Friday, October 17, 2014

Attainable vacation goals.

I'm on vacation next week--well, more like a staycation, because it's a writing-related week off and I'll be spending most of it at home.

In the past, when I've taken a week off for writing purposes, I've overloaded myself to the point where I couldn't do any writing activities, and then I crawled in bed and slept for hours, only emerging to watch old Project Runway DVDs and eat all manner of bad-for-you gluten-free food. That is not going to happen this time.

This time, there are no lofty goals, like "write half your book." Nope. Those kind of goals backfire--I can't meet them, then I get discouraged, and then I hide under the covers because I feel like I can't accomplish anything. This time, there are reasonable goals, attainable goals, which are:

1. At the end of the week, have a solid game plan in place for how I'm revising both (eek!) of my novels. (No need to do any actual revising--I just need to have the plan in place and be confident that it's right for me.)

2. Read a lot. Read the 3 books on revision technique. Reread a few of your favorite books to remind yourself what good fiction looks like. It's okay to read all day long! During this vacation, it's not possible to have too much reading!

3. Go for walks. I live very close to a park, and I often get great ideas while walking. It'll also be a nice chill-out sort of activity if I find myself getting anxious about writing-related stuff.

4. Do fun and useful things. I already have a haircut and massage scheduled, and I plan on visiting my parents, too.

5. Relax. I've barely taken any time off all year. I'll allow myself to relax and recharge. I plan to watch the birds, make some cards and crafts, take midday naps in the sunshine--whatever it takes to get my stress level down before I jump into revision.

Perhaps it doesn't seem like I'll accomplish a lot during vacation, but taking this time to refocus and recharge will help me accomplish a ton once vacation is over and I start revising with a plan and schedule in mind.

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