Another Goal: My 1st Novel
My 1st Published Novel - The Paintings of Rauma
Have you ever thought of writing a book or starting a major project that you know is going to take a huge amount of time and commitment to make happen?
I thought the achievement of one of my latest objectives might inspire you to do something new or finish something that is in progress.
In June, I published my novel....Yes, around 60,000 words later, I managed to complete it, edit it, add a cover and get published on Amazon.
So, how did this come to pass?
Well, it will come as no surprise to you, that having a clear and SMART objective (yes, we all know about SMART objectives) is essential, combined with some clear actions and the commitment to drive it through.
Let's take the example of a novel. Now, most people are busy. It is really challenging sometimes to find the time to do large projects amongst everything else, yes?
So, as always, I suggest making it easy for yourself. This was my objective:
"Finish my novel, with 60,000 words and get it published by midsummer (June 20th)."
Check: Specific, measurable, achievable/actionable, realistic, timed?
Quite a simple one but not that easy either. I then sat down and thought how I was going to do it. I decided that I could set aside an hour per day to write 1,000 words. Then I decided that I needed to do this daily in order to make sufficient progress. I also thought that there may be an occasional day where this just wasn't possible...you need to be realistic, right? So I allowed my self two days off per week, at anytime. Therefore, 5,000 words per week would be written. I also decided that after the 3 months or so of writing, I would need another month to read it, edit it and do everything required to be happy with it and get it published.
Of course, the organisation is one thing, the commitment to get it done is quite another. The only way I do this personally, is to imagine the end result.
"How happy will I be to hold my book at the end of this process?"
And I was!!! Then, I became even more inspired. I enjoyed the process so much that I followed it up with four short stories over the following weeks. I am now working on the sequel to my first novel, which will be published in September.
Then, I set up and author page on amazon at: My Author Page
I also started a blog to showcase my writing and progress at: Rauma Stories
Now, onto the next project...I hope that this story may inspire you to achieve more and do something exceptional this year!
I love coaching!
John