January 14, 2019

Journaling Exercise: 

What Are Your Writing Goals?

​by Joy Baglio

The New Year is the perfect time to get clear on your creative goals! You don't have to fulfill all of these goals immediately, but clarity and intention about what you want in your writing life is an important first step. Spend five minutes journaling about each of your goals in response to the following questions, and we're sure you'll come to some inspiring clarity about your goals!

1) Logistics: How would you like writing to happen in your life? How often do you want to write? Do you want to make it part of a daily or weekly routine? What time of day do you like to write? When can you fit it in to your day? When do you feel most creative?

2) Audience: Who is your audience? Who are you writing for? Friends and family? Yourself? A specific group of readers (define who they are, for example young adults, children, people with an interest in X, etc.) 

3) Immediate Goal: What is your most immediate, tangible writing goal? (For example: Finish the short story I'm working on on by the end of the month). When is your self-imposed deadline? How will you reward yourself if you meet this deadline? 

4) Long-term goals: Spend a moment thinking about your long-term writing goals. What are they?You might want to consider such questions as, Why do you write? What drew you to writing? What do you hope to communicate, and to whom? What are your wildest, biggest writing dreams? Try to define your long-term writing goals as concretely as possible. What's your rough timeline for when you hope to achieve these goals?

5) Optional - Publication: What are your publication goals? Some things to consider: Do you want to get your work out in the world? What do you need to work on and master before this can happen? If you are ready for this, do you hope to be published by a large traditional publishing house, a small independent press, or do you plan to self-publish and self-promote? Do you hope to publish short stories, essays, or poems, and if so, what are your dream journals? Are you already published, and do you have new publication goals for the new year? 

Discussion: Share some of your clearest goals in the comments! What's one of your most immediate writing goals? ​

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​​JOY BAGLIO is a Northampton-based writer, editor, and educator. She's the Founder/Director of Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop and Associate Fiction Editor at the literary magazine West Branch. She holds an MFA in fiction from The New School, and her short stories have appeared recently in Tin House, The Iowa Review, TriQuarterly, New Ohio Review, PANK, SmokeLong Quarterly, and elsewhere. She's the recipient of grants and scholarships from Bread Loaf, The Elizabeth George Foundation, and The Speculative Literature Foundation. Currently, she's working on her first novel and a collection of short stories. Find her online at www.joybaglio.com