Getting SMART About Goals

Hello, friends! I am happy to report that this week marks the successful attainment of my writing goal for 2015: to get a publication in a literary magazine. In fact, I got two! The first one is already posted for your viewing pleasure at Lunch Ticket, and the next one will be published at The Toast next week. With only 21 days left in 2015, I made it right under the wire, but at least I made it!

Riding the high of checking a big box off my list, I decided to set another goal. “In 2016,” I told anyone who listened, “I want to be published in Salon!” But the more I said it, the more nervous I became.

“What are you scared of?” Cait, my best friend and writing partner, asked.

“Well, speaking it out loud means I gotta do it. And what if I… don’t?”

Being the former high school teacher that she is, Cait was ready with a foolproof plan. “Make it a smart goal,” she said.

“As opposed to a dumb one?” I asked.

And so she explained. SMART is an acronym that people (entrepreneurs, teachers, etc) use in order to make headway in their professional and personal lives. I did some research and decided to give it a try.

Step 1: Write down your goal in as few words as possible.

My goal is to: have my writing reach a larger audience

Step 2: Make your goal detailed and SPECIFIC. Answer who/what/where/how/when.

By the end of 2016, I will have several mainstream media publications (online or in print) in order to advance my career as a freelance writer. (I am using the term “mainstream” loosely. Of course, I’d love to be published in The New York Times or The Atlantic, but I’m aiming at places where a newbie like me might have more of a chance, publications like Salon and HuffPost. I’m dreaming big but also staying realistic!)

HOW will you reach this goal? List at least 3 action steps you'll take (be specific):

1. Speak to writers who publish regularly in mainstream venues about the process.

2. Read an abundance of writing published in magazines where I’d love to place my work.

3. Pitch articles to publications such as Salon, Huffington Post, and Outside magazine.

Step 3: Make sure your goal is MEASUREABLE. Add details, measurements and tracking details.

I will measure/track my goal by using the following numbers or methods:

·         I will submit 2 polished articles to mainstream publications per month.

·         I will spend 4 hours per week working on pieces for publication.

I will know I've reached my goal when:

ð  *I have 2 publications in mainstream venues.*

Step 4: Make your goal ATTAINABLE. What additional resources do you need for success?

Items I need to achieve this goal: my computer + butt in chair

How I'll find the time: I will dedicate at least 4 hours per week on these pieces.

Things I need to learn more about: the editorial expectations and submitting process at mainstream magazines.

People I can talk to for support: writer friends who have bylines in major publications [get in touch with said friends ASAP!]

Step 5: Make your goal RELEVANT. List why you want to reach this goal:

If I want to develop a long-lasting writing career (working in multiple genres), I need to set the groundwork now and establish myself as a reliable and capable freelance writer.

Step 6: Make your goal TIMELY. Put a deadline on your goal and set some benchmarks.

I will reach my goal by (date): 12/31/2016

My halfway measurement will be one major publication (eek!) by 6/31/2016.

Additional dates and milestones I’ll aim for: continuing to publish my creative work in literary magazines like The Normal School, Lunch Ticket, etc.

*

Looking forward, my ultimate goal is to make my living as a writer. This is different than just writing. Lots of writers have a day job and write when they come home. I could do that, too. But what I’m saying – committing in print – is that I’d like my day job to BE writing. Just writing the words feels terrifying. And I am fully aware that writing this in my weird little blog does not guarantee that this will happen for me. But what I am saying is that I’m going to give this crazy thing my best shot.

For me, creating a writing life often feels nebulous and scary in its haziness. I think the practice of setting goals will be good in the long term, since being a freelance writer means that I will probably be my own boss, which means being organized, setting deadlines, and motivating myself.  

Hopefully this SMART goal concept is helpful to you, too. Think about something you want to accomplish in the next year, whether it’s creative, professional, or personal, and break it down using these steps. It’s also interesting to explore the reasons WHY you want to achieve this goal, and how accomplishing it will further your greater purpose in life. 

The Case for Creative Writing

Yesterday was our last creative writing class of the semester, and my students each had the chance to discuss their successes and challenges over the past few months. Many of them were surprised by a newfound love for poetry, and others mentioned an appreciation for the meditative moment that we started every class with. Several students talked about their amazement at the revision process, which warmed my little writer heart.

