Goal-Oriented Writing

The goal of your writing changes what you write.

In some ways, that’s blitheringly obvious. If your goal is to create beauty through poetry, you write poetry. If your goal is to launch a massive intertwined universe of books, you write books that are related to each other, and a lot of them. If your goal is to create wonder in young minds, you write books for children.

Dur.

But it’s easy to forget all that when the rubber meets the road.

My goal isn’t just to write. I want my writing to support my family financially. This ain’t just a hobby.

So, what does that goal mean? Does that mean I only write drivel for the masses that’s designed to be a New York Times bestseller? I give up all my likes and dislikes, run some numbers, and weave together the most financially viable product ever created? Oh, and it also must be soulless. Don’t forget that!

Oh, heck no. I’m not talking about “selling out.”

So far, Dawnsbrook, the publishing business my wife and I run, has published two six-book middle grade series (one fantasy, one science fiction), one younger grades chapter book, and our next release will be a YA fantasy trilogy. We’re all still squarely in books I like writing and reading.

But the next project after that? It’s time to look at what sells and what selling trends show us. If YA far outsells middle grade, because the goal is to support my family financially, it’s time to write some more YA, perhaps even a sequel trilogy. If, on the other hand, our middle grade fantasy proves to be our best seller, time to write more of that!

And the cool thing is that I enjoy writing all of this. It’s not choosing between good and gross. It’s choosing between good and good.

So figure out the goal of your writing, and you’ll know better what to write next. What’s going to get you to that goal?