Journal Book - writing

Achievable or Not?

Posted on by jennifermzeiger

I’ve had this very strange, and lovely, phenomenon happen in the last couple months.

Readers, not many but a couple, have contacted me asking when the next book will be out. EEEK! I never in my wildest dreams thought this would happen. I dearly want to give these readers more to read.

Here’s the kicker, they’re not asking for the same book. Some are asking about the next Hidden Mythics book, others the next adventure. As much as I’d love to be, I’m no Brandon Sanderson. I don’t crank out a couple books each year. Neither do I want to be a Patrick Rothfuss – although if I could write like him, I might change my mind – I don’t want a decade or more between each novel. And I’ve found, for dreams to come true, they have to be turned into goals with a timeline.

That’s why, each January, I sit down and  lay out each year’s goals using the SMART method. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound).  I’m intentional about everything from working out to hobbies to work life. It’s worked pretty well for me to keep writing and publishing, and still be able to maintain a healthy home life.

What it also shows me is if I’m trying to take on too much. That’s what I found this year. I WANT TO DO IT ALL. And if I try, I’ll burn out by the end of February and succeed at none of it.

All this to say, my writing goals for the next couple months look like this:

  • Finish the rough draft of Hidden Mythics II by the end of February, which is about 1500 words every week day.
  • Write the rough draft of the next adventure book by the end of March, which is also about 1500 words every week day depending on when I start writing.

This is a lot for me but I truly want to produce these two things in a timely fashion and I’m slowly honing what’s a good publishing schedule for me. We’ll see if these fall into the A – achievable- of the SMART method or not.

What you may notice is I didn’t put blogging in there because it’s, well, more writing. I know adding more into the goals above will stretch the possibly-achievable into the disheartening-snowball-of-falling-behind.

I love interacting on the blog, so I will be posting some during this time. However, here’s the heads up that it’ll be sporadic. I may re-run an adventure or post about how the writing is going, but I don’t guarantee it’ll be all the time.

For those who have followed me for a while, you know I’ll return when the schedule allows. I’ll check in and start a regular posting schedule when I figure out how it fits in the above craziness, or after the above craziness calms down into the slow slog of editing. Whichever comes first.

Thank you all for joining me on this journey of writing and publishing =)

Until next time, blessings,

Jennifer

19 thoughts on “Achievable or Not?”

  3. Good for you, Jennifer! I love your SMART method, it’s very … smart. 🙄 I wrote it down – ” note to self…”
    I’m afraid I’ve let the instant feedback of blogging draw me into spending too much time on my weekly posts and not enough intentional time on my books. Thanks for causing me to rethink my priorities. 🤔

    1. I learned the SMART stuff from my husband and gleaning from Michael Hyatt, so I can’t claim credit for its smarts 😉 but I can say it tends to work for me 🙂

      As for blogging vs. book writing, I completely understand! The decision to step away from regular posting was quite difficult.

  7. Good luck with your writing! It sounds ambitious, but I’m sure you can do it. I’ll be looking for 2 new books. Since you must have many years’ worth of adventures, I wouldn’t mind seeing some re-runs. They’re always fun, no matter how often you’re able to run them.

  8. Words and a lot of them. Be fully assured that they are in there just waiting to be …, on paper of sorts. Cheering you on.

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