Ever Changing Goals

I had definite goals growing up. I wanted to go to college to become a scientist. I liked the idea of looking into microscopes, telescopes, and test tubes, and jotting down vital information that would lead me to be counted among the greats like Curie, Pasteur, Galileo, and Da Vinci. But I also wanted to be a detective like Sherlock Holmes, Trixie Belden, and Nancy Drew. Then there was the fun I had drawing my own comic strips, following the examples of my favorite superhero, Superman. Maybe I should be a famous cartoonist like Curt Swan or Charles Schultz.

As I grew older, my goals shifted. I ended up graduating college with a film degree instead of the engineering degree I had originally planned to achieve. Instead of becoming a famous cinematographer as I had hoped, I worked as an office supervisor to make ends meet during a very long actor’s strike.           

When God captured my heart and I became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, my goals shifted again. I started seeking His will for my life instead of my own. I married and began to raise four children, involving myself not only in their upbringing, but in their education as I homeschooled them for several years.

Then, through a friend, God showed me that I needed to add a new goal. This time He showed me that I was to write! I hadn’t ever seriously considered writing as a career, yet when I saw confirmation after confirmation in my life, it all made sense. All the areas that had interested me in my youth could be encapsulated in writing! I could research famous people or inventions for stories. I could create my own detectives and super heroes. I could set up a scene on a piece of paper instead of on film. The possibilities were endless.

In the last five years as I’ve given my writing goals to God, I’ve had some amazing publishing doors opened. He continues to give me new objectives to follow that challenge and develop me as a person and a writer.

Do you need some new goals in your writing journey? Try asking God for them. You may be surprised how He blesses your willingness to depend on Him.

Contributed by Catherine L. Osornio

Goals: An Illustrator Gets Started

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

Here are some tips and questions to ponder about setting illustration goals.

Write them down. Nearly everything I’ve read about goal setting recommends writing goals down. Sometimes every day. Some even recommend memorizing them! A lot of experts compare this to a roadmap; something to follow or fall back on when you get lost. One of my first steps was to assemble a portfolio of artwork. By taking classes and making assignments for myself, I have been able to get my portfolio up and jogging. What do I want my artwork to accomplish? What are my goals for my artwork? What are the steps I need to take?

Be specific. Making precise goals helps to determine what actions need to be taken and whether your goals are being accomplished. As I attended workshops and met other artists and writers, I learned how much diversity there is in the field of children’s books. It seems like there is something for every artist, and that gives me hope. But I realized too, that my goal, “to illustrate children’s books,” was too broad. I began to look more closely at the type of artwork used for different genres of books. I began to define my style and figure out where my artwork would fit in. Are my goals too general? Do I have a time table to pace my goals? What type of book is best suited for my artwork? Do I like to draw certain things, people or animals? Do I have a consistent style?

Make a commitment. Working by myself, at first, was lonely. I missed getting immediate feedback from others in the art department. As time went by, the loneliness made arriving at my home studio more difficult. Solution: Join a critique group! What activities are going to help me accomplish my goals? Can I do these activities on a daily or regular basis? Do I have the right equipment to help me accomplish my goals? Do I need to learn new skills? Have I included recreational or inspirational activities? Do I have a positive attitude? How is my physical and spiritual health?

Get motivated. I’ve tried non-artist jobs, but it just doesn’t work for me. I’m very grateful that God has given me this talent to make my livelihood. I also get a kick out of seeing my artwork in print! I really enjoy giving visual order to things imagined by me or another author. I have hope that my artwork brings joy to kids. I believe my artwork makes the world a better place. Why do I want to accomplish this goal? How will I benefit from this goal? How does this goal complement my values?

Go get ‘em!

-contributed by Veronica Walsh, Illustrator

Let’s Talk Goals

Okay, I confess. I’m not a good goal setter. Well, it’s not that I don’t set goals. I’ll write them down on paper or make a list on my computer. Then I lose the list! Have you ever tired to find a file you’ve written on your computer but can’t remember what you titled it? Grrrr! After a while you just decide you’ve spent too much time trying to find your goals list and go on to other things.

