. (Now there’s a reward!) I consider classes and books part of my career growth. (An addiction, perhaps. But necessary!)

And here’s a mindbender - maybe, just maybe, you aren’t a rewards-oriented person. A shocking thought, I know! But everyone has a motivation for what they do. Everyone. For everything. And the point with rewards is that you are trying to find motivation to do something, in this case, write. What will motivate you? The thrill of announcing at your 10th high school reunion (or your 20th or your 50th) that you have just been published in Cosmopolitan magazine? The look on your mother’s (or mother-in-law’s) face when you tell her the big screen TV you just gave her for Christmas came out of your “hobby” money? Or perhaps something more in line with our traditional idea of a reward - like a new pair of shoes.

So first, figure out your motivation, not just what pushes you along like an autumn breeze, but that driving gale wind that keeps you from stopping no matter what. Figure it out and write it down.

Second, figure out how long it takes for you to curl up in a little ball in the face of that gale wind and quit trying so hard even though you still want “it” - the goal. Let’s face it, we all hit those fetal position times. What will either keep you from giving in, or get you back on your feet again? The “what” is the reward you need. The “how long” is how often you need to reward yourself.

For me, both vary. I found that out through years of introspection and trial and error. The key is to recognize the symptoms of “fetal syndrome” before it knocks my legs out from under me, then talk to the 7-year-old whiner inside and ask her what she needs to just get through one more store in the mall for Mommy. Remember those days? Those glorious days when your whining actually got you something you wanted? (My husband says my whining still gets me what I want. I’m not so sure!  LOL!) Try thinking of rewards as something the 7-year-old in you needs to keep going. Or think of them in ANY WAY YOU NEED TO in order to find a way to keep your writer happy and writing.

Because that’s what it’s all about.

Introductory note: This is Karen Wiesner’s 6th and final blog of her Tuesday’s series on NaNoWriMo at Routines for Writers. If you missed the other five blogs, be sure to look back at all the great information and worksheet links she’s given us. On behalf of the writing team at Routines for Writers: Thank you, Karen, for supporting us on our NaNoWriMo journey. You’ve helped make it a memorable NaNo ‘08!

Now here is Karen:

http://www.karenwiesner.com

         That’s what I need to hear right now. That I’ve won NaNoWriMo. Or that I’m close to winning. Trouble is, I wouldn’t believe you. I am so far behind in my NaNoWriMo word count, I don’t believe there is a way to recover. How will I ever get 35,000 words written in less than a week? I’m even having trouble writing these short blogs.

         Are you there, too? Have you given up hope of finishing? Or maybe you never started because you thought there was no hope of writing a story in a month. Don’t quit! Keep writing! Even if you don’t make it to 50,000 words, you will end the month with more words, more of the story told than you would if you gave up. Even if you are not participating in NaNo, if you are regularly visiting our site, you are most likely a writer. So write! That is what makes you winner.

         When you can’t write, though, when life is full of upheavals and activities that drain away your energy, when no matter how hard you try, it’s a struggle to get to pen or keyboard, when days go by and the scene in your head is still trying to find its way out, don’t despair. If you are a writer, you will write. That makes you a winner! Whether you get 50,000 words written in NaNo or only write one short story this month, if you continued the struggle to pull words from your brain, you are a writing winner.

         I’ve had an emotionally and physically draining few weeks. Family responsibilities, both routine and unusual, have taken much of my time. Family interactions have been particularly stressful this month. That has left me drained of energy, even in the few moments I have found to steal away to the computer. But, even with my lagging word count and my diminished hours, I still say I’m a winner.

         I have spent time with my Dad while he’s here recuperating from a car wreck. I’ve played games, put a puzzle together with him and made sure he ate well each day and had everything he needed. I tended to the routine and the not so routine things of my life. I have memorized all my lines for my part in our church’s Christmas play, I show up to practices, people can count on me. And I’m preparing a big Thanksgiving feast. I’m worn out, but this is just a season. A brief season in my life. As I have learned from my past experiences, it will all change again in time. The important thing is to keep the important things in focus. (We’ll be discussing more on how to do that next month. Be sure to come back.)

         The point I’m trying to make is that I am a winner even if I don’t win NaNoWriMo this year. And who knows? Maybe I will win. After all, I wrote 24,000 words in two days last year.

         Keep writing. Keep telling those stories. Keep struggling to put pen to paper, fingers to keyboard.

         Do that and you can say, “I’m a winner, too!”

Discouragement isn’t a topic I tackle lightly. Nor do I think the causes and cures are only for creative people, or people going through tough times, or for those who live in one society versus another. Discouragement happens when we take things very seriously and they don’t turn out as we expected or hoped. Once we’ve established our goals or hopes, we can be like a salmon swimming upstream in our fight to keep discouragement at bay.

But I’ve found two tricks to help me keep swimming! The first and most important one is to focus on gratitude. Someone tried to explain this to me in the context of church - the power of praise - but it has taken years of practice for me to “get it.” I’ve only now understood how it works to the point where I can use it like a weapon against discouragement. Focusing on what you’re grateful for - word count, your health, being able to say goodbye to a dying friend - helps alleviate some of the pain you feel from not getting what you want - a higher word count, a better job with health insurance, longer life for everyone you love.

