What if I'm Not a Goal Setter?

Ways to think about writing if goals aren't your thing--PLUS an early May discount

I know many of you have been asking yourselves: when is the right moment to register for a writers’ circle/book writing workshop? I’m so happy to tell you that NOW is the right time because I’ve decided to extend the early bird sale through the first week of May. Come write with me! Get the summer going the way you want! Details below.

In 2005, my brother was living in Moscow, so I hopped on a plane to go visit him. It was early March, so there was snow everywhere, which would thaw into slushy mounts during the day, and then freeze into sheets of treacherous ice at night. We’d venture out in the morning, and I’d watch these impeccable Russian women dressed all in white wearing stiletto boots race across the icy sidewalks while I trudged in my snow boots and parka praying not to fall and break a wrist. I took to muttering to myself “be the turtle…be the turtle…be the turtle.” (slow and steady, right? I even got myself a turtle tattoo when I got back from the trip). I was one of the more awkward sights on Moscow streets, but it worked. I didn’t win any awards for grace, but I didn’t fall. (I did get pneumonia, get prescribed a pill with duck blood in it, and then cured myself with matcha and fear, but that’s a different story).

Goals, goals, goals

Most of you who read this newsletter are goal setters, I think. We set expectations, work to achieve them, are good at figuring out how to achieve what we want, know how to motivate ourselves, intrinsically and extrinsically, in pursuit of those goals.

And we talk about process goals and product goals, and small-medium-large sized goals (pebbles, rocks, boulders?) and aligning big goals with our optimal writing time. And this works for a lot of people. If you love a good productivity system, this piece isn’t for you.

Instead, this piece is for the rest of you—who find goal setting a little stressful, or a little cult-like, or a little too much like procrasta-planning. The world tries to tell you that if you’re not creating to-do lists, checking things off, buying new productivity software, then you’re not writing. Show them they’re wrong! (Or don’t show them—also fine!)

3 non-goal-oriented ways to think about writing

Writing as an intrinsic good/pleasure. I read all of the time. I don’t think there has been any real moment of my adult life when I wasn’t in the middle of a book or three. I don’t set goals around reading, because that would feel weird, and misaligned with the purpose. I don’t want to read more, necessarily, I just want to read with more curiosity, more widely, more interesting and engaging stories. In parts of my life, writing has felt this way to me. I’ve written not because it was on my calendar, or because I owed a draft to someone, but because I was compelled to, respected that compulsion, and honored it. For some of you, I suspect, making the commitment to write more slowly, more intentionally, and to creating the space for that to happen, would mean that writing became something that happened organically.

Writing as a series of experiments. When I’m coaching, I try hard to exist in a space where multiple things might be true. Maybe the book should be chronological, or maybe it should be thematic—what happens when we test the hypothesis that it should be chronological? Maybe this should be an article instead of a book—what happens if we do an experiment and try to make it article-sized? What if this feels unsatisfying because this is truly two books instead of one? Can we test this hypothesis by breaking it into two?

This works on the microlevel too. If you feel stuck, what if you write by hand for awhile? What if you pretend like you’re teaching, and use your teacher voice? What if you spent 15 minutes a day zooming in really close on a scene in your mind and writing about it?

These experiments often feel antithetical to goal setting. They take more time! They offer rabbit holes as temptations! But, as a piece of writing is trying to figure out what it wants to be, it very often needs to take some side quests to get there.

Writing as planting seeds/a slow investment. I have three projects that are somewhat active. Other than “make them books, one day,” I don’t have any goals associated with them right now. Instead, I am cultivating them, growing them a bit at a time. I do some reading, take some notes, let it simmer. I had a breakthrough on one of the projects and I saved it in my notes app, then wrote 1500 words about it.

Now, when I have big blocks of time, I work on one of them. I had a writing group I used to go to on Wednesdays, and I always used it for the first project. I used AcWriMo this year for the second project, and then I used ApWriMo plus some conference time for the third project. I had goals associated with those particular blocks of time because I wanted to come in with a to-do list and not spend that time questing about in the document. At some point I’ll decide which of these project I want to work on in France (!!), and come up with a list of goals for the retreat.

And I know at some point one of these will take enough form—it’ll catch my interest and not let my brain go, or a publisher will be interested, or something like that, and I’ll shift the other projects to the back burner. But for now, slowly, I’m cultivating the ground.

So this summer, ask yourself what you want your relationship to writing to be. Maybe you’re going to set goals and check them off like a boss. But maybe you’re going to slow roll the writing, build a foundation, and get things done your way—and that’s okay too. Be the turtle—slow and steady still puts words into the world.

xoxo,

Kelly

Hey! Need a community or an editor? I have some options!

So You Want to Write A Book?: Two spots left! A unique hybrid workshop dedicated to supporting writers throughout their book writing journey. Come join us in May! More info here, Register here [starts May 12, until May 7, Tier I is only $1750—a whole year of workshops and writing support]

So You Want to Finish (or Make a Lot of Progress) Your Book? An Advanced Book Writing Workshop. I’m so excited about this— a year-long, monthly workshop for folks with more advanced book manuscripts. One part troubleshooting/ accountability, one part advanced topics in book writing. We’ll start in May. Details here, register here. [starts May 8, until May 7, Tier I is only $750—a whole year of monthly book check-ins!]

A (very rare) summer Writers’ Circle. I almost always just host two writers’ circles a year—in the spring and the fall, but my sense is that people are in need of some community this year, so I’m going to host a very rare summer workshop in May and June. AND, by popular demand, there will be space for writing built into our meetings: so we’ll talk about writing, and then actually do it. Details here, register here. [Starts May 13. Until May 7, Tier I is only $550! A steal!]

We’re also open for new coaching clients, editing assignments, and book publicity relationships—get in touch!

You can see all of what we’re doing in 2025 here. Please note: I will be taking a summer pause from June 26-July 22, so I won’t be editing or meeting with folks during this time.