Set Goals and Reward Yourself!

Disclaimer first—I do not consider myself a professional anything, so my suggestions and tips should be taken as just one more person on the internet sharing his personal opinion based on his own experiences.  These tips and ideas may work for you too, but they may not.  Just saying.  

Writing Tip #010

Set Goals and Reward Yourself.

 

Make marker points for your breaks in writing.  Decide what your goal will be before you take a break.  Maybe you want to write for one hour, or maybe you can set your goal at a thousand words.  Whatever it is, get to that marker point and take a break.  And don’t forget to set smaller goals for yourself.  Setting a goal like, “I’m going to write four chapters in one sitting,” are not goals that are going to encourage you to succeed.  Set a small goal.  Once you reach it, throw a little party for yourself.  Have a cookie.  Go out for a latte.  Maybe order in.  Do something that you want to do, after all, you’ve earned it.  Doing this is actually a short form of positive reinforcement.  Setting goals and reaching them, even the small ones, has helped me be a better writer in more ways than one.  In the same way the sales of your finished book are going to inspire you to write more afterwards.  Let me know how this tip works for you.  As always, these are just tips that work for me.  Maybe they’re not for you, and that’s okay.  Just wanted to share my experiences.  Have a great day!