The November Assignment

A growth task for writers

With Halloween in the rear view and Thanksgiving around the corner, now is a great time to consider where you are in your life. Specifically, if your goal is to write a book, it’s especially helpful to look at what you’ve done toward that goal this past year.

To that end, I’ll give you a technique that has worked well for me over many years.

Open your laptop, notes app, or voice recorder app and just talk to yourself about what you have done and what you’d like to do next.

Consider this assignment for your eyes only. Like a wish blown over a birthday cake or a broken wishbone or a transcendental meditation mantra, it’s not meant for public consumption.

Sometimes, I’ll write in my journal. Other times, I write out a physical letter and give to a friend to hold for the purpose of mailing to me at year’s end. And there are moments when I make a guarantee to myself in a specific time and place. When I revisit, it returns to me: like people who agree to meet at the top of the Empire State Building.

I won’t tell you what I’ve done and what my goals are too specifically (the secret thing), but I’ll give you the broad strokes.

With several major works due, I made a decision back in January to be my own indefatigable cheerleader. I would write from a position of strength acknowledging the formidable headwinds before me but understanding that I’ve faced such issues before and overcome them. I catalogued my strengths and weaknesses. I played to the former and did all I could to lessen the latter’s effect on my life.

Again, without being too specific, I’ll say that I’m really effective when I’m obsessed with what I’m writing. I’ll climb any mountain, swim any seas, or rescue the princess, even if she’s in another castle. So I channeled my obsessions, by reading and watching films on topics that fit the goals of the stories I’m telling. I had amazing conversations with smart people. I dreamed about all of it.

As for weaknesses, it can be hard to work on anything you know will take a long time, especially if you don’t have good markers for success along the way. So I made my own markers. Whether it was writing to a word count or setting a deadline to share a piece with a friend, I did all I could to live up to my promises.

I wrote and revised more this year than I have perhaps ever before.

2026 is just over the horizon and my general goal is to do what A.I. can’t do: imagine a future that’s never occurred. I want to write books that feel out of my reach like a swan on a misty lake.

I had the same visions years ago. I found those swans. I’ll find more, just you wait.

So now it’s your turn. Have a conversation with yourself about where you’ve been and where you’re going. It’s worth it, and you won’t have a single regret.

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Not entirely unrelated, I’ll be teaching an online story and book writing class in February. Two sessions! Consider signing up if it fits your goals.

Take care, friends!