| You will read a lot about writers' block and what | | | | No more uncertainty- you now know when it will |
| to do about it. I had another problem- I could | | | | be done. |
| write, but I seemed to be getting bogged down | | | | To the right of this, write 'three months before,' |
| with time constraints and with the frustration that | | | | and think 'if my novel ( for the sake of the |
| comes when finishing your novel seems to be at | | | | argument we'll say it's the first draft) is finished |
| some undetermined point in the distance. | | | | one year from now, what stage should it be at |
| In my day job- which is managing services for | | | | three months before that? You might decide that |
| people with severe disabilities- we had been | | | | by then you will want to have written the |
| shown how to apply 'Path Analysis' to service | | | | concluding paragraph, giving yourself three months |
| design in order to move things forward in order | | | | to go back over problem passages. |
| to achieve positive outcomes for those who use | | | | To the right of this you write 'six months before.' |
| the service. | | | | Half way through the time scale you have set |
| I had been going through a frustrating lull in my | | | | yourself, where should you be? You may already |
| writing because I just couldn't see an end to it, | | | | have worked out roughly how many chapters the |
| although the presence of an unfinished novel into | | | | book will run to. In that case, if your novel is, say, |
| which I had put so much work was constantly | | | | forty chapters in length, you might have |
| niggling. | | | | 'completed twenty chapters' as your goal. |
| I even had recurring dreams in which I hadn't | | | | Do the same for three months before. |
| finished my university thesis, my grant was | | | | For each of these sections you should also be |
| running out, and I had to decide whether or not | | | | making notes of additional tasks that will require |
| to complete. I would wake up in a hot sweat, and | | | | completion so that you can complete each section |
| it would take several minutes before I realised | | | | of your goal. For the final stage, for instance, you |
| that I had actually completed the thing years ago. | | | | may need to make a note to buy paper and an |
| Something had to happen! | | | | ink cartridge- soon you will have a finished novel |
| So I used the Path method. | | | | you will want to print off to revise and proof |
| Take a piece of paper, and position it for | | | | read. Or you may know that when you reach the |
| landscape. At the top right hand corner draw a | | | | nine month mark you have planned for your hero |
| star. This is your North Star, the guide that you | | | | to be rescued by helicopter and, knowing nothing |
| follow to reach your goal. | | | | about helicopters, will want to do some research |
| In my case the 'north star' was 'finish my novel.' | | | | to add authenticity. |
| They do say choose a North Star for guidance, | | | | Finally, look at now. What stage are you at? What |
| not necessarily expecting to get there- but I | | | | do you need to do now to have completed your |
| would rather say make it your task to get there | | | | quota of chapters within the next three months? |
| and settle for nothing less. | | | | Just having these goals and milestones in written |
| The next thing to do is set a time scale. Say for | | | | form can provide all the motivation you need to |
| instance that your novel or whatever you wish to | | | | finish. Remember: there is only one thing worse |
| achieve, will be completed in one year. Write that | | | | than having an unwritten novel in your head- it's |
| date by your goal. | | | | having a half written novel in a drawer! |