Creating a Mission Statement that Drives Your Writing Career
The path of a writer is unique to each individual. While we all may share one ubiquitous image of a tortured soul slaving over the typewriter, there are many ways that people can approach the career. Whether you are a novelist, a copywriter, an essayist, or a technical writer, setting out to pursue a writing career can be daunting. A key way to help understand what you want to do with writing is by writing a mission statement. Your mission statement will be similar to that of a company or a nonprofit as it encompasses what you want to achieve and will be something that you can use to remind yourself of your goals.
What is your “Why”?
To create your mission statement, you should start with the big question: why do I write? You can answer this in any number of ways such as:
I write for self expression and the joy/challenge of it
I write to connect with other people or my community
I write to understand myself and my thoughts
I write to entertain others
I write to create change, inform, or educate
I write to earn a living
We all come to the page with different goals and you should ask yourself what brings you back to the blank page? Make sure you do this exercise with honesty – identifying what is important to you will help drive your everyday writing practice. Another way to approach this step is to finish the following sentence: “I want to be a writer who…”. Here are a few ideas for how to finish this sentence:
I am a writer who
shares my own experiences.
goes above and beyond to find the truth.
puts all my effort into creating an exciting world for the reader.
thoughtfully discusses all sides of complex issues.
writes the story I want to read.
Breaking It Down
Next, you will divide your broad mission statement into different sub-categories. Writing is an incredibly diverse field and it is easy to drown in the long list of things you need to do, but breaking these goals up into groups can help you prioritize them. Examples of categories include:
Education
Do you want to learn more about writing and push your skills? Goals in this category include anything from going back to school, pursuing a higher degree, or even just taking a free class or webinar on something you want to improve. Are there workshops with authors you admire? Are there free or discounted classes or services at your local library?
Example Tasks: Research MFAs or PhDs, look up writing webinars or craft chats, or read books that will improve your grammar.
Financial
It is important to consider whether you want writing to be your major source of income and, if so, how you can achieve that. If you want to make some additional income doing freelance writing, how much will you need to work and at what rate to meet that goal? If you want to be a full time author or writer you may have to look into jobs that will allow you to do so.
Example Tasks: Look at rates for editors, research writing jobs, or research grants, fellowships and retreats.
Publishing
Regardless of what you want to publish, this section is where you get specific. How many pieces do you want to publish this year? Where do you want them to be published? What are their requirements? Knowing your publishing goals ahead of time allows you to time and plan submissions around reading periods and contests that interest you.
Example Tasks: Research publishers, find literary magazines you would like to be published in, read their submission requirements and costs.
Writing Practice
There are no hard and fast rules for setting your practice, but use your existing writing habits and the time frame of your publishing goals to inform your goal. For example, if you want to finish a novel in one year, then your writing practice may be to write 2,000 words a day for your book, or maybe a chapter a week. This will vary greatly depending on your lifestyle, but start small and make a commitment with your publishing goal in mind!
Example Tasks: Write for 30 minutes every day, write a chapter a month, and pencil writing time into your calendar.
Reading
Writers read, and making a focused TBR pile will inspire you as you work towards your goals. But don’t forget to also read for pleasure as well, not everything needs to be perfectly curated and reading shouldn’t feel like a chore. What are the best books in your genre? What are some that are less well known? There are a million different book lists on the internet. Use them to identify books you want to read and books that you can learn from.
Example Tasks: Read a fantasy novel each month, read 5 non-fiction novels this year, or read the best books on medieval history.
Pencil It In
Your last step is to look at your weekly calendar and identify how these tasks fit into your daily life. You can take these wonderful ideas you have brainstormed and split them up into a yearly, monthly, weekly, daily list. This can help you prioritize your tasks as you progress throughout the year. Here’s an example:
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Creating a writing mission statement can be a little intimidating. When working towards one big goal we can lose our way and lose motivation easily but breaking it down into smaller actionable goals seamlessly integrates your mission statement in your everyday writing practice and activities. It will be easier to work toward it once you put it down in words. Don’t use this mission statement to punish yourself for not accomplishing everything you aim to and know that it could change many times in your career. Instead use it as a guiding light. Use it to achieve a writing goal of your own.
