It's that time of year when you begin to think about the possibilities of the new year and what you could get done as well as lamenting the past year and what you might have neglected to do. Most of us like the thought of setting goals, but few of us actually do set them, or if we do we've forgotten about them by mid-February.

I think the problem with most goal-setting scenarios is that we're too kind with ourselves. I mean let's say you set a goal and then you don't achieve it. What happens to you? Um…nothing. I mean you probably aren't even that embarrassed because no one even knows you set the goal. What would happen if you proclaimed to everyone you knew and saw on a daily basis that you were on a diet and you were going to exercise everyday and lose 50 pounds by the end of the year? I'll tell you what, those people would be pestering you and eyeing you while you pop that donut in your mouth.

With writing, because it's a solitary activity, there really isn't a lot of accountability when it comes to setting goals. We waffle a lot, we set airy-fairy goals that don't really mean much of anything and we're too forgiving of ourselves when we do fail to meet any goal we might have set. There are "writers" out there who have been members of RWA for years and are still struggling to finish their first book – I know several of them. They're bright, intelligent, gifted women, but they just haven't been able to make that commitment. So how do you get there? How do you buckle down and really focus if you've made the decision that you want to write professionally?

Well, one problem is solvable just by using a calendar, setting actual goals and keeping track of your writing progress. When you write things down, they become more concrete and you become a bit more inclined to remember to strive for them. But that doesn't solve everything. I'd wager the main problem of 90% of the people struggling to write is actually getting pages written in a consistent manner. I know I struggled with this myself for a while. So why is this such a problem? Why, if we WANT to write, is it so darn hard to make ourselves do it?

Well, for one, it's much easier to think/talk/bitch/whine about writing than it is to actually write. Once you've written a few pages, you quickly realize this. Writing is hard. We come up with one excuse after another for why we're not writing even though we're claiming to be writers. For me it was studying craft. I used that excuse for a long time…"well, I can't write yet because I haven't mastered scene and sequel yet." Okay…well, here's a tip from me, you can read every book written on the craft of writing, but until you actually write you'll never master any of it.

Another reason…well, fear is a big one for a lot of us. Fear of success. Fear of failure. Fear of exposing too much of our true selves to the general public. Writers are a neurotic bunch and we're afraid of a lot. But that's just it, we're all afraid…and frankly the fear never goes away, at least it hasn't so far, so you just learn to get over it and write through the fear.

I could go on and list a few more things that might be stalling you and I'm sure some of you could make suggestions, but whatever your reason is, whatever excuse you have slinking through your mind that you think makes you special or excuses you, get over it. Are you ready for some tough love?

As yourself this now – do you really want to make it in this business?

Now I'm not talking money I'm just talking about walking into your local bookstore and seeing your book on the shelf. Do you want that? I don't say any of this to be pious because it wasn't too long ago I sat where you are right now and I haven't forgotten where I came from. I also didn't get here overnight. But I didn't get here making excuses either. It's time to let the excuses die. It's time to put your big-girl panties on and quit your whining.

You say you want to be an author. You say you want to write. But what are you willing to do to make your dream happen? What are you willing to sacrifice? There will be some things you can do without (TV) and stuff you aren't willing to part with (time with your kids) and that's all okay, just know it now. Writing is a journey of self discovery and now's the time to get really acquainted with yourself, to find out what you are and aren't willing to do to see your dream of publication come to fruition. So I ask you now…how badly do you want it?

But you say, writing is hard, you can't quite master characters and plot is a mystery to you. Or you only have a high school diploma. Well, guess what, it's hard for all of us, even us published authors. There are certain aspects of writing that might come more readily to one writer than to another, but we all struggle. If anyone tells you writing is easy for them, they're either lying or they're not working hard enough. How badly do you want it?

You're busy, you say. Well, you're not the only person who's tried to balance writing with a full-time day job or a house full of kids or a sick parent or whatever if is that competes for your time. How badly do you want it?

You can't write unless you have it all plotted out/unless you have a 5-hour block of time/or unless its raining outside and approximately 56.7 degrees. Well, you need to either be writing literary fiction that affords you 5 years in between books or you need some yoga classes to teach you a little flexibility. How badly do you want it?

Okay so you get the picture. This is THE year for you to work on your dream. No more excuses. Tack that up above your computer. I don't care what your excuse is, if you want to write, if you want to make a go at this, you'll get it done. You'll make the time, you'll learn your craft, you'll do what it takes to succeed.

Alright now that I've yelled at you, I'll give you some quick tips on how to get it done. First of all you need to set big goals and then break them down into bite-sized pieces. Let's say you want to write a brand-new single-title this year. That's between 360-400 pages of writing, not including any prewriting or revision time. And let's say you have a full-time job and two kids at home. So you can really only get 15-20 new pages done a week (that's an average of 2-4 pages a day depending on if you write 5 or 7 days a week) that comes out to about 24-26 weeks to get your first draft done. Then if you revise 2-3 chapters a week you can be done revising in 6-10 weeks. That's a total of 36 weeks on the long end of things to write a 400 page book. That leaves you with 16 weeks left over to do whatever you want with.

So you see how that works? You find your big goal and you figure out what you need to do in pieces to get there. Start big and work backwards. Just like a book is made up of chapters and chapters are made of scenes and scenes are made up of paragraphs and paragraphs are made up of words, goals work just that way.

Okay so you've set your goals now you need to write them down, and then share them with someone. Designate someone to be your goals keeper, preferably someone mean and scary who will give you that look if you lag behind.

