Daniel Kunka on Setting Writing Goals

A two time Black List writer weighs in with his approach to productivity.

Yesterday I tweeted this:

To which screenwriter Daniel Kunka responded with this:

I thought that was interesting: Email goals to your agents and/or managers. Daniel elaborated on his year-end process:

If you’ve got representation, it’s an interesting idea to formalize your goals in this fashion. I’d have meetings with my agents at least one a year where the discussion would be near term and long term goals, but Daniel’s approach somehow makes the process seem more tangible and real.

What takeaways can a writer take from this approach if they don’t have representation yet? Whether agents, managers, or someone else, I still think it’s a good idea to make some sort of public declaration of your goals. That’s what we’re doing in the series I referred to above.

But why not email them? After you’ve reflected on 2016 and lined up some specific, achievable goals for 2017, email them to yourself. You can use lettertomyfutureself.net and have it delivered to your email on December 31, 2017 to see how you fared.

Or email your goals to your writers group. A friend. Your significant other. Any s0rt of formal declaration of intent adds heft to your goals. They become real. Visceral.

How about you? If you’re a writer with reps, what do you think of Daniel Kunka’s approach? Do you do something like that? Would you consider doing it.

And if you don’t have reps, how would you choose to codify your writing goals for the next year? Do you see the value in that?

Love to read your thoughts and observations. Head to comments and let me know what you think.