THINK, WRITE, TELL

Somewhere, recently, I read that if you have set some goals and just kept them to yourself without writing them down or telling them to others, your goal will probably wither and dry.

I've had to think about this for a while. I have always been the type of person who would set goals, but not write them down or say a word to others about them. That way, no one could call me on it. I thought it was a way to save face.

Writing down my goals sounded like a way to own those goals I was out to acomplish, but they tended to become easily covered. On a notecard on my desk? Covered with other papers and books. In a writer's journal? Turn a page and the goal is easily forgotten. On the bulletin board in front of my desk? Covered with other things that needed to go on the bulletin board. The same for my Toshiba bulletin board.

During a writing workshop last year, we were given a sheet of paper and told to put out name and the word "writer" on it. A full sheet of 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of paper. Most of us put our name and the word in the upper right or left corner of the paper, like we were taught in school. Our instructor chuckled and commended the single individual who wrote her name and the word in the center of the paper in large print. "Do you really think so little of your self as a writer?" she asked the rest of us. She challenged us to go out into the world and tell everyone "I am a writer." So I did.

But I continued to keep my goals to myself until I read that email or newsletter.

It was the end of October and I had been planning once again to participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). For those of you who haven't heard, the challenge is to write a 50,000+ word novel in the 30 days that comprise the month of November. Usually, the only person I confided in was my hubby, but this year I decided to tell more people: anyone really who would listen. An amazing thing happened. The more people I told, the more I felt compelled to finish those 50,000 words.

As I look upon the experience, I think that setting goals must be three fold: set your goals and determine what it will take to accomplish the goal, then write it down, AND FINALLY, share your goals with anyone who will listen. 

So, since I can't verbally talk to you, here are at least two of my goals: 1) Post a new "Sunday Edition" story every Sunday, and 2) Post regularly on this blog and my other blogs.

I've said it and published it. Now, to make good on my word.