Understanding Your Writing Goals.  (Show notes: huntingthemuse.com/podcast/4) Welcome to HuntingTheMuse.com's Creative Writing Podcast. Since last week's episode was so down-to-the-wire hectic, I tried to have a little more fun this time around. I hope the intro I made for the writing prompts doesn't bother anyone. It probably won't be a regular thing. I'm actually feeling a bit silly for including it now. Haha! If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element. My week was pretty busy, but I still managed to get some writing in, about 3,000 words on 9, plus other bits of writing here and there, which is great! We went to see the animals at the Dallas zoo and it was a scorcher out! Still, we got to enjoy some time in the kids area and even got to play some Pokémon Go with the older kiddoes. Other than that, we did a whole lot of walking. Writing updates:Chlorophyllium 9 is now down from all markets. I pulled it from KDP today and switched my old short stories back to KDP Select. I didn't mention this in the podcast audio, but you can now read those stories for free if you have Kindle Unlimited. What I noticed when I took those short stories wide was that ALL sales died. I'm currently debating whether I should do a fresh release of Chlorophyllium 9 when I have Final Hope completely written. There are several reasons for me considering this. It would dump the 7 reviews I have, but I'll gain new release status in exchange. There have also been a lot of growing pains associated with how the story has grown since it was first published. I go into these a bit more in the audio of the podcast. Not subscribed to the podcast? Get it now! Along with this week's podcast topic, I'm taking a look at my goals. I'm challenging myself to write faster. Things I've considered include viewing my writing time as if I were taking on a part-time job. Would that help me give myself permission to write? (See Episode 3) Podcast News: Just a quick reminder, please consider joining the Hunting the Muse Creative Writing Podcast group on Facebook. I envision this as a place where we can foster creative writing discussions and you can post your questions or suggest topics to be covered in future episodes. You can post links or snippets of your writing that stemmed from a podcast writing prompt. This Week's Topic: Understanding Your Writing Goals First things first, your goals belong to you! You don't need to make someone else's goals your own. You are on a special journey. Sometimes it makes sense to evaluate what your goals are. Just make sure you're setting goals that align with what you really want. It's been said that "Comparison is the death of joy." I think that saying could also be, "Comparison is the death of art." What do your writing goals look like? Do they include a specific word count? Do you want to write short stories or novels? Do you write to achieve relaxation? Do you just want to develop your hobby, without concern for economic factors? Is this a potential career for you, or are you in it for supplemental income? Resources and groups: It can be helpful to seek out resources and groups that align with your goals. Maybe for you, that might include listening to this podcast. (If so, I'm honored.) I have joined a few Facebook groups and forums for writing. Of course, not all of them have worked out. When they don't, I silently exit stage right.20 Books to 50kI recently saw a suggested, closed group on Facebook called: 20BooksTo50K. I decided to check it out and requested membership. Easy enough. Worst case, I figured I'd lurk for a while and then make a silent exit. I have since learned more about the group, and the story is great for a few different reasons. Since I joined, I've listened to several podcasts that touch on this 20 Books to 50K concept. Most of these were older podcast episodes (from a few months back) that I was finally catching up on. Throughout this pro