GET SMART in 2019!

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my jo, For auld lang syne.

We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet, For auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp! And surely I'll be mine!

And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet, For auld lang syne.

Yes, it is that time of year! New Year’s has arrived. Ushered in by the famous Scottish tune written by Robert Burns. His song written in 1788, always warms my heart as I remember friendships, past and present.  

But with the new year comes that dreaded word:  resolution. According to dictionary.com, a resolution is a decision or determination; a firmness of purpose.

Who wouldn’t want to start the new year off with a bang by writing down every firm decision they are determined to keep this year.

But when you look at research only half of the people who write resolutions actually keep them. The average life span of a resolution is two to three months.

What are some of the most popular resolutions going into 2019?

The top resolutions are exercise, lose weight, get organized, save money, spend less money, or spend more time with family and friends. 

Why do resolutions have a short shelf life? Are the dreams of a perfect life too lofty? Too difficult to maintain? Not really something a person wants?

I wonder if resolutions fail because they are too vague, which is why I made a resolution to get SMART in 2019.

SMART goals help you accomplish tasks by making them more manageable.  It chunks long-term goals into smaller ones.

What do I want to accomplish in 2019?

·         Write a book

·         Set up a website

·         Pitch my book at a conference

·         Learn more about the craft of fiction writing

To write a SMART goal use the acronym to help you:

S-specific and simple

M-Measurable so you can track your progress

A-Action-oriented by including necessary steps

R-Realistic; make it attainable with a little bit of a stretch

T-Time-bound-give yourself a deadline.

Sound simple enough? Let’s try it. 

Desired Accomplishment: Write a book.

SMART Goal: I want to complete my manuscript by the end of 2019, by writing one chapter per month of 6,000 words by setting aside two hours every Tuesday or Wednesday to focus on writing.

Now, I am not a full-time writer.  I have a day job and would like to keep it, so I have to think of what is realistic.  Even if it takes a little longer than I would like.  As a planner, I am aware that life happens. Which is why I give myself a choice either a Tuesday or a Wednesday.  That way I can plan according to life plans.

Desired Accomplishment: Learn more about the craft of writing.

SMART Goal: I want to develop my craft of writing by setting aside one hour each Wednesday or Thursday to listen to a podcast or read a book about the craft of writing.

I could include a podcast or book list, so I don’t waste time looking for the perfect one.  Instead of having book lists buried inside of conference notes, I have a quick and easily accessible one right at the bottom of my SMART goal.

Now, writing SMART goals are easy, but don’t forget accountability to make sure you accomplish them. 

Here is a list of ways you can build accountability into your SMART Goals:

·         Post your goals on a bulletin board

·         Bullet journal- track them each month

·         Share your SMART goals with your critique group

·         Block out time on your calendar- either before a month starts or before each week

·         Use boomerang for Gmail to set reminders

·         Use a task management app

·         Find an accountability partner

·         Dedicate time on your calendar to write

Finally, remember SMART goals are not set in stone for life. Review them often. It can be weekly, monthly, or quarterly.  Figure out what works best for you. 

Let’s strive to be in the group of people who achieve their goals in 2019!

Promises Yet to Be Kept

Some days I wonder if God will see me all the way through to publishing a novel. I’m sure He started me on this journey. He’s gifted me with joy in creating the story, joy in writing it down, joy in learning how to make my writing better and revising it as I learn. And yet…no promised reward.

The situation reminds me of a parallel in the lives of my little granddaughters.

The Christmas presents had all been opened. The debris of empty boxes, crumpled wrapping paper, and ribbons had been cleared away. The granddaughters had walked their baby dolls in the stroller, put together some puzzles, played catch with the giant ball, cooked dinner in their miniature kitchen, and scanned groceries into their cash register. Nona (me) was exhausted. The girls showed no signs of slowing down
.
“Nona, will you read this to us?”

