The Power of Goal Setting!
~when I know what I’m doing it makes it so much easier to screw up~
- kryspin
Goals, and I’m not just talking hockey! As writers, sometimes we score on our own nets. What is scoring on your own net? Well it could be arguing in circles with no points to back up your statements, it could be using too many quotes, it could be irrelevant topic, lost topic and any other coherence or logic/ pattern of organization error.
Signs you’ve scored on your own net:
- confusing topic
- off topic
- no organization or pattern in your writing
- nothing directly stated (symptom of confusing topic)
- lost keyboard or you ate the pen
- next time you run out of toilet paper, you’ve already planned to use your draft or your final copy…
It is important to know what you’re writing about, why you’re writing, that way the reader knows what and why they are reading.
Good ways to “unscore” on your own net:
- who is your audience? Find out who the write is directed towards
- what’s your objective? What are you trying to communicate?
~~Are you trying to inform, entertain, persuade...etc
And if so, what’s your goal and objective in doing so? Knowing the purpose of your write will help you keep focused. If you catch yourself going off topic or too far into your argument that it steers further from the main point, go back and ask yourself: what was I writing about? What am I trying to prove/ communicate? What's this got to do with the main focus- how important is it, and then finally: is it unclear without it.
After all, it's all about coherence and clairity
this is a lesson for my class
set your goals- keep your writing on track
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This here lesson was quite a good one taught...I understand the purpose of setting a goal for my a poem and about the cohenence and clarity that must be express through a write...Thanks for sharing with all of us members of this class what goal setting is all about and in techniques...much love from Miss. Raneika
Edited on Feb 04, 6:44 p.m. because ''. -
I absolutely agree with grannyeri. I do exactly the same and Dante is forever telling me that I need to make sure that i have one theme and that i stick to it. This is yet another wake up call. I am so going to enjoy this class. Thank you for starting it off so well.
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So this is about getting us to get on track,and having us stay there. It is good to have goals in sight when one starts something new - class, job, relationship. No, we do not want to score on our own net. One of my goals might be to write longer poems, as I like to get in, write, and get out of a contest as quickly as I can. Don't draft much, write it in a few minutes on the send in page - that's it, that's all. Don't think I've got the stamina to keep with a piece over a long period of time. I'm already on to another poem or comment. Glad we've started, Look forward to more...
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Goals= organization. Organization=good. I think most of this is stuff that I've already been taught somewhere, but it never hurts to be reminded. The writing problems you have listed are very good examples. I've run into at least half of them myself.
I also had a good chuckle about the paper you were writing for a friend. It seems to me that as soon as something gains too much importance, writers block occurs. I do it all the time with college papers. I want everything to be so perfect and brilliant that I don't know where to begin. Perhaps that is because I am neither perfect nor brilliant, so I will just have to settle for what I DO have to offer! -
Cool, all stuff that I was taught at on point in my life, but for whatever reason decided not to use. Great job of making it seem easier to use in writing.
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You like to demonstrate by example – and I think it works will, (and also covers unintentional typos…) but shouldn’t it be – ‘score )))in((( one’s own net.’ You have re-reiterated the phrase – so I take it, it is not a tripeo… Mind it might be a cultural thing… are nets like snow shoes in Canada¿?
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WoW! It's been a long time since I've done this. You have actually taken me back many years to a writing workshop I attended. The speaker gave us pretty much the same idea as you have here and It worked great back then. I can't believe I have gotten away from that habit. Hearing you reiterate it here and now makes me want to really try to focus myself more than I have been. This is definitely great advice krispin.
♥ Touchof1der -
what i'd like to set as goals? well you perfectly described my issues, so i just copied the goals i can score on my own net... although i will say i've never completely eaten a pen... NOT completely.... but i smashed a keyboard one day for a photo... that was fun!!
- confusing topic (learning to try to write from both points of view is not easy)
- off topic (tangents!!!)
- no organization or pattern in your writing (almost true!!)
- nothing directly stated (symptom of confusing topic... i state too much
)
- lost keyboard or you ate the pen
- next time you run out of toilet paper, you’ve already planned to use your draft or your final copy… (second third as well if it was a two flush situation, i couldn't resist if you insist on toilet humour)
other then that, i want to learn to keep my editing polished enough to publish and dust off that old english terms book that someone mentioned... which means i gotta find it first.
oi... if you can re-awake my grammar usuage... i'd be eternally happy. are you that amazing? probably... coherancy? probably something i never worry about using. runs off with a hammer after a passing keyboard... laptops smell like easy money for repair shops.
gooday -
Sounds like a very interesting class and this appears to be a helpful column, although I could not read it fully because the background is very distracting, and I'm too tired to go through it.