Or, you just know you wrote your goals in the red notebook but you find every color notebook known to man EXCEPT the red one. Sigh. Life is so much simpler for people with good memories. Of course, I don’t know that from experience!

Still, let’s not get discouraged. Keep writing those goals. Maybe one day when you finally decide to clean your office, you’ll find them. Check and see how many of them you have accomplished anyway!

contributed by Gloria

Writer’s Goals

Goals. Football, soccer, hockey, writing. Writing? How did that get in there? But yes, it’s true, goals are very much a part of writing.

As a scattered writer (take that however you want) I got myself in a mess recently. I write both nonfiction and fiction, for children and adults, Christian and secular. Spending some time trying to organize my guidelines into separate folders instead of lumping them all together, and replacing outdated guidelines, my brain was in as much of a jumble as my dining room table. Where was I going? What was I doing? What was I writing? I took a few minutes out to think about goals and wrote several on a piece of lined notebook paper. They range from submitting queries and proposals of manuscripts I have finished or begun, to a rewrite. Then I went on to designing two proposals for ideas for non-fiction books, one for Christian women and one for children. This goal is for one month. When I have a long project to work on I will set goals for longer periods of time. I taped the piece of paper to my desk above my computer, so I can see it every day.

I feel more relaxed now, even if I still have more organizing to do. Setting the goals gives me incentive and focus, and prioritizing my scattered work keeps me at least a little sane.

Score six—I just made one goal!

-contributed by Shirley Shibley

Specialize

Hi! My name is Humphrey. I’m a cat. I’m also a writer. You probably already know that. But what you may not know is that one of my goals is to specialize.

Why specialize, you may ask? Maybe it’s because I like to sleep a lot (on my back!) and specializing on one topic cuts down on the time I have to spend researching new topics, so it leaves me more time for naps. Maybe it’s because I’ve discovered that editors I’ve never worked with before perk up their ears when they hear I specialize, so I land a contract much faster than ever. Maybe it’s because when my target audience buys one of my books, they see my other books I’ve written on the same topic, so they buy them, too. This gives me more cash to buy tuna. That’s a definite reason. (I love tuna!)

An Outline
When I first made it my goal to specialize, I chose a topic I was really interested in and wasn’t already flooded by kitten’s books in the market. Then I spent about three months writing an outline covering my topic from A-Z. I made sure to list at least one source on my outline for each item I plugged into it.

A Personal Reference Library
Then I visited local university libraries and browsed through their reference section. Hey, I figured if they thought those books about my topic were important enough not to let other cats borrow them, then I should find out what they were! I wrote down the titles of the ones I liked the best, went home and bought the ones I found for cheap on Amazon.

Contract Negotiations
One thing I’m careful about, however, is contract negations. I don’t ever sell all rights to a manuscript I write about my topic. And I hold lengthy discussions with each publisher before I sign a competing manuscript clause on the contract. We word that clause so that I can continue to write manuscripts that COMPLIMENT my article or book, just not directly COMPETE. This gives me the freedom to keep on writing about my topic.

Build and Grow
That was about eight years ago. Each time I landed a book contract since then, I spent at least $100 to add books to my personal reference library and plugged in all the basic information to my big, general outline. My outline is over 200 pages by now, but with all that information floating around in my walnut-sized brain and getting lost between the memories of tuna and catnaps, with just one quick search on my computer, I can find just the kitty treat I need by checking in on my outline.

Now that I learned how to specialize, I have a new goal: Write a Magnum Opus. I’ve picked a huge, over-the-top project that will take me years to write. Sure, I’m not “qualified” to write it. Sure, the manuscript may never get published. Sure it’s way over my head. An impossible dream. But it’s fun! It gives me purpose as a writer. It gives me a sense of worth that I’ll leave my mark on cat history. What’s my Magnum Opus about, you ask? The topic I specialize in, of course! That way I can keep working on my Magnum Opus while I’m writing current manuscripts. It’s my goal.

