A Dash of Words with Loleta Abi Romance Author

The Writer’s Wheel: Setting Goals for the New Year, It’s Not Too Late!

Loleta Abi

How did you do with 2018? Did you reach what you were aiming for? I admit I didn’t get as far as I wanted to, but then my journey’s not over yet. Nor is yours! If you get stuck or turned around from what you’re wanting to do, take time to breathe, and then begin again.

1. Begin Again. This is something I didn’t since I was in the later years of my high school journey. If I got messed up, I took some down time, and then started over again. As many times as, it takes. Let’s be honest, no one’s journey goes smoothly.
2. Adust Your Schedule. If we try to do more than we’re able, we’ll fail. Several times, I’ve had to adjust my schedule do to being too ambitious. There’s only so many hours in the day, you do what you can. That’s not an excuse not to make time to write, however. If you want to become an author, it takes work. A lot of work! But if you set, say ten minutes aside to do something to further your career, it’ll help. It may not sound like a lot, but it opens the possibilities!
3. If you want it, you’ll push to give yourself more time. The ten minutes will turn into fifteen and then thirty minutes and so on. You say, you still can’t find time? What about during those appointments? Is there any waiting time? Bring a laptop, a notebook, a recorder whatever you choose. Running the kids to games? Is there any free time that opens while you’re waiting? What about your lunch break? Is there some time you can carve out there?
4. Make Time for Reading. This is very important! You read to learn. As you read other’s stories, your knowledge of how to tell a story deepens. You start noticing something that a teacher or craft book pointed out to you. You can analyze everything, though I like to let thinks sink in and then go back and say, hey, how did they do that? It may be brilliant or an attempt that didn’t work. We can learn from other’s mistakes as well as our own. I read forty-five books this past year and hope to increase that to fifty this year.
5. Don’t forget to breathe. Give yourself the down time you need. For being sick, loss of a loved one, whatever life throws at you, you need to give yourself some time off. I take weekends off writing. I didn’t used to, but I’ve noticed that that little breather helps me to go back to the writing, refueled and ready to handle whatever comes. It’s also good to spend some time with loved ones. We don’t know how long we’ll each be around, don’t live with regrets. Take the time. Then go back to writing.

Have a good week, take care, and God bless!