One Path to Achieving GOALS

Here’s a short guide to reaching our GOALS:

G—Get Organized.  Collect all the notes, ideas, research, etc. for each  project you are working on and put them in separate folders.  Then, when you are ready to work, you won’t have to hunt all over for them. 

O—Onward!  Try to work on your project every day, if possible.  One hour or one page is a good rule of thumb.

A—Always edit, edit, edit.  Someone once said that “writing is re-writing,” and this very true.  The more you edit and refine, the better your piece will read.  10 drafts is not unusual.

L—Let it sit.  Allow enough time to let your project “cool off” a day or more between edits.  It’s surprising the mistakes, changes, and new ideas that will jump out at you.

S—Send it out.  Another truism is that “nothing ever sold in a desk drawer.”   Your manuscript needs to be out there, and if you’ve done the necessary research on what specific publishers and editors are looking for, you can target your submissions more successfully.

Following these short guidelines has helped me achieve my on-going goal of being published.

Contributed by Marjorie Flathers

In Search of Goals: 3

I promised to share some thoughts about “Journaling” and “Images” for your Goal Notebooks. So here they are:

JOURNAL ENTRIES

Journaling is journeying . . . traveling through introspective space . . . a trip without reservations. A blank page provides me with that instinctive need to fill it with words — my words. I have an entire bookshelf filled with journals: some have pages filled with words, sentences, paragraphs; others are partially filled; still others have yet to be opened. The unopened ones have such beautiful covers, such velvety pages, that it takes courage to open one up and write the first word. But I eventually do reach for one and write a few sentences in it, quickly, before I can change my mind.

I carry a journal with me everywhere I go for two reasons: (1) to have paper handy when an idea blooms and (2) to force myself to begin to develop that idea. I am not, by nature, a courageous person, and I would rather record an idea and let it go at that. The developing part takes courage. The journal makes me a more courageous person.

Where does the Goal Notebook fit into all this? As soon as a journal idea is developed — even a little bit developed — it is on its way to the Goal Notebook section labeled Journaling Ideas.  I copy it here, work on it, embellish it, edit it, until finally it is ready to be moved to either the section on Long- Term or Short-Term Goals.

IMAGES

This portion of my Goal Notebook is the least tidy. I collect images of two varieties: (1) things that are printed, snapped, or sketched. These include postcards, pieces of paper torn from newspapers and magazines, and snapshots. I staple or paste these onto the notebook pages.  The subject must always be something that encourages a strong feeling. For example, my notebook contains snapshots and sketches of several houses that (metaphorically) opened their doors and invited me in. It also contains faces, flowers, birds, brick paths, and a small printed card that commands me: “Just do it!” These are all visual images that have been recorded in printed form.

(2) I include images that are seen or heard and that I can describe with my pen. For example: “The dust motes fell slowly, softly, like snow on a winter night.” Or, “The sparrow tree is a giant aviary, a gymnasium.” Or, “The clouds are frothy bubbles on a glass of milk.” These images can be from my own imagination or from quotations (with sources noted).

Such images seem important to me when I record them in my journal, but I’m seldom sure why. By the time they get to my  Goal Notebook, it always surprises me to find that so many of them seem to fit into something I am currently writing. I believe in serendipity, don’t you?

If you haven’t already created your own Goal Notebook, I encourage you to get started. You won’t be sorry!

A Writing Formula

Math was a fun subject for me most of the time. I liked solving equations because math made sense. One number plus another number always equaled something solid and concrete. My mind thinks logically like that, so it’s no wonder that as I was trying to come up with another post on the topic of goals, I naturally gravitated towards an equation that added up:

 

Goals + Work = Rewards           

 

 

In order for our writing to prosper, we must have goals. We need to start with a vision of what we want to do and how we want to say it. Once we have that idea either roughly or firmly established, we need to work. We must invest time and energy into putting our thoughts onto paper, weaving plot, theme, character development, and climax into whatever direction our story leads.

           

It takes a lot to make our idea become a reality, but eventually it will lead to rewards. Will the prize always be publication? No, but we can have the satisfaction of successfully finishing our story, which in many ways is a reward in itself. Publication, of course, is icing on the cake.