Narration & Description

When we started discussing writing goals, I was disheartened when a few students shared feelings of distress about the future. As it turns out, some creative writing professors think it’s helpful to tell their students that they’re never going to make it as a writer – they’re never going to be Stephen King, and they’re never going to make money at this.

I struggle to understand the reasoning behind this scare tactic. No one was telling me I was going to be destitute when I was an American Studies major in undergrad. Why the obsession with dashing the dreams of young writers? What does it accomplish besides chasing students away from the writing life?

What this message does is only assign value to something with a dollar sign attached to it. Essentially, if something you are doing is not quantifiable in terms of money, then it is not a worthwhile use of your time.

Must everything be in the pursuit of money? Do we not engage in all kinds of things purely for pleasure? In my opinion, doing things solely for the sake of a paycheck makes for a sad life.

The truth of the matter is this: it is hard making a living as an artist of any kind, whether you’re a painter, dancer, writer, singer, or sculptor. Creating art is a way of life, and it nourishes us in many ways beyond the wallet.

There are jobs that pay you to write. One of my students got an internship writing for a nonprofit. She’ll be collecting and telling stories of people in the community, writing grants, and designing and editing children’s books. That’s great, but writers will always have to carve out time for their own writing. Very few people spend their whole lives sitting at a desk, working on their own creative writing. Very few people get paid to dance all day, or splash paint on blank canvas. 

There is a myth that writing must be the end all, the only thing you do with your time. If you are truly creative, you will find ways to make money AND write. Writers come in many stripes; they can be researchers, teachers, doctors, farmers, social workers, web designers, actresses, editors. Elizabeth Gilbert worked three jobs while writing her first two books, including as a waitress and bartender. Her writing made her no money, and yet she came home from working long shifts and put pen to paper.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t be honest with our students. If they have questions about finances, we should answer them to the best of your ability. Tell them that they should only write if they truly love writing, because that is the bulk of the writing life. Publishing is cool, if you’re so lucky, but even if it comes to that, it changes nothing about the writing process: you in a chair at a desk with your favorite writing utensil.

I think you should write if writing makes you happy, if it feeds something inside of you. Ask yourself: What is the ultimate goal for your writing? Is it simply for the sake of having a creative outlet that is your own? Does writing help you make sense of this life? Does writing in your journal feel like speaking to your oldest friend, or cuddling up with a bowl of chicken noodle soup? Is there a fire in your fingers that can only be quelled by putting pen to paper?

We are creative writing teachers, not financial planners. My job as a creative writing teacher is to keep my students writing. If a student wants to major in creative writing, good for them! If they want to make a living as a writer after they graduate, good for them. If the lights get turned off or their bellies rumble with hunger, they’ll get a job that pays the bills and fills their pantry. If they love writing a lot, they’ll do it still, regardless of the job and the bills and the kids. Because the act of creating something that didn’t exist before feeds a part of you that isn’t quantifiable with dollar signs. 

Restless in Recovery

            “I never go out anymore,” I say to my best friend Selena. “There’s nothing to do in Tampa.”

            “I remember you complaining two years ago – I gotta get out of Miami! I’m having too much fun and not getting any work done.”

            “Really?” I ask. “I said that?” How quickly we forget the past.

      

            Two years ago, I was applying to MFA programs and living it up, Miami style. I was between house-sitting gigs and a tent pitched in my mom’s backyard. I spent most of my day working in my food forest and hanging out at the botanical garden where I volunteered as an environmental educator. My afternoons were spent hustling around town from one tutoring job to another, maneuvering Miami’s crazy quitting time traffic and teaching everything from French grammar to SAT essay writing. In the evenings, you might find me practicing my salsa moves with the Salsa Craze dance club, getting down at Vixen, or owning the streets of Miami with my bike posse. Every now and then, I took on an extra shift as a waitress with a fancy catering company, mainly to hang out with my friends who also worked with the company, but also for the gourmet freebies. In between volunteering and dancing and tutoring, I stopped by the beach in the middle of the week for long swims along Virginia Key’s shallow shore.

