My ultimate writing goals

My ultimate writing goals were to be traditionally published and write tons of books. I never dreamed about being rich – I just wanted to write.

Then I started writing.

The first thing I realized is that writing is HARD, but it’s also fun. 🙂 And that’s when my writing goals began to change.

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I attended a writing conference

The first conference I attended was Asheville Christian Writing Conference. And what I realized is I want to serve–in my writing.

I have done so many hours of volunteer work, and that’s not really what I mean. What I mean by ‘serve’ is that I want my writing to be reader-focused. I want to share hope and encourage readers.

I still wanted to be traditionally published, but my focus was changing. My writing goals were changing.

What else changed my writing goals?

I’d like to be spiritual and say God changed them, but it’s more that my goals changed along the way. I do think that is from God, though. It’s just that He didn’t say at one specific point – do this or that.

That’s what God does in my life. He works with me – I’m stubborn and strong-willed – and He is patient (I’m not), and He shows me through a number of things what my focus should be, what He wants to do through me.

How cool is that?!

I learned more

And I realized I didn’t know much! If you know me, the last several years have been rough on our family. We lost my mother-in-law, step-mom, and my dad within eight months of each other. This year my mom fell and had to have emergency brain surgery, followed by hip surgery, and was in the hospital/rehab for a month.

Someone told me that all these things (and there are more, but let’s face it, there’s only so much trauma you want to hear) will impact my writing. That’s very true.

Again, my focus changed. My family is first at all times. So my writing goals have changed to encompass that.

Writing goals resources:

Check out these 2 books on goal setting:

A list of my writing goals:

• Traditionally or self-published – I no longer have to be traditionally published. It’s an either/or now, but I do want to publish
• Keep my focus on my family
• Encourage, offer hope, show joy, and serve in everything writing and in my everyday life

Summing it up

The other day, I was at a writing group, and the leader said to think of your top 4 favorite movies and see what they have in common/their theme. She’d learned this from someone else. That theme is something that you can use to find your tagline and your purpose for writing.

I could choose my favorite books easier than movies, but the first ones that came to mind were Elf, and then I like psychological twist movies/suspense. When I told her that, she said it was a combination of joy and dark stuff. I chuckled because that’s me–I’m an optimist and like to find the good stuff, even in the midst of the hard stuff.

All of that to say, I think my tagline, and my ultimate writing goal, is to offer joy in the midst of life. I still have to reword that for a tagline, but I know that is now my ultimate writing goal!

How about you? Do you write? If so, what is your purpose? What are your goals? Put them in the comments – I’d love to know!

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About the Author

Hi, I’m Jen! I’ve been married 37 years, have 5 amazing kids and 2 adorable grandkids and one on the way. I homeschooled our three youngest children. I used to blog about homeschooling and taught Oral Communication as an adjunct instructor for over 5 years.

Jen Dodrill Writes is born of a passion of mine – to write a novel! When I’m not working, you’ll find me writing, spending time with my family, or curled up on the couch reading and drinking a mug of dark roast coffee. (Don’t forget to check out my mug shop – JDMugs!)