-contributed by Humphrey, Nancy’s writing buddy

A New Goal For a Risk Taker

Afraid to try your hand at writing a new genre for children? I was. I’ve been writing books and magazine stories for children ages 4 to 8 for years. It’s been a comfortable place to be as a writer. Then it happened. About two years ago I read several books from a series of first chapter books that shook me out of my comfort zone. They were simply written, with a few black and white illustrations, but these books were EXCITING! There were cliffhangers at the end of chapters, and a reason to turn every page.

I now had a NEW GOAL as a writer—a burning desire to learn how to write first chapter books. But I lacked confidence. Had I found a unique angle? What would make my historical fiction stand out? Was my story idea dumb? Would kids like the characters? Was the dialog natural and believable? Was it action packed? So many questions. So much to read and learn before putting pen to paper! This was going to take time.

I went back to the books in my personal library and poured over the chapters dealing with writing for this genre. I studied articles in The Children’s Writer, The Children’s Book Insider, and the SCBWI Bulletin. I frequented bookstores and read stacks of first chapter books. I ordered used books from amazon.com (cheap!) The selection was dizzying, and the on-line market research was intense!

I asked my good friend, Lauren Harris, a teacher, writer, and school curriculum adviser to be a co-author. She is one of the most creative people I know. Our GOAL was to learn to write this first chapter book together. I’ll never forget Lauren’s challenge to the both of us. It came through this inspiring quote from T.S. Eliot:

“Only those who will risk going too far
can possibly find out how far one can go.”

Wow! It grabbed me. I posted that quote on my bulletin board as a reminder that I was definitely a risk taker (and don’t you ever forget it! I said to myself.)

I was a risk taker when I submitted my first magazine story over 15 years ago. At that time I had nothing, nada, zilch, to put on a publishing resume related to writing for children. I simply had non-stop story ideas, and I had read 14 books on writing for children. I had no idea if the editor would like my manuscript—-or fall out of her chair laughing, and call her staff into her office saying “Hey, everyone! Get in here. You’ve got to read the dumbest unsolicited manuscript I’ve ever seen!”

I was a risk taker when I literally wrote my first picture book from bed while ill and in constant pain—all the while praying that my pain wouldn’t show through my writing. It didn’t because of God’s grace. That book was picked up by a large Christian publishing house. A second picture book followed with the same publisher three years later.

Nancy Sanders and I were risk takers when we presented book proposals to Scholastic Professional Books, with the promise that we could write something for grades K – 2 that hadn’t been done before for that age. Making a promise is taking a definite risk! We did it! Then we wrote six more, one right after another. Whew!

So, Lauren and I set our sights on a new goal and became risk takers. What an adventure! We studied, wrote, and revised. We’re still studying, writing, and revising, and we’re loving it! The book is going well and an editor wants to hang onto it for a while to give it “further consideration.” It may not be accepted but at least we know that our book is good enough for “further consideration.”

As writers, we risk having an editor reject our work every time we send out another manuscript. Rejection after rejection doesn’t stop us. Just say “Ha! I eat rejections for breakfast,” and keep going! With risk comes failure, but also success!

If your words are in print, it’s because you set your sights
on a goal, and you are a risk taker.

Go ahead. Pursue that new goal and take the risk of “going too far.” See what you are capable of doing by the grace of God. You never know where that risk will take you—perhaps out of your comfort zone.

Copyright 2008 Sheryl Ann Crawford

Are You A Goal-Setter?

There are large goals, such a completing a middle-grades novel, smaller goals, such a writing a 500-word story, and every once in a while, just getting out of bed in the morning is enough of a goal in itself!

