What is the main reason you write?
It’s important to know the answer to this. Too often, we get distracted by sales numbers, awards, reputation, and comparisons, and we start to become obsessed with those insignificant details, losing our focus on the craft itself.
So we have to remember why we write.
Grab some pen and paper and let’s answer some questions. Make sure to write out your answers, so you can get a full view of your goals as a writer.
- What made you interested in writing?
- Who are your biggest influences as a writer?
- What books do you read for fun? What books feed your soul best?
- What books do you pick up when you want to escape reality?
- What books do you hate? Why do you hate them?
- Look at your bookshelf and/or ebook reader. What are the types of books you usually read? Why do pick up these books?
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Rank these in order of most important to least importance:
- Getting awards for my writing
- Being a household name in my genre
- Having a full-time income from writing
- Having the freedom to write anytime you want
- Spending time with readers
- Becoming a best-selling author
- Having people recognize my name or face
- Writing great stories
- Admiration/respect for my writing style
- Writing in multiple genres
However you rank these is going to affect how you approach your writing.
If getting awards is your priority, you’ll need to research and identify what award distributors are looking for, and write to those standards. If you want to write in multiple genres, you’re less likely to make a large income. (Not impossible, but less likely.) If you want people to recognize your name or face, you’ll have to do a lot of legwork to show your name and face everywhere – social media, YouTube, interviews, book signings, whatnot.
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Now you’ve collected a ton of data about your dreams, hopes, and inspirations as a writer. Now, you need to decide your goal.
I spoke about my own goal in my YouTube video, Deciding Your Goals as a Writer. This is my full, written goal:
My goal as a writer is to publish one romance novel a year; for new adults transitioning into adulthood; for the purpose of exploring good and evil in human nature, giving my readers a moment to reflect on relationships and how they affect us, while also providing a means of catharsis to the audience; because great authors like CS Lewis, Oscar Wilde, Terry Pratchett, and Lloyd Alexander did that for me, and I want to continue in this style of storytelling.
There are four major points in my written goal:
- My output goal (one book a year)
- My audience (new adults transitioning into adulthood)
- Why I write (for the purpose of exploring good and evil in human nature…providing a means of catharsis to the audience)
- My inspirations (CS Lewis, Oscar Wilde, Terry Pratchett, Lloyd Alexander)
Take some time to collect and organize your own data into the same format. Here’s a fill-in-the-blank paragraph if you need it!
My goal as a writer is to ___________________________; for ___________________________ ; for the purpose of ___________________________ ; because ___________________________ inspired me to do the same.
Was this helpful? Send me an email at contact@deidreadewitt.com with your writing goals. I’d love to hear them!
Watch my full, corresponding youtube video here: