Story Ideas – If I Only Had the Time

« Story Ideas from a Released Inmate | BLOG HOME | Story Ideas from a Mega Bestselling Author »

Story Ideas – If I Only Had the Time

By Deb Gallardo

Today’s article includes an excerpt from writing-world.com by Roberta Roesch. She provides 10 tips for eliminating the excuses — usually lack of time — for not writing. Under tip number one, “Write yourself a mission statement,” she says that mission statements empower businesses to move forward. and they do, by providing a real impetus by focusing on what’s most important.

She suggests listing all the steps you’ll need to accomplish your writing goals for the year. From studying markets, to taking writing courses, to attending writers’ conferences, set down your intentions. At the end of a year, evaluate where you are and what progress you’ve made toward your goals, and what you should do next.

I would add to this list an assessment of how realistic your goals were. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t always reach higher than you desire to go. In fact, if you reached your goal, you need to set it higher for next year. If you barely made a scratch on your progress chart, create an interim goal for next year and keep the previous year’s for your long-term goal.

And here is where the whole story ideas thing comes in. As one of the activities for her hypothetical mission statement, Roesch includes:

“…I will start a file of ideas for a novel and put everything I think of or find that pertains to the idea in that file.”

Story ideas are that important. They rank up there with honing your craft and doing market research. And they are worthy of inclusion in your mission statement for the year. There’s no need to wait for January 1 to set down your mission statement in concrete terms. Start now. A year will be gone before you know it.

Carpe Diem! And write down those ideas. Read “I Could Be a Writer If I Only Had the Time!” (opens in new window)

Share and Enjoy: