Today is YA Highway’s Road Trip Wednesday! The question is: How do you reward yourself when you meet your writing goals? Answer for big goals (i.e. I will buy a Lear jet when I get published) and/or small goals (I eat an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's in one sitting when I finish each chapter).
This is a great question!
Small goals (like finishing a chapter): When I was working on The Rose of Coracus in college, I had two built-in rewards for working hard and doing a good job. First, the praise and constructive criticism of my classmates. Two, a good grade. Now when I’m writing on my own I’m missing those rewards. I’ve tried to solve the first by searching for a critique partner but I have nothing that equals the second type of reward. Perhaps that’s what I need to get writing more! I really look forward to reading how others reward themselves!
Big goals (like getting published): Assuming I get a modest two-book deal, I would reward myself by putting 1/3 immediately in savings, using 1/3 to pay back my student loans, and then the last third would be spent on an odd combination of frivolous and practical: a clothing shopping spree, a gym membership, an extravagant vacation (I’m leaning towards Australia, New Zealand and some South Pacific islands…), a new pair of glasses I might actually wear, a SCBWI membership. Even if I got a bigger book deal, the majority would go into savings: looking into my not-so-distant future, I have a lot of big things coming my way in the next five or ten years (A wedding! A house! A baby! Two baby?)…. Although, obviously, getting a book published and seeing it in stores and knowing others are reading (and hopefully loving!) it would be more than enough reward for all the hard work and revisions that went into that manuscript.
Whether finishing a chapter or an entire novel, getting an agent or getting published, rewarding yourself for hard work is important! I kind of forgot about that in the day-to-day in terms of word counts and plot outlines, so this reminder is nice. I look forward to seeing how other writers handle this!
The small ones really are just satisfaction based, for me. Maybe a tiny treat like ice cream or even tickets to a sporting event. I love that your big rewards includes travel! My favorite!
ReplyDeleteYou're totally right. So often we get bogged down in the trenches of publishing that we forget to reward ourselves for doing something that most would find impossible!
ReplyDeleteAlso, if agree with your 1/3-ing. I always thought that I would just buy out the entire ModCloth stock.
Since you've got it broken down in thirds, don't forget to set aside ~20% of each third for taxes! And travel is on my list, too!
ReplyDeleteTravel is a great way to celebrate a book deal, though I'd probably just put most into savings. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm with you--when I imagine big-goals, I imagine savings and student-loan payments, no matter the size of the deal. Travel is a great reward and also a good investment--think of all the writerly inspiration on your trip(s)!
ReplyDelete@Kristin: Using food is a great small reward...if I had the willpower to wait and eat that piece of chocolate/ice cream cone/cookie until I reached my writing goal! :-)
ReplyDelete@icountwords: Agreed! I <3 Modcloth!
@Abby: Thanks for the reminder! I read that recently in a blog post by Mandy Hubbard (check it out if you haven't see it: http://mandyhubbard.livejournal.com/249542.html) and hadn't even thought of taxes before them!
@Tracey and Rebecca: Yay for savings...and travel! :-)
I didn't think of it, but feedback is kind of a reward sometimes.
ReplyDelete@Kate: I think of rewards as not just something given after a job well done, but as something that will keep me writing, and feedback definitely is that!
ReplyDeleteThese are great-- you sound very smart and restrained!!! Saving is so important.
ReplyDeleteFantastic ideas, especially saving. I chose travel as one of the big rewards as well. Love the idea of a shopping spree :)
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of a shopping spree! I didn't think of that!
ReplyDelete