2019 is your year of travel writing! As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said, “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”
Once you begin writing, you gain momentum, as well as power and magic, as Goethe tells us. Don’t get in the way of that magic potential by doubting yourself or the stories you have to tell. Have no fears as you begin this year, with boldness and genius!
Here are some tips for creating some terrific travel memoir writing goals for 2019:
First, decide what you want to accomplish, and make your goal specific.
Pick one or two travel stories that you want to write this year, as a doable, minimum goal. How do you pick a story? Have a listen to my How to Find the Story in Your Travel Experiences session. Or, have a look in my blog archives, where I have lots of ideas and prompts and tips. Create a long list of potential stories, and put a star next to the ones you’re most excited about. Don’t necessarily pick the ones that seem the most important or dramatic—pick the ones you really want to tell, that you can envision in your mind and are excited about seeing on paper one day this year.
Next, find a critique partner.
Receiving critical reader feedback is crucial to your growth as a writer, and provides insights that you would never think of on your own, which can dramatically improve your story and your writing overall. Check out my post on what to look for in a good critique partner, what to avoid, and some sample questions to ask. Join a writing group; ask a writer you’re in touch with in an online group; put a call out among your friends. Whatever you decide, make constructive feedback a part of your 2019 writing goals.
Keep yourself accountable.
Send your draft to your critique partner or writing group by a certain deadline. Regardless of how ‘ready’ you actually feel the story is, send it through anyway. The feedback you receive will most likely help you get back on track.
Don’t worry about creating a big swath of time to write.
If you have a half an hour one morning, take it. If you have fifteen minutes one evening, go for it. Once you have the sense of what story you want to tell, you can zoom right in on shaping your story. And, when you write your story bit by bit in this way, I bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you’ve written when you have a read back. I’ve followed this method, and am often surprised by what I’ve written that I didn’t even remember writing! But I was sure glad I did, because it wasn’t half bad. 🙂
Keep track of your goals on a monthly basis.
At the start of each month, check in with where you’re at with your writing goals. Are you moving forward? Are you unhappy with your story choices after all? If so, take a look at your long list, and pick something else to get started on. When you give yourself a whole year, and a relatively small goal, you give yourself the time to succeed, even if you have a few detours and U turns along the way.
I wish you the best in your 2019 writing goals. I’ll be doing the same thing this year, and I’m excited to get started, knowing that I have an entire year to reach my goals, and that I’ve given myself the best chance to succeed.
