Harnessing Your 2022 Writing Goals

---

Member blog by Kate Kelsen

As an author, I have been avidly writing and self-publishing fiction and creative non-fiction
stories since 2010. I take a particular interest in exploring various human experiences and
perspectives to share people’s stories in the wider community. I am also the Vice President
and Social Media Manager of the Gold Coast Writers’ Association.
As a child, I discovered the joys of storytelling and enthusiastically embraced it. I
subsequently received recognition from writing awards and competitions around Australia. The Hunter Writers Centre selected my entries to the Grieve Writing Competition for two
consecutive years. One of those entries was chosen for the inaugural Hunter Writers Centre
Award. Additionally, I have been a finalist in the Reader’s Digest 100 Word Short Story
Competition.
In this post, I will share with you the productivity tools that have been integral to my success;
helping me write and publish four books. From 30 & 90 Day Plans to tracking achievements,
I will share tips to help you harness your writing goals, no matter what stage you are at in the
writing process. Having these structures in place has given me a sense of accomplishment
and progress even during the smallest steps.

30 & 90 Day Plans

New Year’s resolutions are notorious for failure. Fuelled by enthusiasm, a few days, weeks or
even months into the year, we come up against challenges, we get busy, we lose our
motivation and become disheartened. 30 & 90 Day Plans help you break down your big goals
into smaller, more manageable goals.
Start by doing a BIG brainstorm, writing down all the goals you want to achieve that year.
Don’t think about the how’s, just write it all down. Personally, I do this in the first page of
my yearly diary (January 1).

90 Day Plan

The next step is the 90 Day Plan. This is a generalised idea about what you want to achieve
over a three-month period, for example, January-March, April-June. Make a list of the goals
you would like to achieve in the next 90 Days. I usually list these on the first day of the
month in which the new 90-day period starts.

30 Day Plan

Having completed your 90 Day Plan, now you can break it down even further into a plan for
the immediate month ahead, e.g., January.
The beauty of the 30 & 90 Day Plan is, if you don’t get all the items ticked off the list, just
carry them over to the next 30/90 days, and just keep carrying them over until they’re done!

Daily Achievement Note

Keep a simple daily record of the things you’ve done to contribute to your goal. This creates a
daily habit of contributing to your goals, however big or small. It will also serve as a
reference tool for you when you’re feeling unmotivated!

Other Time Management Tools

Below are some productivity tools to optimise your writing time and manage your social
media presence.

Pomodoro Technique

The mind works well with time deadlines and smaller targets. The Pomodoro Technique
involves writing for 25-minute sessions, and then taking a five-minute break in between. You
can use the Tomato Timer to track your sessions: TomatoTimer (tomato-timer.com) (Writing
Fridays uses the Pomodoro Technique. For more information…)

Social Media Scheduling Services

If social media is part of your online author presence, scheduling services can save you time,
enabling you to create and schedule posts for publishing in advance. Hootsuite is one of the
most well-known scheduling tools, however there are several others available too, including:

• Buffer
• Sendible
• Sprout Social
• Agora Pulse
• Viral Heat
• Social Oomph

Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress allow you to schedule drafts in advance with no limit on
posts or characters. Instagram does not allow you to schedule posts in advance, however you
can save drafts of your posts to publish later. You cannot schedule posts in advance on
LinkedIn but you can do this through a third-party scheduling service like Hootsuite, etc.
Whatever productivity tools you choose to use for your writing, always remember to
acknowledge your progress, however big or small. And most importantly, remember to enjoy
your writing time!

---

Contributed by Kate Kelsen

Discovering a passion for storytelling early in life, at twenty-one years of age Kate published her debut novel The Wilted Rose, a novel inspired by the true story of a Brisbane family’s experience with mental illness during the 1960s.

This book was the beginning of a passion for Creative Nonfiction.  Kate has since gone on to publish three more books and multiple short stories across various genres. 

Kate has received recognition from writing awards and competitions around Australia.

The Hunter Writers Centre in Newcastle consecutively selected Kate’s entries to the Grieve Writing Competition two years in a row, for publication in the competition’s annual anthology. One of these entries was also chosen for the inaugural Hunter Writers Centre Award.

Kate has also been a finalist in the Reader’s Digest 100 Word Short Story Competition.

Kate is currently working on a sequel to The Wilted Rose, and an Irish Noir novella series set in Galway.