I'll ask you one more time…how badly do you want it?

Robyn DeHart is known by all her writing friends for her tough love. When she isn't trying to motivate aspiring authors, she writes Victorian-set historicals for Avon books. The third installment of her popular Ladies' Amateur Sleuth Society series, Tempted At Every Turn, hits stores August 07.


EMOTIONS

Feelings….whoa, whoa, whoa, feelings…

If we've heard it once, we've heard it a hundred times; in a romance you must have emotion on every page. Which emotion depends on you and your characters and their individual situation, but emotion is the kicker. It's the reason we read romance. We're emotion junkies. Personally, I believe this is the main thing that separates the almost-published with the published. I've seen it too many times when judging contest entries. The writing is solid, the characters feel real, but the emotions are flat. It's as if the author is trying to keep the reader at arm's length.

In actuality, you're keeping your own emotions at arm's length is yourself. Call it self-preservation. It's scary to put yourself on the page. To open yourself up to your vulnerabilities and tell your boss and your ex-boyfriend and your great Aunt Mary Ellen all about your emotional baggage. In the end, though, you'll find that the more of yourself you allow to seep into the pages, the more authentic your writing will become. It often takes a while to really dig deep, let loose and put yourself on the page. Now let me clarify, I'm not talking about writing autobiographically, it's not about writing about your experiences. It is about allowing yourself to feel that humiliation you felt at the 6th grade dance when you walked out of the bathroom with your dress tucked into your tights, so that it seeps into the scene you're writing when your heroine feels humiliated after walking in on her so-called beau in the arms of another woman. Writing is intensely personal. It took me a while to acknowledge that and when I did, it changed so much about how I approach my stories and characters. So what are some ways you can punch up the emotion in your writing? I've got a list of four techniques to use.

Be specific. Have you ever heard that the more specific something is, the more general it is? What this means is the more precise you make something, the more likely it is that people will understand. Instead of saying John and Sally walked through the grove of trees, say John and Sally linked arms and strolled through a grove of apple trees. Just by adding specific details, you've deepened the description and engaged the reader.

Start with the five senses. We've all heard this one plenty of times, but it's one of the key ingredients to getting emotion on the page. But so often what you see is an inventory list to set up the scene. As if the author has a checklist by their desk of the five senses and once they've established all of them, the move on with the story. The five senses should work harder than that. Think about the following examples and what they represent: the howling wind (fear), the taste of blood (danger), a glittering ballroom (excitement), the sinfully softness of velvet (sensuality), and yeasty scent of fresh baked bread (peace). Granted these examples are a bit clichéd, but hopefully they illustrate my point. Hand selecting a sensory detail that mirrors the emotional tone of the scene will add depth and richness more so than simply tossing something random in. Think, be deliberate and selective with your details.

Which brings me to the next technique. Using character point of view. Everyone views the world differently. When I walk into a room I might notice the color on the walls and the choice of art, while you might notice the specific style of furniture and the out of place ceiling fan. The same goes for our characters. This is especially important when you're writing in 3rd person and switching points of view, either by chapter or by scene. Your heroine's unique vision of the world and the details she notices in it are determined by her upbringing, her education, her preferences, her values and her emotional mood. If she's feeling plucky and happy, she will likely notice how the fat raindrops feel as they fall on her cheeks, whereas if she's feeling surly, she might instead notice the dark sky and the angry slashes of clouds. When you're writing your scenes and you're in one of your character's heads, use this to your benefit. Think about your word choice, especially your verbs with this one. A woman might think the stars are dancing across the sky, whereas a man would use a different verb like scattering.

What specifically will they notice about their surroundings? Chances are your hero isn't going to notice that his desk is a rich mahogany because he's sat at it a hundred times and he knows what it looks like. But if you have him accidentally spill his ink well across the top marring the rich mahogany color, you've not only given us a description of the desk, but you've given us a clue into his emotional state.

Go deep. It's not just a football term. Along the lines of using your character's individual point of view, slip into deep point of view as often as you can. There are times in books when this isn't practical or as effective as lose 3rd person, but for the most part you can use deep POV whenever you like. Let's look at two examples: Sandra continued to type her memo, racking her brain for the appropriate clause. She heard glass shatter from somewhere in the house. She froze. Someone was in the house.

Or this

Sandra's fingernails clicked across the keyboard in an awkward tattoo. What was that clause? She made a note to have Alan look it up in the morning. Glass shattered behind her. Chills scattered across her flesh, prickling the hairs on her nape. Someone was in the house.

Which one evokes stronger emotion? The second one does, because it goes deeper into Sandra's head. When we use phrases like "she heard" or "he felt" we remove the reader from the action of story and remind them they're just reading. Without those phrases and utilizing the actual action the reader is immersed in the book and in the character's skin. The close your readers feel to the characters, the faster they'll turn those pages. This is classic show, don't tell. Instead of describing the situation, put us in it and let us experience it.

Have you been holding your emotions at arms length while you write? Are you skimming the surface and hoping to slip by? If so, then try these techniques and see if they don’t help you begin to ease more emotion onto the page. It gets easier with time and once you see how effective it is, the fear of being too honest or too out there begins to melt away. Aren't your stories worth it? Don't your characters deserve authentic emotions? Come on, step out on the ledge and put your heart on the page.

When Robyn DeHart isn't exploring her emotional baggage, she writes Victorian-set historicals for Avon books. The third installment of her popular Ladies' Amateur Sleuth Society series, Tempted At Every Turn, hits stores August 07. This article was originally printed in the SMRW Smoke Signals newsletter.