While the more abstract goals from the list above cannot be as quantifiable as SMART goals, they can be successfully achieved by following your personal satisfaction levels.

Example 1 – Be more creative – the writer needs to define what this means to them, actively work it into your writing, and don’t judge, just view results as 2024 results toward the goals mission.

• Is it about exploring new ideas, experimenting with different genres, or expressing your unique voice? Define creativity in a way that resonates with your personal writing style and goals.  
• Pinpoint specific areas of your writing where you want to enhance creativity (e.g., character development, world-building, plot twists, or writing style).  
• Actively cultivate and capture creative ideas regularly by scheduling a routine for Idea Generation through mind-mapping, journaling, or brainstorming.
• Practice Freewriting to dedicate time to writing without constraints or judgment.
• Diversify your reading to expose yourself to different writing styles, genres, and perspectives.
• Challenge yourself to write a short story in a genre you’ve never tried or experiment with a narrative structure you find intriguing.

Example 2 – Write with more specific emotional impact.  Again, the writer needs to define what this means to them, actively work this into your writing, and don’t judge, just view results as 2024 results toward the goals mission.  If I were to say this is defined by tapping into the emotions of your readers and creating a connection that resonates on a deeper level.  I might view these areas of writing to focus on:

• Emotions of my characters – making their emotional experiences more vivid and authentic, allowing readers to empathize with their joys, sorrows, fears, and triumphs.
• I challenge myself to show emotions through actions, dialogue, and sensory details rather than simply telling readers what the characters are feeling.
• Explore a diverse range of emotions in my writing, including not only positive emotions like joy and love but also the complexities of negative emotions such as grief, anger, and despair.
• Experiment with descriptive and evocative language to convey the mood and atmosphere of scenes, making the emotional impact more palpable.
  • • Before: The waves crashed against the rocks.
    • After: The relentless waves hurled themselves against the rugged cliffs, their thunderous roars echoing through the air like the battle cries of an ancient army locked in an eternal struggle.
• Master emotional beats in your storytelling by identifying key moments where emotions intensify or change, creating a dynamic emotional arc throughout your narrative.
• Craft scenes and characters that linger in the minds of your audience, prompting them to reflect on their own emotions and experiences.
• Make it a goal to actively seek feedback on the emotional impact of your writing.
• Read works known for their emotional impact:
  • • Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
    • The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
    • Dune by Frank Herbert
    • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
    • The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Some non-SFF novels that do this are:

• • • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
    • The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
    • One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
    • A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
    • The Color Purple by Alice Walker

• Experiment with the tone and mood of your writing to enhance emotional impact. Play with pacing, sentence structure, and narrative voice to create the desired emotional atmosphere.