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I have a strange feeling that I will be joined at the hip with my old English handbook. I wasn't as quick on the uptake as Jim.
I discovered a little book called "Writing with Style,conversations on the art of writing" by John R. Trimble. Out side of grammar and punctuations, ( I haven't reached that part yet) much of what you are saying he does also. What is really great is that each reinforces the other. This is not a long and windy book by someone who is impressed with himself. He doesn't talk at you, rather to you. Thought I would share as it is a worthy accompanyment to your class.
~Michelle~
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There are so many things I never think about when writing. I guess I just write and hope everything comes out somehow alright, and that works by chance, but I don't want to get lucky every once in a while. I want good poems to be something I intended to do. (Even though I like to tell people I knew what I was doing all along.
) I think I need to make myself little post-its with some of these points on them so I can remember them while I'm writing.
Oh yeah, and nobody said I had to be coherent for this class!
Another nice lesson, here.
Kelsey~ -
I really like it that you added deliberate errors to prove your point, that's really cool!
I totally understand what you're getting at, but I too have the problem with imposed themes. Although it seems oh-so-simple in figurative language, I have problems with practical.
I completely agree with you that you should try to figure out tha audience for your poem. In fact, when I critique, that is one of the things that I can critique on if the poem seems to be leading nowhere.
Like both above, when thoughts possess me, they really possess me and I become incapable of doing anything else until I've written down the poem. In these cases, my pen somewhat forces me to jump into the poem without any warning. In such instances, I often find myself writing things that I know nothing about, the words are simply flowing and I don't believe that they come from me. For example, I wrote a poem called "First Kiss" describing the perfect first kiss in slow motion, yet I have never received a first kiss, never mind a perfect one. The poems, while they flow so naturally at the time, become somewhat a hassle when I try to improve them as I don't know what I'm talking about. Do you have any suggestions for what to do in these cases?
I really like how you compare writing to hockey. Although I'm not a hockey player, I am a synchronized swimmer so I fully know the importance of goal-setting and it makes perfect sense to me that writing would be like-wise.
(...shouldn't "clairity" at the end be spelled "clarity"?)
Anyhow, I think that I've probably blabbed on long enough and you're probably thinking "Isn't this what I was trying to teach her NOT to do???".
Great lesson, I look forward to learning more!
~lavender shadows~ -
aha ... that's what i need in all my poetry ... as i said i tend to talk at ya rather than weave you through the magic that i feel ! heh ... hmmm lots of unlearning to do ? thanks for the thought .... >>> EM
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well in the case of set theme poetry, you should let the theme inspire you or write what you know about it. there's no shame in writing about the fact that you don't know or writing about what you know. Writing boils down to this (irregardless of which medium or format): write what you know- don't always tell, don't be afraid to show.
in the cases of contests, let the theme take you places. Instead of trying to take the theme places. be the date for the theme, instead of trying to take the theme out for a night on the town
role reversal!
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i understand what you are saying (deliberate errors being caught out by Jim) and can see how this relates to writing columns and articles.
Does the same apply when writing poetry? Know your audience? I ask because i feel art is done for self; that when aiming at an audience, one then rethinks how it is presented, perhaps changing it completely, or compromising the work.
Like Jim I go straight into it, although I have the 'idea' or 'message' in mind that I wish to share. I have found it very difficult to write for contests that set a theme that is not my own, or to write about a picture they took. When I try, the work is forced and stilted. >>>>>> EM -
my lessons will generally have (somewhere in the text) an example of the error or point being made. It'll be easy or tough to spot out but allows insight and a practical approach. You'll be able to see how practical and easy it is to spot the errors and see how they appear and flow naturally.
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a great way to prove the point is to write something confusing somewhere. glad you caught on! eheehe. Quite deliberate and proves my point justly.
it's one thing to post the lesson and another to see it in practice
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I think I understand the point you are making. In my case it is usually caused by putting the pen in motion before the brain is in gear.
However to my mind this section of your column
"Well it could be arguing in circles with no points to back up your statements, it could be using too many quotes, it could be irrelevant topic, lost topic and any other coherence or logic/ pattern of organization error."
appears to be an example of the problem. The meaning of the whole piece is fairly clear in my mind but, even after a number of readings, I cannot fully understand this section.
Is it perhaps?
Well it could be arguing in circles with no points to back up your statements, it could be using too many quotes, it could be an irrelevant topic, a lost topic and any other problems with coherence or logic or organization error.
The lack of articles, definite or indefinite is confusing to me.
Jim S
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