Sunday, October 4, 2009

Monthly Goals for October '09



Today begins a new chapter in The Pragmatic Alternative: A very public monthly goal setting, in conjunction with Brazen Careerist's Monthly Goal Meet-Up Group.

1. Learn how to write faster! Seems I spend more time contemplating what I'm going to write, rather than writing it. Whether it's due to slow keyboards, uncomfortable desks and chairs, or merely my dyslexic typing, seems always to take minutes of contemplation, often with the best thoughts lost down the thoughtplex path.

Need to get the work done, and worry about the results later.

Better to tap, tap, tap, and dance on the keyboard, than to think about what to say.

Hopefully, I don't press publish too soon.

2. Overhaul Pragmatic Alternative. As some of my facebook friends may have noticed, I'm going to be taking Andy Wibbels's Build a Better Blog course. No, wait, that's Darren Rowse's course.

Dag! Not that Andy didn't teach Darren a thing or two, but not the point.

Andy's class is called: Using Blogs and Social Media for Instant Global Impact.

3. Build a HepCat Industries blog analagous to Wibbels's Andymatic. Develop the HepCat Industries brand through snappy funny phrasing, quippy insights, and the dry irony people have come to expect from HepCat Industries. Or will come to expect from HepCat Industries.

Remember, at HepCat Industries: If it's not funny--Don't believe it!

4. Build my Let's Play SAT! brand and blog, by regularly updating with real tips for SAT success. Not that that's the only success you'll want or need. Rather, that a little bit of practice, and a little bit of knowledge about the test and its administration go a long way toward assuaging SAT anxiety.

Treat the test like the game it is, then play to win!

5. Before I set the goal of clearing my plate of too many competing interests, I need to note the goal of regular work on my novel, Autobiography of a Young Adult. I'm lucky enough to have been paired up with a coach who I believe will get what I'm talking about, and knowing he's out there ready to encourage, critique, consider, then encourage some more is invaluable.

6. Keep these goals in the forefront each month. There may be new paths and offshoots, as plants are wont to sprout while growing, but these constants need to be reconnected with, connections made across, daily.

4 comments:

  1. 1. That's why there are proofreaders, hon. Hire me. I'm good at it.
    2. Where did you find a coach to help with your novel?

    Make it happen. You can.
    (sounds like Yoda!)

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  2. Coach is courtesy of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Visible Ink program, run by Judith Kelman.

    Love those 15th Floor folks!

    And Yes, Beth, I can proofread. Sometimes there are more important things to process.

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  3. Hey Jay,
    I"m with you in Andy's igi09 class and really love your sensibilities. HepCat - how old ARE you? I thought I was the oldest person Andy knew. ;-)

    As an author, I have a tip on fast writing. I keep an idea bin full of what falls out of my head, categorized under labels...wait, does this begin to look like blog categories? Why yes, it does. Said idea bin is actually a private blog. *grin*

    I set up categories as top level those areas I am actively marketing towards. Secondary level, those ideas or products in development. Third level, personal topics. I keep that window as a tab on Firefox, constantly open. When the thought hits, I place a brain dropping into it and tag it with one or multiple categories.

    When I need to write something, I often consult the idea blog, suck out a few such droppings and bingo-bango, with only a few minutes extra work to connect dots, tighten and tie things up, a bitchin' article is born.

    On proofreading you'll often hear Andy repeat our mantra: Done=Done. It doesn't have to be perfect (in fact, best not depending on your market), it just has to be done.

    Beth - I'm an author and I coach other authors. Many authors who are also trained as coaches do this, there are also programs to train literary coaches out there. Memorial Sloan-Kettering! I had no idea they were up to this. Must look up.

    Hope this is helpful Jay - see you in class!

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  4. Thanks for the processing suggestions, Maryam. Lord knows I've been waylaid up many too many times by the perfection bug.

    I'll take these suggestions to heart. I believe they'll work for me.

    And you know that can't be bad! I'm at least that old (First Grade).

    ReplyDelete