Don't Set Improbable Writing Goals

In Today's Journal

* Don't Set Improbable Writing Goals
* The Writing
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Don't Set Improbable Writing Goals

I know. Negative advice. Ugh. I usually don't post negative advice here in TNDJ, but this one feels right.

I almost wrote "don't set 'impossible' goals," but short of delving into the realm of the obviously ridiculous, in my world nothing is impossible. By "obviously ridiculous" I mean don't set a writing goal that you know is impossible to reach.

For me, that would be setting a goal to write fifty-two 25,000-word-minimum novels on the year. Or 1095 short stories on the year (three per day).

Those, for me, would be impossible goals, meaning if I set them I would know in advance I could never even possibly complete them successfully.

That brings us to the next level: Improbable Goals.

I also recommend you don't set improbable goals, and for the same reason. There's pretty much zero chance you'll complete them successfully, and you know it.

For me, looking at fiction writing realistically, an improbable goal would be attempting to write 24 (or more) novels on the year.

I regularly turn out novels in less than 2 weeks, so on the surface that should be doable.

But doing that for a full year—without somehow knowing in advance there will be zero life rolls and zero other little pop-up adventures—nudges right up against the impossible. For me. At the current time and at my current skill level.

In other words, re improbable goals, I'm saying don't set personal writing goals that you know are currently well beyond your reach.

On the other hand, I encourage you to push yourself a bit, to stretch yourself a bit. Not to the absolute limit of your abilities, but to near the limit.

One example is Christopher Ridge, who is currently the only participant in the Bradbury Challenge on Steroids. Chris knows he CAN write two short stories per week, but it's still a little stretch for him to do so. Yet thus far he's batting 1000.

For another example, if you routinely make time to write every day, and if you're writing several hundred words of fiction per day, the Stephen King Challenge would be an excellent goal for you. It will stretch you that extra little bit.

If you're a novelist and you can turn out two or three novels per year with relative ease, you might increase your goal by one novel for 2025.

In setting a reasonable goal, you must walk a fine line. In my mind, the best goal teeters in the narrow void between "that's improbable" and "but if I push just a little, I can probably do it."

And of course, the best reward for setting such a goal is achieving it and putting it behind you. Because once you know you can achieve that goal, you're free to increase it a little to set your next goal.

I'll use myself as an example. Don't use this as a comparison. It might feel a little overwhelming. Instead, use it as an example of how you can compete with yourself and incrementally expand your own goals.

Notice too that I'm not comparing my performance with that of Vin Zandri or Dean Wesley Smith or even King. I'm only comparing my performance in 2025 with my performance in 2024.

This year my annual goal is to write 22 novels and 52 short stories on the year. I know I can do both, but I also know it will be a little bit of a stretch for me.

By a little bit of a stretch, I mean it will force me to keep coming back and maybe to stay a little longer in the chair each day as compared with 2024.

Last year, my goal was 20 novels, and I made it. BUT the 20th novel wrapped on the last day of the year.

I also want to reach 1,100,000 words of published fiction. But actually, although I've never done it before, reaching that goal should be easy for me. It will require me to maintain an average of 3014 wpd through the year.

Why? Because my average-words-per-day goal for 2025 is 3250 wpd. (And I failed miserably on the first three days of the year.) But if I focus on maintaining that average, I'll far exceed my annual word count goal.

You can do exactly the same thing. Just keep pushing and keep increasing your goals.

This doesn't pertain only to annual goals.

You can use the same goal-setting technique for semi-annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly, or daily goals.

Just compare what you did yesterday (or last week or last month, etc.) with what you'd LIKE to do—and what you know you CAN do if you push yourself just a little—in the new day or week or month, etc.

I'd wish you luck, but you don't need that. It's all an application puzzle, and only you can solve it.

Figure out how to apply the south end of your northbound self to your writing chair, put your fingers on the keyboard, and let the magic happen.

If you're wondering, yes, I have other interests than writing. The difference is priorities. None of my other interests (other than occasionally for short periods of time) take precedence over writing fiction. Well, or turning out this Journal.

And if you ever have a question or need a cheerleader, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. I'm pretty much always here.

The Writing

Yesterday was another amazing day for me. An alternate of the story I wrote two days ago was bugging me. So I took the opening from the first story (1362 words) and wrote over 3700 more to finish it.

Then I turned to the novel and added more to that. I'm hoping now (sort of) the short stories will leave me alone. The word counts are great, but they aren't helping with my goal to write 22 novels on the year. (grin)

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

Self-Publishing Advice from a Self-Published Author (Thanks, HG)

I recommend you read this, but take it with a massive grain of salt. BEAR IN MIND this is a first-time self-published author handing out free advice. That said, there are a few good ideas in the article (especially under ARC SITES, MARKETING AND ADVERTISING, and OTHER HELPFUL SITES.

Just so you know, I VEHEMENTLY DISAGREE with doing an author site through WIX. One day this author will wake up to realize WIX owns all her content. I disagree with some other things in the article too, but I think you'll weed them out.

7th Story and Kickstarter Success Dean tells it like it is.

What Is Dramatic Irony: And How to Use It

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………… 1110

Writing of "A Sure Thing 2" (Exotic Fantasy)
Words brought forward............... 1362

Day 1…… 3778 words. To date…… 5140 done

Writing of Blackwell Ops 34: Solomon Payne

Day 1…… 2005 words. To date…… 2005
Day 2…… 2992 words. To date…… 4997
Day 3…… 3998 words. To date…… 8995
Day 4…… 4591 words. To date…… 13586
Day 5…… 4503 words. To date…… 18089
Day 6…… 4499 words. To date…… 22588
Day 7…… 2391 words. To date…… 24979
Day 8…… 2704 words. To date…… 27683

Fiction for January…………………… 36341
Fiction for 2025………………………. 36341
Nonfiction for January……………….. 9250
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 9250
2025 consumable words…………….. 45591

Average Fiction WPD (January)……. 4543

2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 0
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 1
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………….... 104
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 271
Short story collections……………………. 29

Disclaimer: Whatever you believe, unreasoning fear and the myths that outlining, revising, and rewriting will make your work better are lies. They will always slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.

Writing fiction should never be something that stresses you out. It should be fun. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Because of WITD and because I endeavor to follow those Rules I am a prolific professional fiction writer. You can be too.

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