How to Set SMART Writing Goals

How to Set SMART Writing Goals

from The Writer's Technology Companion by Dustin

One of the most important things writers (or anyone) can do is set clear, explicit goals about what they want to accomplish. Most of us have a bunch of vague goals, like the “one day novel” (as in, “one day, I’m going to write a novel). We want to “someday” do x, y, and z – get a big magazine assignment, find an agent, finish our book – but without clear goals, we don’t seem to make any progress. We chug along, picking at our huge projects, rarely coming any closer to finishing, and we feel horrible about ourselves.

If you don’t set goals, you won’t achieve them.

There are a lot of reasons people don’t set clear goals. Most of them boil down to a fear of commitment – and of letting ourselves down when we fail to live up to that commitment. Saying “I’m going to finish my novel” sets us up for failure. What if I don’t have any ideas? What if some life crisis happens and I can’t finish? What if, like the main character in Wonder Boys, I have too many ideas, and it just keeps growing and growing and growing…? What if something better comes along?

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How To Become A Writer, Research And Write Every Day

How To Become A Writer, Research And Write Every Day

How to become a writer is really up to you, no one can write for you. Well they can, you can hire a ghostwriter but that is defeating the purpose of you wanting to become a writer.

You can become a writer by becoming a ghostwriter too. This could be an option if you want to earn some money from your writing and is one avenue to explore to give yourself more experience. More on that later.

If you are passionate about something then as I've said before that is the best thing to write about. Whatever that something is, you love it, enjoy it so writing about it won't be a chore. You won't get bored with it, you will want to keep writing about it.

One of the things I've found with writing is, even though I may love a topic, I don't know every thing about it. i will know a lot, but not all. So this is where research comes in. That is another enjoyable part about writing on a topic you love or are passionate about. By researching, you will learn more and more about your topic.

We are more fortunate today with the Internet being so readily available. Researching is much easier and you don't need to wait for the libraries to be open. There is so muc information on the Net, whatever subject you are interested in, just as they say "Google it", it's so easy. Sorting through all that is returned for your search can take such a long time though, sometimes we need some extra help.

I found myself a tool to help with researching just about any topic. It has a great name, aptly named too I might add, Instant Article Wizard. Now Instant Article Wizard goes out and finds relevant information about the topic, then sorts it into and introduction, conclusion and then breaks it up for the in between, marvelous little tool.

Of course you can't take the research as is, you need to write your own words, just like any research you may do but it certainly saves time. The more you know about your topic the better you will write about it, so researching is your key to getting started.

So how to become a writer just became a lot easier. Remember, write every day, write something about your topic everyday and write other things as well. This always helps with writers' block, if you get into the habit of writing something everyday, just write, you will have less trouble with writers' block.

Research and write and before you know it, your question "how to become a writer" will be a thing of the past, you will be a writer. I do recommend Instant Article Wizard for your research too, it won't write the article for you but it will gather all your research and sort it for you. Can't ask for more than that.

Difference Between Writer And Author?

What is the difference between writer and author? From the dictionary,

A writer,

• noun
a person who has written a particular text, or who writes books or articles as an occupation.

And an author,

• noun
1 a writer of a book or article.
2 a person who originates a plan or idea.

• verb be the author of.

So you see, a little difference but not much. We mostly associate an author as someone who has written a book or a novel and has been published. Whereas a writer could be someone who has a way with words on paper and not necessarily getting those words into a book or novel to be published.

Now today it is much easier to become a writer. Since the Internet became a way for people to find information, there is much more scope for writers and authors.

We all know something about something and for those who want to become a writer, take your something and write down what you know.

You can do this to start with as articles, anywhere from 500 to 1000 words is a good size, break up the articles into sections of your something and before you know it, you will have your first written works. Whatever you do, don't write as we were taught in school, write as though you were talking to your best friend. Write as though you were talking to one person and telling them about your something, get a natural flow going to your words.

Make sure you edit your writing, that means, spelling, punctuation etc., talking to your friend you would want them to understand what you were saying. . Get someone to read your writing for you and if you don''t have someone to do that, read it out loud. It is good to print out each article too and then read it from the paper. It is amazing how many small mistakes will show up that way. By reading out loud, you will be able to see if the article has a flow and is easy to read.

Those last three words are the most important, easy to read.

So start to write and enjoy it, the enjoyment you get from writing will show in what you write.

As this blog is about how to become a writer, we'll be back soon with more tips for you. Now get to it and write.