Make 2014 Your Best Writing Year Yet!

Happy New Year, everyone! I love the brand-new slate a new year brings. A chance to reflect on where we've come and where we want to go.

Here are some of my goals for 2014:

Writing Goals
1. Establish writing routine. 400 words. Every day. No excuses.
2. Revise thesis manuscript and send to agent.
3. Complete memoir manuscript.
4. Complete 200 pgs of new novel.
5. Write a new one-act play.
6. Write a full-length play.
7. Finish Verna novella & put out as an ebook.
8. Write three blog posts a week.
9. Read at least one short story a week.
10. Read at least 40 books.

Write On! For Literacy Goals
1. Send out a newsletter every other month.
2. Become an official nonprofit organization.
3. Teach a summer writing camp.
4. Teach a winter writing camp.
5. Teach a college essay/app seminar.
6. New ebook of work by young writers.
7. Compile Writing Camp ebook/program
8. Hold a Holiday Book Drive.

I'm inspired by this story shared by Glamour Editor-in-Chief Cindi Leive: "When my father-in-law was 58, he volunteered with a group that assists disabled athletes. Fit but no marathoner, he agreed to run the first half of the New York City Marathon tethered to a blind runner who'd flown all the way from Thailand for the race. At mile 13, another volunteer would take over. Except: That other volunteer never showed, and there was my father-in-law, exhausted, with 13 painful miles he'd never trained for ahead of him. 'What did I do?' he recalls now. 'I kept going!' All the way to the finish line -- inspired by the even more heroic efforts of the blind man beside him. I think of that story often, and not just while running. With the right motivation you can almost always go farther, accomplish more, reach higher than you thought."

What motivates you to go farther and reach higher than you thought possible? And how can you stretch that motivation past the sparkling new shine of 2014, into the coming weeks and months?

Here are some habits that work for me, to help keep me motivated:

• Keep a gratitude journal to remind yourself of all the things going well in your life.
• Keep a list of all your successes to look over whenever you feel discouraged.
• Set goals that are based in ACTIONS rather than results. For example, instead of setting a goal to win first place in a writing contest (something you have no control over) set a goal to enter x number of writing contests. Entering contests is an action you can control; the judging process is something you have zero control over.
• Remind yourself of the "big picture" -- what are the bigger underlying reasons you are going after your goals? For example, maybe you want to write a book this year. Who is the audience you are writing for? How might they be inspired by what you have to say? Imagining a reader picking up your book and being moved by your words can be enough to banish ever the worst case of writers block!  

I'll leave you with this quote, one of my favorites, from Sallie Krawcheck of 85 Broads: "Plant seeds, plant seeds, and don't ask for anything. The seeds will grow." 

What seeds can you plant today?

Happy 2012!

I always love the new year-- a blank calendar of fresh starts, new opportunities, and renewed motivation to live the life you dream of! The new year is the perfect time to reflect on the past year and also look ahead to the future.

The past year has been a great one! I'm into my second year at Purdue and am really loving teaching, and I was honored with an Excellence in Teaching Award based on the end-of-semester evaluations from my students. I've written every day and made substantial progress on two novel manuscripts as well as nearly a dozen short stories. My play "The Stars in Illinois" won the Brian Mexicott Playwriting Award and my short play "love (lower case)" was produced as part of the Quills & Keys play festival in Santa Paula, California. My story "Jared Sampson's Mom" was published in the Valparaiso Fiction Review and nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and my story "Woman, Running Late, in a Dress" won first place out of more than 600 entries in the Ninth Glass Woman Prize. I also had some flash fiction published this year: "Wednesday Afternoon" in Concisely; "Wedding Day" in Dr. Hurley's Snake-Oil Cure; and "Ten Reasons" in Women in REDzine.

It was also an exciting year with Write On! For Literacy. Dancing With The Pen: a collection of today's best youth writing was released in February and rose to a #2 ranking on Amazon in the "literature anthologies" category and has received rave reviews from kids, teenagers, parents and teachers. The Write On! Summer Writing Camp was a great success, so much so that for the first time ever I held a one-day Winter Writing Camp over the holiday break from school. I am also now doing Guided Mentorships for young writers, something I really enjoy as it allows me to work individually with them on their writing projects. And the Tenth Annual Holiday Book Drive collected and donated more than 500 books this year, bringing the grand total to 12,290 books!