 

Contributed by Catherine L. Osornio

Step two: Get your artwork out there!

I’m a member of the Wordsmiths, and I’m also an illustrator. Here is my perspective as a children’s book illustrator.

In my last post, I mentioned how putting together a portfolio is one of the first steps to take towards getting published. Well, the second step is getting your artwork out there. Showing it to art directors, editors and other art buyers is the name of the game. Showing it to other artists is helpful or anyone who is interested, because you never know if they know somebody who knows somebody. This advice probably seems obvious, but it’s a skill that takes practice. I started showing my artwork at SCBWI workshops, schmoozes and the conference.

 

Last summer, I attended the conference sponsored by SCBWI and entered my portfolio in the illustration exhibition. It was all great fun, and I was pleased that all my business cards and postcards were picked up. But, I really didn’t expect anything to happen. There were a sea of portfolios! Many were just knock over beautiful. Well, eight months had past, then one day, out of the blue, I received an e-mail about an illustration project! The publisher had seen my portfolio at the conference and picked mine from the hundred that were there! I was so excited to get this unexpected break.

 

I’m definitely still at the “getting my artwork out there” stage. It’s helpful for me to have a few sentences prepared to describe each piece in my portfolio. It’s also helpful for me to be able to describe my style succinctly. I’m not a free-flowing confabulator like some people, so being prepared with something to say helps me to get over my shyness.

 

See you out there!

 

contributed by Veronica Walsh, Illustrator

 

 

 

Inspirational Quotes

Here are some quotes I thought you might enjoy.

Gloria

The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret to outward success.
Henry Ward Beecher

The ability to concentrate and to use your time well is everything if you want to succeed in business–or almost anywhere else for that matter.
Lee Iacocca

Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.
Leon J. Suenes

First say to yourself what you would be;
and then do what you have to do.
Epictetus

Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement.
Brian Tracy, Eat that Frog

Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.
Seneca

In absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia.
Author Unknown

Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ballpark.
David Ogilvy

Inspiration: Goals

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV)

-contributed by Shirley Shibley

3, 2, 1, Contact!

About a year ago, I made it my goal to contact at least one editor or publisher from every issue of the Children’s Writer that came each month. My goal was simple:

1. Find an article in the issue that I felt I could try to write (even if I wasn’t that interested in it).

2. Make a note of one editor’s name who was interviewed in that article and write down what she said about the manuscripts she liked to receive.

3. Study that publisher’s website and look for a potential new topic that would fit in with their existing product line.

4. Send a query to that editor and ask if she’d like to see a proposal for a manuscript about that new topic.

Each month as my issues came in, I dutifully fulfilled my goal and contacted at least one editor from each issue. If they didn’t include an e-mail address in their interview, I dug around on their website until I found one. Some e-mail addresses were just the company’s generic e-mail.

I was able to send e-mail queries to every single publisher I wanted to contact. Some never got back to me, but most editors did. In the e-mail, I simply stated that I read their interview in the Children’s Writer, I saw that they were interested in receiving manuscripts about topic X, and I studied their website. Then I asked if would they like to receive a proposal to write a book that would fit into their product line. I listed 2-3 ideas I had for suggested manuscripts.

Soon I had to quit following my goal. Why? I started landing so many book contracts I couldn’t keep up with the writing!

In so many writing circles, they tell us to make it our goal to submit our finished manuscripts on a steady basis. That never produces results for me. But when I made it my goal to contact at least one editor each month who was interviewed in the Children’s Writer and ask them about writing a brand new manuscript tailored to fit their product list, that’s when I started landing so many book contracts that I knew I had found a secret to success.

-contributed by Nancy I. Sanders

My GOAL—Letting that Child-Like Mindset Out of the Closet

I‘ve been struggling with a new GOAL for a while now, but I think I’ve finally made some major progress.

I‘ve been watching WAY too much news. In fact, I’ve been a news junkie. There. I said it. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I want to be honest with you. When did this news thing start? It was the day our country changed forever on 9 -11. After that I had a difficult time tearing myself away from the news. Before long I found myself leaving the news on for longer periods of time throughout the day. My over-the-top news watching sort of sneaked up on me and it was doing its damage. It began to stifle the child-like mindset I needed to write children’s stories. The ideas didn’t come as easily, and the writing was tougher because I had too many serious things on my mind.