The three-year-old slapped a book into my lap. Her two-year-old sister stood next to her with another selection of reading material.

I stared at a hundred puzzle pieces strewn across the carpet, the other toys scattered in various corners of the room.

“Okay. And after I read the stories, we’re going to clean up the puzzle pieces.”

By the end of both books, they seemed to have forgotten the agreement. “Play ‘Ashes Fall Down?’” the younger girl asked.

“When you clean up the puzzle pieces, we can play ‘Ashes Fall Down,’” I promised.

The girls stared at the daunting task before them. They knew their Nona kept her promises. After all, the promised Christmas presents showed up under the tree at just the right time. But my latest promise was conditional upon a given task, and they didn’t know where to begin.

I gave them a nudge. Picking up the empty bag that was supposed to hold the pieces, I directed them to pick up a few at a time and drop them in. They could do that. After several trips around the room, every puzzle piece arrived at its home in the bag.

Notice the order: 1) the girls made a request. 2) I answered with a promise conditional upon specific behaviors. 3) The girls completed their end of the bargain with a little assistance from me, BUT I did not do their work. 4) I kept my promise.

Doesn’t God do the same with us? We make a request. He answers with a promise, sometimes conditional, sometimes not. We have to follow through. He follows through.

As I make messes in my writing attempts, there are moments when I don’t know what to do to clean it up. I’m juggling so many tasks—writing, queries, proposals, conferences, writing courses, study materials—where do I start?

God gives me a nudge. He shows me the first step in the first task, and I think, “I can do that much.” And I do.

Once the girls accomplished their chore, we played  the promised “Ring Around the Rosy,” that age-old song-game that 21^st century preschoolers still love to play. And once I accomplish the chores God has for me in writing, He will come through with His promise, too.

Linda Sammaritan writes realistic fiction, mostly for kids ages ten to fourteen. She is currently working on a middle grade trilogy, World Without Sound, based on her own experiences growing up with a deaf sister.

Linda had always figured she’d teach middle-graders until school authorities presented her with a retirement wheelchair at the overripe age of eighty-five. However, God changed those plans when He gave her a growing passion for writing fiction. In May of 2016, she blew goodbye kisses to her students and dedicated her work hours to learning the craft. She still visits the school and teaches creative writing workshops.

Where Linda can be found on the web:

www.lindasammaritan.com

www.scriblerians.com

www.thescriblerians.wordpress.com

www.puttingonthenew.com

www.facebook.com/lindasammaritan

www.twitter.com/LindaSammaritan

Writers Nurturing Writers

by Jean Kavich Bloom

My husband and I didn’t plan or push for our children to be writers, yet they are. Apparently we watered the right garden.

Our two sons write professionally. One is a screenwriter and the other is a copywriter, and they’ve both written books. After working for a time in the publishing field, our daughter, who has a master’s degree in comparative literature, is now a dedicated homeschooling mom who teaches her children writing as they move through each grade level.

We nurtured writers without even realizing it. That nurturing doesn’t have to come from family, of course, but our accidental nurturing might demonstrate some ways we can all nurture other writers intentionally, no matter their age or where they are in their writing journey.

Encourage Reading 

My husband and I are daily readers. As I grew up, trips to the library were exciting, and discovering a friend had every single Nancy Drew book for me to borrow was glorious. Oh, how I wanted my children to be readers, too, and they were. They are. Introducing my daughter to my favorite book to this day, Anne of Green Gables, was fun, and today she reads both fiction and nonfiction every chance she gets. Like a lot of boys, my sons read comic books, but they soon moved on, and today some of their heavy-duty reading choices just about put me to shame. Reading words informs their writing words.

How can you inspire aspiring writers to read?