            These days, my life looks nothing like it did two years ago. Each day is eerily similar to the last. I wake up early and go to sleep late. In the mornings, I meditate, make my lunch, water the garden, eat breakfast. I bike to school and am sitting at my computer by 9:30. (My friend Sam says – “Carmella’s got a cubicle? The world must surely be ending!”) Weekdays are some amalgamation of consulting at the Writing Studio, teaching classes, attending classes, and doing homework. I eat lunch at my desk or by the pond across the street from my office building, although the benches are usually too full of duck crap to find a safe seat. At the end of the day, I try to make it to a dance class or the swimming pool before biking back home, where I’ll stay put until the next morning (writing, presumably).

My muse, hard at work

            A few days ago, I got an email from Graduate Assistants United (our union) inviting me to their monthly social at a local bar.

            “Ugh,” I told my co-workers. “Is it terrible that I really don’t want to go?”

            “You should go!” one of them said.

            “Going out is risky,” I said to my roommate later that night. “If I go to my dance class, I know for sure that I’ll have a good time. But going out – you just never know.”

            “You should go!” she said.

           

            I did end up going, and I had a nice time. But still, the whole situation made me laugh. The girl who used to triple and quadruple book herself in one evening can’t summon up the energy to go to a bar for an hour?

My professor says that people are way more productive as they age because they just don’t want to do all the things they once did. Their knees hurt and they’d rather stay close to the hearth. Plus, there are cats at home, and what’s better than kitty cuddles?

Kristyn + kitty cuddles = happiness

Perhaps this all part of the natural aging process. I’m nearing thirty, after all! Or maybe grad school is getting the best of me. It’s also possible that this strange phenomenon is simply temporary… Who knows? You might find me in a year and a half, a fresh-faced bushy-tailed MFA graduate, back to my old restless ways.

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The Function of Art

I have been thinking a lot about the function of art, for several reasons. Firstly, my heart goes out to the French artists and citizens who are in mourning after the tragedy at Charlie Hebdo. This was a stark (and unnecessary) reminder of the significant impact of art in our society, and the important role that artists hold.

I also read this fascinating article, The Death of the Artist, which explores the trajectory of the artist throughout history. According to William Deresiewicz, artists used to be artisans focused on tradition above all else. In order to become "master craftsmen," artists apprenticed alongside the greats of their time, putting in their 10,000 hours and then some. Art back then was something to be built and crafted with care, like a seaworthy ship.

In what was later called the Romantic period, this all began to change. There was a shift away from tradition and rules in favor of individualism and originality. With revolution came secularization, and artists became prophet-like. Art moved away from craft and attained a "zenith of spiritual prestige." A century later, artists had become "cultural aristocrats," a far cry far from the lowly apprentices of the 16th and 17th centuries. 

In time, art moved away from the sacred and  into the realm of bureaucracy (I wrote bureaucrazy at first. Mistake? I think not). Deresiewicz explains that "after World War II in particular, and in America especially, art, like all religions as they age, became institutionalized." Institutions were created to "support" artists: museums, ballet companies, graduate programs, art councils, managers, agents, record labels, grants, etc. The trajectory of an artist became less spontaneous and serendipitous; now there was a formula for success and it involved climbing the professional ladder, as doctors and lawyers do.

Now, though, those institutions are disintegrating and the professional artist is left to fend for themselves. And so, the creative entrepreneur is born. This person must know not only how to create thoughtful art but also how to market themselves. Luckily, the internet provides us with a plethora of self-promotion options. And like any good business, artists must diversify. We have seen a rise in "multi-platform artists," people who claim to do it all but probably not very well. Additionally, like businesses, artists have moved towards selling an experience and not just a product - meaning they sell not only their work but also the creator and this person's lifestyle and process. I am somewhat guilty of this by writing this blog.

Several things are at risk for art today. First of all, artists have moved away from the long-held belief that one must put in 10,000 hours to make good work. Instead, they are spreading themselves thin and focusing too much on self-promotion. As a result, the artist of today makes many "contacts" - at the expense of lasting and collaborative relationships with others in their craft.

Additionally, the customer has become the central figure in an artists's life, and we all know that the customer is always right. Art has become a commodity to bought and traded. Deresiewicz  says it best: 

"It’s hard to believe that the new arrangement will not favor work that’s safer: more familiar, formulaic, user-friendly, eager to please—more like entertainment, less like art."

And so, this begs the question: What do we lose when we lose authentic art? What is its purpose in our culture? Yes, art can be entertainment and art can be aesthetically pleasing, but in my opinion, it does little if it is not challenging the status quo, making people think, and moving our culture forward.

Images taken from talkingpointsmemo.com