Don’t get me wrong—I think it’s important to keep up with local and world events to a point, but I was saturated with it. I’d lost the BALANCE between the serious things of the world, and the fun, wondrous, precious things that still exist in a child’s world.

I‘ve always read and loved children’s books. That’s never changed. I also enjoyed watching children’s programs like Reading Rainbow, Maisy, Curious George, Franklin the Turtle, Sesame Street, and the list goes on. Those shows almost always inspired a new idea for a story each time I watched because they made me feel like a child again. I saw the GOOD, and the HOPE, and the HAPPINESS, and the WONDER that’s all around us. My high school aged son used to find me watching children’s shows. He’d ask with a grin, “Mom, you doin’ market research again?” That’s what I called it because it told me what kids were enjoying at the time. It also told me what children’s book authors were having to compete with!

After 9-11, children’s programming was pushed to the back burner. I got caught up in the “adult” perspective of life by watching too much news. You see, I’m a volunteer Red Cross Disaster Action Team nurse, so I wanted to hear about how the Red Cross was helping with every disaster. The disasters never seemed to end. Because our world had changed, nurses were required to take further training in disaster response as it related to terrorism. I found myself in shelters helping victims of fires and floods. Sobering things were constantly on my mind.

Our youngest son is now in law enforcement. That peaked my interest in the latest on criminal justice, criminal forensic science, court TV, etc. One day while watching the news, I saw my son on T.V. securing a crime scene. That cinched it. From then on I HAD to watch the news throughout the day while he worked. Didn’t want to miss anything.

Watching children’s programming became a thing of the past for me by then. The more the news filled my thoughts, the more my child’s mindset and childlike wonder (which is a must for a children’s writer) got shoved to the back of my brain and into a small closet. It was getting tougher to go back and open that closet door. So much “heavy” grown-up stuff was in the way.

Over the past year, my child’s inner voice has been shouting at me, “Let me out of this closet RIGHT NOW!” Thankfully I listened. I couldn’t’ take it anymore. I was sick of the news and ready to set my sights on a new and NECESSARY GOAL. It wasn’t easy but I took a mental sledge hammer, broke down that closet door and said to my inner child, “Come on out! Let’s watch some FUN stuff!”

Now, I watch a little bit of news in the morning with my coffee then I turn if off! I watch a little news with my husband when he gets home, and that’s it! When I need to rest during the day, I’ll frequently sit down with a cup of calming tea and watch some delightful children’s programming. Guess what? I FEEL like a kid again and I THINK like a kid when I want to write a story!

My GOAL led me to our local Salvation Army thrift store. I knew of some treasures that could be found. There they were—three of my FAVORITE children’s movies. I purchased them for only $1.70 each. Beatrice Potter’s Peter Rabbit, the original Peter Pan and Pinocchio. I watched these movies with a sense of familiar warmth and wonder. Tears actually filled my eyes as Jiminey Cricket sang “When You Wish Upon a Star.” Why? Because I immediately felt like that little girl again—the one who LOVED singing that song to my dolls when no one was listening.

My GOAL has helped to lift a great weight off of my shoulders. I’m spending more time reading the children’s books that I love, watching some children’s programming, and connecting with that child mindset that really never left—she was just stuck in the closet. I’m glad she put her foot down and straightened me out! Now, we’re having lots of fun filling our minds with the GOOD, the HOPE, the HAPPINESS, and the WONDER of a child’s world. The news will just have to go on without me.

Copyright 2008 Sheryl Ann Crawford

Re-Thinking My Goals

“Be Glad and rejoice forever in that which I create.”  Isaiah 65:18

This summer has become a Summer of Reflection for me.  It started when I began the long-neglected project of clearing out closets, cupboards, files and anything else that needed sorting and reorganizing (and throwing out!).

In the process, I was gratified to see and remember how many sales, large and small (over 350), that I’ve made in the past 25+ years.  But this process also helped me brush away many “cobwebs” in my mind regarding my writing.  I also had a milestone birthday this year, and that often can make a person pause and think about where her life is going from here.