Do you like to set goals for yourself?  Do you find you work better within this kind of structure?  I have always been a goal-oriented person, whether it’s household chores and errands, sewing for myself and my family (back in the day) and for the past 25 years, with my writing.  I’ve known others who see goals as a kind of enemy.  They prefer to “go with the flow,” and “see what happens.”  For me, though, goals, large and small, are the way to get things done. 

When I first began writing, my first goal, of course, was to get published.  In addition, I had two major publishing goals.  They were to appear in St. Anthony Messenger and Needlepoint News, both highly-regarded magazines in their respective fields (religion and needle arts.)  I avidly read every word in both of them each month, simply because I enjoyed the publications.  Meanwhile, I set smaller goals for myself and sold to various, not-quite-so-prestigious publications, and even a few larger ones.  And, after a number of years, I eventually did reach my main goals.  I’ve appeared in St. Anthony Messenger numerous times with researched non-fiction articles, fiction, and book reviews.  Sadly, my appearance (with wonderful color illustrations) in Needlepoint News was in their last issue, after 20+ years of publication.  But I had achieved my goals!

I believe part of that success was due to my “absorbing,” over the years, exactly the types of articles and stories these magazines wanted, their length, their focus, and the language they used—how they wanted a story told.  So, when I was ready to submit to them, I felt at ease with writing the kind of work they published.  And, I’m happy to say, in almost all instances (with these two magazines) there was very little editing done to the manuscripts I sent in.

One of my biggest, and also very satisfying, “goals” (one I never even dreamed of) was my acceptance as one of the regular writers for the Kids’ Reading Room page of the Los Angeles Times when that page ran from 2000-2007.  Maybe there is something to “seeing what happens,” after all!  And again, I believe my many years of reading the Times, prior to submitting material to the Kids’ page, helped me write in a style that would be acceptable to that editor.

For me, having goals is essential to accomplishment and success.  And, I think that the first step on this road is to read everything a person possibly can, not only for enjoyment, but also to absorb different writing and editorial styles, which we can then incorporate into our own unique way of telling a story.  We never know when something we read will spark an idea for another goal we can set for ourselves.

Contributed by Marjorie Flathers

In Search of Goals

A few years ago, I got into the car and headed for Los Angeles and the SCBWI conference. Because of previous obligations, I was a day late and driving alone. Since I didn’t have my friend Marge in the passenger seat (Marge can find any destination in the world), I had to depend in mapquest.com. I have news for you. Mapquest does not always send drivers on the most direct route to reach their goals. I took some scenic, gas-guzzling tours through several neighborhoods before arriving at the end of my journey.

Because I was at a writing conference, I began to think how this experience could be applied to me as a writer. Did I plan each project so that I could finish it with the least amount of detouring? Did I take a lot of wrong turns before I found the direction of my plot? Was I a creative gas-guzzler, idling instead of getting myself to the computer? Was I in such a hurry to get where I was going that I didn’t take time to write in my journal, sit in the shade with a cup of tea, ask for guidance in daily devotions?

It came as a shock to realize that my writing life was not guided by a reliable map or by an estimated time of arrival. I needed some goal-setting strategies! After a good deal of soul searching, I came up with the idea of creating a “Goal Notebook.”
I bought a small (1 1/2 inch spine) three-ring notebook and filled it with paper. I used dividers with tabs to separate the categories: meditation, long-term goals, short-term goals, progress diary, journaling ideas, images.

Meditation: This is where I do a little searching each morning and copy a Bible verse or other quotation that is meaningful to me. I like to do this in my back garden where violets grow beneath the roses. But in bad weather the kitchen table does nicely, for a bird bath sits beneath the window and our resident towhee likes to visit.

I write a few thoughts about the verse, then thank God for the sunshine warm on my back — or for the rain that keeps our hillsides green. Then I ask for guidance for that day.

Would you like to know more about my Goal Notebook? About long-term and short-term goals? Keeping a progress diary? Recording Journaling ideas? Or that intriguing word — images? Tune in two weeks from today, and I’ll tell you how my search for goals began to expand into some serious writing.

 Contributed by Marilyn Donahue