More than that, focusing on the things you’re thankful for keeps your brain operating in a positive manner. When the messages coming in are positive, the brain continues in that vein and will work on positive answers to the problems before it. When the messages coming in are negative because of discouragement, frustration, anger, etc., the brain will work in that manner, focusing on what’s not working. This explains part of why some days seem to go smoothly and some days feel like everything has gone wrong. The phrase “It’s all in your head” refers to how you perceive the world, not how the world may be in actuality.

The second trick I’ve learned is, when a problem arises, to immediately flip the switch in my brain and tell myself that this isn’t a problem so much as it’s a challenge, a puzzle I have to figure out. Every time I try something and it doesn’t work, I’m one step closer to figuring out what does work. This works with everything, big and small, but the bigger the problem, the more creative you have to be in figuring out how to look at it in order to avoid discouragement.

So today, I can look at my tiny word count and see failure because I am not much closer to making the world a better place through my stories. Or I can see success that, even as I was busy making the world a better place by delivering food and water to a Red Cross station to help those who lost their homes in the Southern California wildfires, I still managed to get a few words pounded out on my novel. It’s a constant re-evaluation, much like the scientific method.

Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb and the phonograph, was a pro at this! I’ll leave you with some of my favorite quotes from him. And please, let us know what you do to avoid or defeat discouragement.

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Restlessness is discontent and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.

Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That’s not the place to become discouraged.

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.

Whether or not you completed an outline before beginning the NaNoWriMo challenge, you may discover that the book you’re writing like mad isn’t working. Don’t get disappointed about that. There are things you can do. If one option doesn’t work, try another.

1) Brainstorm. In First Draft in 30 Days, I give you a huge list of ways to spark your imagination. Try every single of them if you need to, to get your ideas for the story rolling.

2) Are you revising as you go? DON’T! By doing so, you’re not allowing yourself the distance you’ll need when you complete this stage (we’ll talk more about this next week). All stages need completely different mind-sets, and, when you’re writing, you’re not in revision mind-set. You can’t be in both at the same time. Concentrate on one stage at a time. This month, you’re writing, not outlining, not revising.

3) Try isolating your plot threads (visit my website here for very detailed examples of how to do this; how to do this is also talked about in First Draft in 30 Days). First, figure out what your plot threads are (the First Draft in 30 Days website has tips on this, along with the book). Each thread should unfold logically and steadily, while still maintaining tension within the story. Now, remove any plot thread completely out of your formatted outline, and re-read the outline. Without the thread, does the story still work? If it does, it’s not necessary. If it doesn’t, then it needs to be there. Maybe it just needs to be somewhere else. Try putting that thread into a different spot within the outline. Decide where it fits best. When you isolate a particular plot thread in your outline, you should be able to see any holes. Holes tell you exactly where the problems are so you can correct them.

4) Ask yourself if you have enough conflict and if your characters well developed enough to be coming alive? Are your characters cohesive with your plot and setting? Lack of cohesion between these three elements may produce a roadblock in your writing, not allowing you to go forward with a book. If your characters don’t fit the plot and setting you’re putting them in, it will feel like you’re trying to shove a square peg in a round hole. Design characters based on your plot—their strengths, weaknesses, and goals and motivations must match the situations you’re putting them in just as they need to fit into their settings. Both First Draft in 30 Days and From First Draft to Finished Novel have chapters devoted to evaluating all of these things. Review these books for tips. Also, I highly recommend that you complete the Story Plan Checklist in From First Draft to Finished Novel (you can find one here.), which can really put the cohesion of your story in black and white perspective. Completing this checklist can be done in just a couple hours, which will keep you on your NaNoWriMo writing schedule.

5) Are you dealing with middle-of-the-book slump? You may need another story spark. A story spark is something intriguing that ignites a story scenario and carries it along toward fruition. A story has to have more than one of these sparks to sustain it. A story spark must infuse and re-infuse the story, and a new one must be injected at certain points in order to support the length and complexity of your story. Most novels up to 75,000 words have three story sparks: one for the beginning, one for the middle, and one for the ending. The beginning story spark sets up the conflict. The middle story spark (or possibly more than one middle story spark) complicates the situation. Finally, the ending story spark resolves the conflict and the situation.

Any “slump” or “sag” is a wake-up call that your deflated story is crying out for another spark to enliven it. Take what you’ve already developed with your initial spark and throw in some shocking, intriguing scenario that’ll have your characters running at full-speed again and will progress the story. Near the end of the book, you need another spark to enlighten the situation for the final course. The final spark doesn’t exist solely to enliven the plot, though it probably will inadvertently. Soon after the third spark, you’ll reach a point where all of your character and plot conflicts need to tie up logically.

6) There will be times that you’ll outline a book and even write one that doesn’t quite come together. The question at that point becomes, is/was this story ready to be written? You’ll know it’s not if you keep hitting roadblock after roadblock in trying to move forward. Set it aside. This will be much harder if you’re trying to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge, so save it as a last option. At times, a project will require years of shelf-time, but remember that you truly do have to revise your idea of the story. You’ll be surprised at how your mind will continue to work on a story when it’s on a low flame for a long period of time. If the story isn’t working, try to figure out what’s wrong. If you can’t come to firm conclusion as to why it’s not working, see if you can figure out what’s right about the story. Then tear away everything else and start from scratch with it.

http://www.karenwiesner.com