Encourage “Viewing” 

Although our screenwriter son takes first place, we all like movies in our family. The earliest live-action film I can remember my kids adoring was The NeverEnding Story, which hooked them on story forevermore. Story in film is delivered with dialogue as well as image. I’m intrigued by how the dialogue can be honed until it shines and communicates exactly what the filmmakers want for their audiences. And who can’t repeat a favorite line from a favorite movie? Stellar film dialogue can inform stellar dialogue in any writing, and I think the magic of movies nurtured my children’s love of words. Live theater works too!

What films or theater productions with stellar dialogue can you recommend to other writers?

Encourage Discussing 

One day my older son said, “Other families sit around the table and talk about sports or politics. Our family debates word choices.” (This is the same son who now routinely defeats me at Scrabble.) Of course, to the degree our three were interested in other topics, we discussed those, too, but our being a wordy-nerdy family is what struck him as unique. I’m not sure how we got that way, but there we were. Today their vocabularies far exceed mine. Really. They do.

When and where can you discuss the creative process of writing with other writers?

Not every writer comes from a breeding-ground-for-writers family, whether that ground was watered intentionally or not. And families can't take all the credit anyway; God hands out gifts, and their recipients must develop them. But ask yourself, Where has my writing been nurtured by others? In a family of relatives, perhaps before I even realized I had the writing bug? In a family of friends, encouragers, teachers, or mentors? And how did they nurture my writing?

Why ask yourself these questions? Because realizing how our writing has been nurtured can help us know how to intentionally nurture other writers.

Jean Kavich Bloom is a freelance editor and writer for Christian publishers and ministries (Bloom in Words Editorial Services), with more than thirty years of experience in the book publishing world. She is a regular contributor to The Glorious Table, a blog for women of all ages. An aspiring novelist, her published books are Bible Promises for God's Precious Princess and Bible Promises for God's Treasured Boy. She and her husband, Cal, live in central Indiana. They have three children (plus two who married in) and five grandchildren.

photo credit: https://publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=211016&picture=gardeners-pride

Writer's Boot Camp

I seldom make extreme statements, but here’s one I can make without fear of contradiction: I never keep New Year’s resolutions.

I’ve made them, of course—lots of them—with good intentions and firm resolve, but I’ve never kept at them very long. Yes, I’ve tried starting over. And over. And over. Yet none of those brave restarts have resulted in a permanent change of my life. If you’ve had better success with your resolutions, more power to you (as if you need it), but I confess that I haven’t. Never have.

This is why writing coach Rachel Federman believes we’re not likely to become productive writers through resolutions. It's too easy to be distracted by other important things. Instead we need to go full-bore into writing every day, day after day, like Army recruits in boot camp.

Soldiers in boot camp don’t expect to begin their training when conditions are just right. Conditions in boot camp are far from “just right.” The weather is hot and wet, the mosquitoes and deer flies bite voraciously, and the latrines are better left to your imagination!

These soldiers learn combat skills by engaging in combat all day long. ­­They have no higher priority, though they certainly have plenty of distractions, and we can count on the same. Federman says:

Count on writing when someone’s asking what’s for dinner and jackhammers are pounding away out your window. Count on writing on the back of a stained notepad with a pencil that really needs to be sharpened and is barely showing up. Count on writing when you have company. Counting on writing when you desperately want to crawl under the covers. Count on writing when you are getting nauseous on a bus to Boston. Writing is the way you keep yourself on the path. And that path is more writing…[1]

You may be tempted to say, I’ll buy a copy of Federman’s book and learn more about this“boot camp” idea. Beware: Federman’s book is nearly impossible to find in the USA because it was published in England. 

That’s OK. It’s not the book you need, but the experience of writing. Every day. Every night. For a month. And when you reach the end of that month, you’ll wake the next day hankering to write more. That’s why you go to boot camp.

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[1]Rachel Federman, Writer’s Boot Camp (London: HarperCollins, 2016), 19.

Joe Allison writes both fiction and nonfiction, and has been a member of the Indiana chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers since 2010. He lives in Anderson, IN, with his wife Maribeth and daughter Heather.