Good afternoon Grinders. How did your exercise of making a simple outline and timing your writing efforts go? Did the outline help? If so how much faster did you write? Share it in the comments.
Today I am going to help you learn what a writing "Mission Statement"(M.S.) is and why it can be the difference maker when it comes to your success or failure as a writer and a creative in general. Most people would equate the term M.S. with a business or company, because most of them have them. I think we can all agree that many, if not most, companies fail to follow their statement which in turn can only hurt them. So how can a person, especially a writer and creative have a stuffy sounding "Statement" to help guide them to creative and publishing success?
It all comes back to setting your sights on your goal, most of us know in an instant what that means to us and what we want, but rarely do we take the time to write them down. I think it comes from a natural mixture of being embarrassed and reluctant to put that much importance on something we actually want, especially something creative. We are often hardwired from the day we are born to think that being creative is a waste of time and energy, and we need to do real work. The other reason I believe comes from a mixture of fear of failure. Meaning that if we just chose not to write down our core goals then we cannot be held accountable to them, especially accountable to ourselves. It's time to stop the shenanigans and put our M.S. on paper.
Here is the challenge for you. Get out a piece of paper and write your M.S.. It doesn't have to be long, complicated, and certainly doesn't need big words. But it must be honest and it needs to have some detail to it. You can include whatever elements you want, but I would highly encourage you to ensure that you are including some type of deadline or timeline depending on how specific you are on your M.S.. Avoid making it too broad brush and writing something like "I want to write a novel". And remember you can always change it, add to it or remove a piece that you complete or that may not fit anymore. If you are having a hard time coming up with it, then I suggest focusing your M.S. on your plan for the next 90 days.
Here is my rough M.S. for the next 90 days.
I will spend the four weeks of October plotting/outlining my NaNo project and spending at least three days a week adding content to my new blog in support of NaNoWriMo. I will write 100,000 words on my novel in the month of November for NaNoWriMo, and I will post at least twice a week to the blog to help encourage my readers support their challenges and give them a place to speak their minds on their own projects. I will post blurbs of my project on the blog to help treat my readers and help hold myself accountable to creating more content. I will allow myself the first week of December off from the novel and finish reading my book on editing a manuscript by Don McNair. On December 8th I will pick up my novel and begin to make my first read through and structural edit. I will have this finished by New Year of 2015. I will then send my manuscript to no less than 6 beta readers. I will ask them if they can give me feedback by January 21st and which point I will spend 2 weeks reviewing their notes and comments. I will spend the first two weeks of February tweaking my draft. I will give it one final read through making final changes and then I will send it to an editor for a full shred edit. I will spend the rest of March after I receive the manuscript back making my final edits. On April 1st I will work on finalizing my formatting for the finished project and on April 6th (which so happens to be my birthday) I will independently publish my novel on Amazon, Kobo, B&N and all other desired platforms. I will spend April and May promoting my book. Then it's time to write another.
I know this M.S. is probably longer and more detailed than you had in mind. But I will challenge you to come up with something similar. I believe this is a particularly good time to write such a plan with NaNo on the horizon. After you finish writing/typing your statement, take a copy and hang it next your desk, refrigerator, front door or in your car. Whatever works best for you. And let it be a constant reminder to you that you have made a commitment to yourself and your creative project.
Most importantly know that after this exercise, you are one step closer than you were before in accomplishing your dreams and your creative goals.
Thanks for reading, let me know how this goes and if you feel like sharing your M.S. great! Post it in the comments. Until then it is time for us all to get back to the grind.
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