In my personal life, I met a truly amazing guy when we both volunteered teaching writing workshops for senior citizens. I love him very much and we will be celebrating our one-year anniversary in February. This past summer I traveled to Ireland with my brother and researched our family history, and I also traveled to London and Paris and visited my friend Celine, who I hadn't seen since college. I went to the Taylor Swift concert with my friend Holly; my dad came out to visit me at Purdue for October break; my mom, aunts, and cousins met up with me in Chicago for a fun "girls weekend." My boyfriend and I went to nearly a dozen plays and concerts, including "War Horse" and "Phantom of the Opera." And I got to spend wonderful time with my grandparents when I was home for summer and winter breaks. I am one lucky, lucky girl!

Here's a sampling of my goals for 2012:

• Write! 400 words. Every day. No excuses. A great website I use to track my daily progress is Joe's Goals: http://www.joesgoals.com/
• Submit to a literary magazine every other week.
• Submit a query for a freelance article every month.
• Read a short story every day & 40 books by end of year.
• Send out a Write On! newsletter every month.
• Teach a summer & winter youth writing camp.
• Write a blog post twice a week.
• Exercise 3 days a week.
• Learn to cook 10 new healthy recipes. 
• Call my grandparents every weekend. 
• Volunteer at a nursing home or food bank.
• Do at least one act of kindness every day.
• Count my blessings every night.

What are your goals for the new year? Carpe diem -- seize the day!

Sticking With Your New Year's Goals

 

So it's two weeks into a glorious new year. How is 2011 going for you so far? How are those new year's goals and resolutions holding up?

To really make a new habit stick, I've heard that you need to do it consistently for three weeks, and then it much more likely to be a permanent part of your routine.

But, as we all know, new habits set with the best of intentions can be difficult to stick to. Especially in the hectic weeks of a new year after coming back from a holiday break. Especially in the frigid January snow. Especially when there are so many other, important things clamoring for your attention.

I'm a big believer in daily goals, and I'm also a big believer in baby steps. Break down something that seems huge into small steps you can take every day. Just do a little bit every day. Consistently. Baby steps add up to huge accomplishments.

Here's a motivation tool I found, courtesy of the wonderful positive-news site Gimundo, that has been helping me with my goal of writing a certain number of words every day: Joe's Goals. It's supposedly inspired by a motivation concept of Jerry Seinfeld, with the simple idea: Don't break the chain. You enter a goal you want to do consistently -- every day, three times a week, etc -- and it is marked down on this calendar for you. Every day, if you do the goal, you get to check it off. Your checks soon become a chain of happy green check marks, and the last thing you want to do is "break the chain" and have to start all over again! It sounds simple, but it has really helped me stay on top of my writing goal so far.

Case in point: last night, I got home late, and I hadn't written enough yet for my word count goal, so I plunked down in front of my computer and wrote some before I went to bed. All so I could truthfully have that little green check mark. If not for that website, I very likely would have thought, I'll just write more tomorrow. But, as my role model Coach Wooden used to say, "You can't do anything about yesterday, and the only way to improve tomorrow is by what you do right now. We kid ourselves: 'I'll buckle down tomorrow and work twice as hard.' No. If you can work twice as hard tomorrow, it means you're holding something back today. I want 100% today. And tomorrow."

Of course, it requires that you be honest with yourself, but I think that is a requirement no matter how you are going after your goals.

Good luck! I'm rooting for you!

Happy New Year!

Wow, it is crazy how fast this year has flown by. I can't believe we're welcoming in 2011 in a matter of hours!

For me, New Year's Eve is always a time to reflect on the old year and prepare for the new one. I love this quote from Jim Rohn: "Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment." That is so true, and great motivation when striving after your goals day by day.

Here are some of my highlights from 2010:

• Thanks to the generous support of many people who cast their votes for Write On, I was named one of four national winners in the Glamour Magazine/Sally Hansen "Best of You" contest. The prize included a trip to NYC, a makeover and a photo shoot for the magazine! I felt like Cinderella at the ball. This truly was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Thank you again for making it happen!

