I’m setting three goals for my writing life...
Number one: I want to show up to the page daily. The digital page, the notebook page, any page...the page. I show up most days, but I want to be more purposeful and dedicated about it. I want to start each day with writing. I love morning pages. Starting each day with writing invigorates me and energizes me. It helps ward off the fear and side-effects of fear. So, why don’t I do it? I don’t know. I start. I stop. I start. I stop.
This year, I’m going to dedicate myself to this time until it’s just another part of my day. How will I do that? I have to figure out how to make that time work for me every single day. Will I always commit to the three pages of writing? Morning pages is traditionally three longhand pages and that stresses me out. It doesn’t work for me, so I am going to commit to the time every morning. Once I have that as a part of my daily ritual, I will revise again and shoot for the three pages. Writing is a journey...a process. I want to remember that.
Number two: I want to remember why I love writing. In all the minutiae of life and work, sometimes I forget why I fell in love with writing. Sometimes it becomes a chore, another check on my to-do list (who am I kidding...I don’t have a list!), a requirement. I want to rediscover my love for writing and nurture that love.
Finally, my third goal is to remember that I have a story worth writing. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” My goal is to remember that my voice is important and my story matters. In reflecting upon the last year, I allowed fear and doubt stop my writing...well, not stop, but it certainly slowed it down. My word for this year MOXIE will help me remember this last goal.
Taking time to thoughtfully set goals will make me a better writer. What are your goals for this year? How will you work towards them?
Michelle Haseltine is a teacher-writer-coach who lives in Loudoun County, VA. She reads, writes, and creates with middle school students every day. She also is beginning a new business venture, Selah Writing. She blogs at One Grateful Teacher, writes daily in her 75th notebook (yes...75), and is currently finishing a draft of her first book. Please follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Selah Writing on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as well.
Write for Us!
The #TeachWrite Twitter Chat Blog is dedicated to providing a space for our community to connect and share their voices about writing and teaching writing. We are looking for guest bloggers for January who would like to blog on topics related to our January theme -- GOALS. Educators and writers of all levels are invited to join us in this space. More information can be found here.
With Moxie in your life, there's no stopping you now!
ReplyDeleteI love writing in the morning. I've been dedicating that quiet early time to writing in my notebook. But three pages! I think I'll have to work up to that :) .
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started trying to write daily morning pages, I also learned that committing to a certain amount of time was more doable for me than committing to writing three pages. You've reminded me that I haven't been doing that regularly for a while either. Thanks and happy writing!
ReplyDeleteGo get those goals! I love how you realize you can adjust a goal to fit your needs - I loved the idea of morning writing but when I read it was typically 3 pages long I flinched a bit. Then I un-flinched when you said you had to adjust it. Thanks for being a great mentor.
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