Pebblepup's Writing Den

Often teachers talk about setting an intention when you start your yoga practice. An intention is like a goal, but stated as things you want to do. “Today, I intend to get more flexible,” is an example. Of course, you don’t have to put it in those particular words or even that particular intention.

You might think an intention is a goal. There’s a difference. A goal is a target. It’s a destination. An intention is the journey. To put it another way, a goal is an achievement. An intention is living a particular way.

You can set a goal to create all your characters for a story in a month. That’s a good goal. An intention is something you say to yourself that helps you to achieve the goal. As I said, the goal is a destination. The intention is how you get there.

Now let’s take the goal of creating five character in a month. You could set intentions to achieve that goal. Today, I will create the character of Anne. Of course, this isn’t what the yoga teachers mean when they talk about setting intentions. That’s not to say you can’t set intentions in the same manner as the meditation and yoga teachers. You can set as many intentions as you want. It’s up to you.

When you first sit down to write, you face a blank sheet of paper or empty document. Setting an intention can break through that first step of getting something down. You can create a document called intentions, or write that at the top of a sheet of paper. Then put the date, then state your intention for the day. This can be an intention to help you achieve whatever goal you have in mind. It can be a pep talk to yourself.

Then, once you have your intention in mind, you can move on to working on your writing. In writing, you could set an intention to create a map of the setting of your story. State it, then do it.

This might not work for everyone. It does work for me. I’m betting it might work for others. This is equal to that meme of a cat staring into a mirror with the caption, you is good. You is beautiful.

Setting intentions in your writing life is like giving yourself instructions. You tell yourself how to reach the particular goal you are shooting for. During NaNoWriMo, it could be something like I intend to write 1667 words today. It can be that simple. It could be more complex. Again, it’s up to you.

This technique isn’t for everyone, but give it a try. It might work for you. After all, it’s you giving yourself directions. Good luck and keep writing.