And, the changing nature of publishing, especially children’s publishing, converged with all of the above.  Two trends are especially apparent to me.  First, a number of magazines for children went out of print, including two of my top markets, Guideposts for Kids and My Friend.  Added to that, my other top market, the “Kids’ Reading Room” page of the Los Angeles Times, eliminated their daily 5-part stories and they’ve severely curtailed acceptances for the Sunday page.

Another fact of life is that children’s bookstores across the country are closing their doors, according to Publishers’ Weekly.  In our Southern California area, “Imagine That” in Riverside and the venerable “Adventures for Kids” in Ventura are gone, after many years in business.  Reasons cited include children’s changing tastes and time spent with the many technological devices they enjoy using.  Equally important are competition from “big box” stores (Costco, etc.) and diminishing orders from school districts because of lack of funds.

This, no doubt, is part of the reason the manuscripts for all three of my middle-grades novels (with vastly different characters and plots) continue to be returned (“rejected?”) even after receiving positive comments from editors and other evaluators at SCBWI conferences and other places.  After spending many years working on these books, this has been disheartening, indeed.  Perhaps editors are looking for novels that are hipper or more edgy than mine are, or they want younger and/or more established names. Certainly books are continuing to be published, but I’m wondering if having a book in print is on my horizon. And, this experience has pointed out to me the necessity of researching a niche market before writing any book.

Meanwhile, my immediate goal is to write shorter pieces, fiction and nonfiction, for children and adults, on subjects that appeal to me, as I seek and discover opportunities for them.  At present, I have five pieces in various stages of completion and feel good about them all.  A (very) long-term goal is to write a biography of our family for my children and grand-children.  I’m also doing other book-related activities, such as volunteering at the local library.

I will always continue to write and explore new avenues for my work.  I treasure the time I spend with my writers’ groups, especially Wordsmiths.  Is there another book in my future?  That’s something I’m leaving in God’s hands.  For now, I’m satisfied with all I’ve accomplished, and I feel peaceful and confident about having clarified these goals for myself, and I’m glad I have the opportunity to share them with all of you.

I read Daily Word every day, and shortly after I finished writing this post, I read the entry for today, which referenced the Bible quote above and began “Blessed with talents and abilities that enrich my life, I express myself in meaningful, creative ways.”  That surely was a positive affirmation for me!

Contributed by Marjorie Flathers

In Search of Goals, Part 2

Two weeks ago, I described my “Goal Notebook,” starting with Meditation, the way I have learned to start my day. I promised you more. Here it is:

Long Term Goals are projects that won’t be finished in a day, or even a month. They are books I want to write, major articles that require extensive research, family and church histories. On a separate piece of paper, I list ideas for these in no particular order. Order is not a criteria here. The idea is what counts. This list serves as a kind of working table of contents. Now comes the fun part. Each separate idea has 5-6 blank pages of its own. On the first page, I write “Synopsis.” and an estimated time frame for completion The second page is for “Potential Markets, and the third page is for “Research Information.” On subsequent pages, I write bits of narrative and dialogue. I ad lib. I free write. These meanderings, through some literary metamorphosis, eventually combine to form whole thoughts and cohesive paragraphs. When this happens, it’s time to move this particular long term project to a notebook or folder of its own.

Short Term Goals are projects that I plan to finish in less than a week, like an article that doesn’t require research, a poem, a rebus, a letter to the editor. Again, I make a list, which grows daily. Then, for each idea, I use one page to create a working outline. When the outline suits me, I print it out and put it in a standing file on my desk and cross it off my short term list.

The Progress Diary is one of the most vital sections of the Goal Notebook. It keeps me honest. In it, I list everything I am working on and its status: date started, progress in pages completed, ready for editing. Just those three categories — no more. I force myself to update current projects daily. Even a negative entry has a positive effect in that I have to deal with the “Why nots?” of procrastination.

Sections on Journals and Images complete the Goal Notebook. Tune in on July 29, and I’ll tell you about the value of journaling and the importance of collecting descriptive phrases, metaphors, and similes.

Contributed by Marilyn Donahue