• I took a cross-country road trip with my mom as part of my big move to Indiana to pursue my M.F.A. in Fiction at Purdue University. In addition to taking my own classes I also teach freshman composition and serve as Editorial Assistant of Sycamore Review. My first semester was a whirlwind of activity, and I feel I have already learned a great deal. Teaching was especially rewarding! I love my new life in Indiana, but it has also made me appreciate my California roots (and our glorious warm weather!) a lot more. 

• I started my youth publishing company, Write On! Books: http://www.writeonbooks.org/writeonbooks.aspx. The first Write On! Books anthology, Dancing With The Pen, will be released in early 2011 and features stories, essays, and poetry by more than 60 young writers from all across the U.S. and even abroad. It has been such a pleasure to work with these talented, creative, insightful kids and teens, and I could not be more excited or proud of this book. 

• My one-act play "The Stars in Illinois" was produced by Brand New Theater at the University of Southern California. 

• My short story "DING!" was published on Bartleby-Snopes and subsequently nominated for a Pushcart Prize and the Dzanc Books "Best of the Web" anthology.

• More than two dozen of my stories and essays appeared in a variety of online and in-print publications, including two Chicken Soup for the Soul books. My short stories are archived here: http://www.fictionaut.com/users/dallas-woodburn

• I organized and taught the third-annual Write On! Summer Writing Camp for young writers in Ventura, and had a blast as always. This year I also taught a series of creative writing workshops to senior citizens at Cypress Place Senior Living Center, which was wonderful. 

• I was a featured guest speaker at the Ventura Book Festival, the Southern Expressions Writers Conference in Mississippi, the USC Associates 50th Anniversary Gala, and the American Association of University Women Spring Luncheon. I met so many fantastic people who became new friends. I was also a guest on a variety of radio shows and spoke to community organizations and schools.

Another thing to keep in mind when setting goals is to be cognizant of all areas of your life. As Coach Wooden said, "The two most important words in the English language are love and balance." With that in mind, I like to break up my goals into different sections. Here are some of my goals for 2011:

Writing Goals

• Write every day.
• Complete new novel manuscript.
• Submit to a literary magazine every other week.
• Write a three-act play.
• Read at least half an hour every day.
• Write a blog post twice a week.

Write On! Goals

• Send out a newsletter every month.
• Promote Dancing With The Pen.
• Be a guest speaker at 8 schools/organizations.
• Create a Write On! DVD. 
• Start a Holiday Book Drive at Purdue.

Healthy Life Goals

• Exercise three days a week. 
• Learn to cook 10 new healthy recipes.
• Plant a garden.
• Do at least one act of kindness every day.
• Study the Pyramid of Success and keep a journal of inspiring quotes.
• Count my blessings every night.

Something I am trying for the first time this year is breaking down my year-long goals into month-by-month goals. It helps me get a handle on more daunting projects by planning out how I want to move forward month by month. For example, one of my writing goals is to finish the current novel manuscript I am working on. I have a goal of writing a certain number of pages every month. I am also a believer in daily to-do lists -- it feels so good to cross things off my list! -- but I think month-by-month goals are more flexible for those inevitable times when life gets crazy. For example, maybe I won't be able to write much for a few days during midterms, but then I can make up for it the next week and still be on track for my monthly writing goal.

What are your goals for 2011? How will you make them happen?

I'll close with another of my favorite quotes from Coach Wooden: "The journey is better than the inn." Here's wishing you a masterpiece of a journey in 2011!

Happy New Year!

Wow, I can't believe it's already 2010 -- not just a new year, but also a new decade! It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the new millennium. Who knows what joy, hope, creativity and new connections the next ten years will bring?

I celebrate each new year by reviewing what I accomplished in the past year and setting new goals for the upcoming year. I've found that writing down my goals is a rewarding way for me to take steps towards leading my best life and becoming my best self. A helpful way I break things down is to set goals for different aspects of my life: Writing Goals, Write On! For Literacy Goals, and Personal Healthy Life Goals.

Here are a few of my highlights from 2009:

• I graduated summa cum laude from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in Creative Writing and Entrepreneurship.
• I created a new website for my foundation Write On! For Literacy: www.writeonbooks.org.
• I held the second annual Write On! Summer Writing Camp and had the pleasure of working with 24 amazing young writers.
• My short story "Numb" was published in Monkeybicycle and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and for the Dzanc Books "Best of the Web" anthology.
• I became a contributing writer for the websites GradtoGreat.com and TweenParent.com; other new markets I broke into this year include iMediaConnection, ParentingPink.com, Attribute Magazine, and True Love Magazine.
• I became Youth Director of the national organization SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists, and Writers Network) -- check out the newly revamped SPAWN website for loads of resources and information on how you can join this wonderful writing community!
  
