One day a
year or so ago, I kissed my husband, got in the van, and drove off
into the wild blue yonder. I had no planned destination, no set
arrival time, and no certain numbers of miles I wanted to go. I just
wanted some private time, away from the responsibilities of being
mommy and wife.
After about
forty-five minutes of aimless meandering, I'd satisfied my need to
"be alone" so I turned around and headed back to the house.
From the time I decided to go home, it took me five minutes to reach
my front door. In other words, my trip took forty-five minutes going,
and five back.
Here's why.
When I left the house, I took every little side street that caught my
eye, often ending up at a road that seemed to be going somewhere, but
in reality circled right back out to the main road just a few feet up
from where I'd entered. Even worse were the cul-de-sacs, forcing me to
turn around and cover the same territory twice, in order to get back
to the highway. Then, I purposely drove up and down the river road
several times, just to absorb the beauty and peacefulness of the
river.
If I'm not
careful, my writing often resembles that trip. I spend ninety percent
of my writing time puttering up and down scenic roads that get me
nowhere and only five percent working toward a destination. I'm not
talking about plotting versus seat-of-the-pantsing. I'm referring to
goal-setting, and even more importantly, goal-meeting.
How do we set
goals in our writing? First we have to consult the Lord. If we're
going to write for Him, it's important to know what He wants us to
write. So, prayer is the first step in goal-setting.
Once we know
the direction we're going, we want our goal to be realistic so we need
to choose something that is manageable, but challenging. It's
great to set a large goal (i.e. 120k book in six months) then break it
down into smaller mini-goals (5000 words a week.) Even going on down
to a set amount of words each day is very effective, as long as you
allow yourself room to breathe.
Now, on paper
this is looking pretty good. I'm reading back over it and thinking,
"I've really got this goal-thing going on." But, I know me.
How am I going to follow through?
In
Philippians 3:14, the apostle Paul says "I press on toward the
goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ
Jesus." (NIV)
Pressing on?
Doesn't that mean I can't quit? Not even if I want to? Sometimes the
fight is all uphill. Our computer keys feel like they're made of lead
and every word is a struggle. Then there are those wonderful downhill
writing sprees where a cork big enough to stop our overflowing fount
of genius could never be found. . .until we hit another uphill stretch
of road, that is.
Press on. I'm
sure that whole verse from Philippians will eventually end up on my
bulletin board, but as soon as I finish this letter, I'm going to raid
my daughter's art box and get her large neon-colored adhesive letters
and put two words across the top of my monitor frame -- Press ON.
Now you know
as well as I do that some smarty pants will come in here to my desk
and think, Press ON? Boy, how dumb are these writers anyway? She has
to have large sticky letters to tell her how to get the computer to
work.
In spite of
that, I'll know the significance of the words, and when each new
tomorrow comes, I'll strain my way through those uphill battles and
"Wheeeeeee" through the downhill delights, but all in all,
with God's help, I'll meet my goals. I'm praying you will, too!
