Once again reader I am at a curious time in my writerly life. I have, ahead of me, the edit, a Sunday School Play to write and all the usual of running a business and a home.
I would like to cram everything in reader, but I find I just end up doing nothing well. But I need to find a way to master the skill of time management.
Google to the rescue, I have found this site. So now am doing several Goal Setting tasks for different aspects of my life. My writing, health, business and Fellowship goals and commitments are just the Headlining Topics. Within each of these Headlines there are subgroups and activities to help me on the way to achieving each goal.
As well you know reader, this is a writing blog, so I will concentrate on my writing goals here and not bore you with all my other daily dribble.
So starting with my Numero Uno goal, I will share with you my goals, time frames and to-do lists.
#1 Goal is to have “On the River Bank” published
To achieve this, I will need to work through the list below. I have written the list in reverse, with each step leading up the mountain to the peak, the goal is publication.
Prepare my manuscript for submission (30, June 2013 )
- Compile a list of Agents and Publishers
- Write and polish a submission query and synopsis
Professional Assessment (30, January 2013)
- Compile list of assessors
- Arrange for assessment
Polish Final Draft (15, January 2013)
- Consider or implement Beta readers recommendations
- Final edit for grammar and spelling
- Second edit for continuity and readability
First Edit and Plot Changes (Current and to be finished by 31, August 2012)
- Insert plot twists
- Trim unnecessary plot lines and characters
- Add historical detail and researched information
- Fix all terrible and embarrassing writing
Now reader you may think, yeah, so what? But this little exercise has been most beneficial, I now know what it is exactly that I need to do, and I have given myself a deadline.
If anyone has spotted something I haven’t remembered, please feel free to add a comment and remind me.
paulabeavan 
And I’ve just realised I have a huge “Pollution Incident Response Management Plan” to write and submit to the EPA before the end of August. The worst of it all is that I was notified that I had to have it ready before September 2012 back in January and thought I had heaps of time. Well I did have heaps of time, and now I don’t.
Hello Paula, I like how you’ve reversed the goal list – so that it isn’t really a list but a set of steps up the mountain. Clever! I’ll check ‘this site’ out also.
I climbed the mountain a couple of times in my head and found myself applying the steps to the “Pollution Incident Response Management Plan” work you must do first: some steps were somewhat humerous.
Thanks Phyllis, yes the steps are kind of like the goal is the pinnacle and the steps are the breakdown of what needs to be done to reach the pinnacle. As for the PIRMP well, I’d love to chuck it off the mountain and watch it float away on the wind LOL