Happy New Year, and welcome to the first Write for a Reason writing tip of 2019! Thank you for joining us once again – I hope you will find the next 52 writing tips useful in  your writing journey. 🙂

lantern in the darknessSee that lantern shining in the darkness? Do you believe you could you brighten up someone’s day, or even someone’s life, with your stories? (Don’t underestimate the power of a story – Jesus told stories!)

If the answer is YES – or even I THINK SO, get out a notebook and pen, because it’s time to make a writing plan, in FOUR SIMPLE STEPS.

Step 1. Pray that God will guide your thoughts. Even if you don’t usually pray, why not try it? You never know, you might learn a new skill, and be pleasantly surprised. 🙂

Step 2. This is a BIG STEP. None of us knows how long we have on this earth, but, hey, if we’re going to make a plan, we need to start somewhere… so here goes… what books would you like to write during the whole of the rest of your lifetime? Write down all your ideas for stories, with suggested titles if you like. Does that include a series or two? How many in each series? Be bold – this isn’t a time for being cautious, it’s a time for thinking big, because if you aim for the stars and only reach the moon, hey, you reached the moon! (There is a list of 762 stories by Enid Blyton on Wikipedia – bet you can’t think as big as that!)

Step 3. Which one of those stories would you like to write THIS YEAR, to make sure another year doesn’t slip by?

Once you’ve decided, break your writing goal down into twelve months, and again into weeks if that suits the way you write. That might be a chapter or month, or a number of words per day/week/session. It doesn’t matter what you decide to do, as long as the goal you have set yourself is achievable.

Step 4. Put your writing schedule into your calendar. (Make sure you write at least once a week, or you will lose momentum.) Will it be every morning between 8 and 9am? Every Tuesday and Thursday evening? Sunday afternoons, plus other moments during the week as you are able?

And now you have an achievable plan!

Janet WilsonHow does that feel?

Let me know in the comments below, over on our website, or on our facebook page – love to hear from you!

Janet

P.S. DO IT NOW! You know what they say about goals – if you don’t set them, you can’t achieve them!

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Happy New Writing Year!
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