Brainstorm

I don’t have one set way of brainstorming my goals, which I tend to revisit every quarter, but my most common method is taking a few minutes to right down every potential goal and pipe dream I’ve ever had, from owning an apartment to visiting Thailand. Then, I narrow it down to three things I want to really focus on for the next three months.

5 Years

This is the big ‘pie in the sky’ goal—one of mine for this quarter (which has been a consistent goal for multiple quarters now) is to publish my novel.

3 Months

Now I think, what do I want to be doing by the end of this quarter? This goal is still big, but something that feels achievable in the near future. By the end of October, I hope to be ready to query agents.

4 Weeks

My four week goal is to publish Issue 2 of Penelle Magazine. Now you might be thinking, how is this relevant to the novel? Part of a big picture goal is recognizing the indirect ways you can contribute to that goal. For me, the magazine is a great way to build a name for myself in writing spheres, which can only help my book down the line.

2 Days

I think of this one as tasks or small steps I can take a couple of times a week in service of the bigger goals. For this month, my hope is to complete one section of my upcoming guide to literary magazines every two days. Similar to the lit mag, this is a goal that will contribute to my presence online as a writer.

Every Day

I always pick one or two daily habits that will contribute to the bigger goals for the month. For July, those two daily goals are completing my writing routine (which you can learn about here) and working on Penelle Magazine. The first one is important because you can never stop after just one novel, and the second one will help make sure my four week goal succeeds.

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