• I was a guest on more than a dozen radio shows and spoke to nearly two dozen classrooms and community organizations.
• I was fortunate to meet many amazing and supportive friends who greatly enrich my life!
  

And here are some of my goals for 2010:

• Publish the first Write On! Books anthology of work by young writers.
• Build partnerships with other literacy and youth organizations.
• Expand and improve the Write On! website. (Any suggestions? Let me know!)
• Complete my second novel manuscript.
• Enroll in an MFA program.
  
• Exercise three days a week.
• Learn to play the guitar.
• Do at least one act of kindness every day.
  

What are some of your goals? In what ways do you wish to improve your life or better yourself? What incredible things does 2010 hold for you?

Promises to Yourself

Whenever you begin a new chapter of your life -- a new school semester, a new job, a new year -- it is the perfect time to sit down and set some goals for yourself. What do you want to accomplish in the next six months? Where do you want to be? WHO do you want to be?

Also, make a list of promises to yourself. Promises to strive for health, balance, and happiness with every ounce of your being.

I read an apt quote by Annie Dillard the other day: "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."

How are you spending your days -- and, thus, your life? It can also apply to your thoughts. How we spend our thoughts is how we spend our lives, as well. How would your characterize your thoughts and self-talk? Are you building yourself up or bringing yourself down?

Here are some promises I am making to myself this upcoming school year. Maybe they'll work for you, too:

- I will surround myself with positivity.
- I will think positive, supportive thoughts about myself and my dreams.
- I will surround myself with nurturing, driven, creative, optimistic, intelligent people of integrity, who love me for who I am and yet also push and inspire me to be better.
- I will, as John Wooden says, "make friendship a fine art," and I will choose relationships that make me feel happy, fulfilled and whole.
- I will not get overwhelmed by everything I have to do -- by all the details and to-do lists of everyday life, as well as the enormity of my dreams -- but instead will seek confidence and support from all of the things I have done and learned thus far, with the support of those who love me.

Happy New Year!

I feel like this at the beginning of every new year... a combination of disbelief that it's a new year already, a twinge of nostalgia for days gone by, and excitement and hope for the blank slate of the upcoming year!

I am a huge believer in the power of setting goals, and each new year I take time to review how far I've come in the past year, and to set new goals for the upcoming year.

Here are a few of my milestones in 2007:
* I studied abroad for a month this summer at Cambridge University, and was one of four USC students selected to study Creative Writing in England this spring at the University of East Anglia.
* I was promoted to Coordinator of the Young Writers Program at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference.
* I broke into a few new markets, including the Cup of Comfort series, The Daily Trojan USC student newspaper, and 805 magazine, and took on a new column each month for Listen magazine.
* I was honored as a Jim Murray Scholar for excellence in collegiate journalism.

And here are few of my goals for 2008:
* Find the right agent for my novel manuscript.
* Write at least one page a day, every single day.
* Start a literary journal at USC.
* Write and produce a play to raise money for my "Write On!" nonprofit endeavors.

I also have a goal of being more consistent and better about making entries in this blog ... sometimes I get so caught up in school and writing and busy with extracurricular commitments that I forget to take the time to blog about my experiences! But I really enjoy interacting with others this way and I am definitely going to try to be more proactive about taking five minutes every other day to jot down some of my thoughts.

What are your goals for 2008? I'd love to hear them. Also, while I know a new year is a time of optimism and hope, it can also be overwhelming. Remember to break your goals up into smaller, more manageable parts -- just taking small steps towards your goals each day really adds up. For example, I tell students who want to be writers to make a pact with themselves to write ten minutes -- that's all they need to do, just ten minutes at least -- each and every day. Believe me, the pages will add up more quickly than you could imagine! As the saying goes, slow and steady wins the race. I'd love to hear progress on your goals throughout the year -- and, if I can ever be of any help, either in the writing field or simply by offering some words of encouragement and support, please don't hesitate to contact me!

Here's to a masterpiece of a 2008!! :)