Create a Mission Statement ~By Suzy Leopold

The primary reason to create a Writer's Mission Statement is to identify one's purpose for writing, help a writer to stay focused, and to reach attainable goals. 

What is your voice for wanting to write? What is your purpose for needing to write? A clear, concise mission statement gives you a valuable tool for your writing journey.

By examining your desires, a writer is forced to think about goals and to list attainable goals and follow through to achieve them.

Created by my Cousin
Sheri McCulley Seibold

Let's get started.

1. Begin with your thoughts
Think about your hopes and dreams as a writer. Think about a mission statement as a strategy. It needs to serve a purpose for you and your writing. It must not be generic and meaningless.

• Who are you as a writer?
• What do you write?
• Who do you write for?
• Why do you write?
• What's important to you personally and professionally?
• What sparks you as a writer to write?

2. Focus on a goal
Brainstorm what is important to you as a writer. What goal do you want to achieve with your writing? This is an opportunity to define your goals as a writer. What is your purpose for writing? A good mission statement gives clarity and a purpose.

3. List actions
Think about what you can do to accomplish the goal[s] that you set in number two. What can you do to achieve the goals for your writing? Make sure these actions are realistic and attainable. Your statement should inspire action and create an image of you as a writer.

Goal + Action = Writing Success!

4. Time to revise and edit

Yes, just as a writer begins with a sloppy copy that becomes a draft, followed by revisions and more revisions, the same is true for a mission statement. Time to rewrite and rethink about what you wrote. This step is worth it. Time to bring it all together in words that ring true to you.

Mission statements define objectives for a writer and become part of who you are as a writer. Sure, you can edit and adjust as time goes on. A writer should make adjustments as need be after an action fulfills the goal and you have achieved success that you set out to do.

5. Post the Mission Statement 
Consider displaying your mission statement in your writing workspace, on your desk, on your business card, and on your social media profiles. Frame it. Refer to it often.

6. Memorize the Mission Statement
Internalize the reason why you write and the steps you will take to reach your goal.

A well-developed mission statement is a great tool to understand you as a writer. Doing so can be time consuming and soul searching. Writing a mission statement will help you find your way through the journey of writing for your audience. A mission statement will reflect who you are as a writer.

Claim it, Own it, Do it, Live it, Achieve it. 

Joanna Penn states, "Authors are entrepreneurs . . . " and should consider what companies do to achieve goals. She shares a 5-Step Mission Statement on her blog, The Creative Penn.  She states that a mission statement is essential to an author.

If you want to read my Mission Statement, you can read it on my Through the Prairie Garden Gate WordPress.

Don't let another day go by without writing a mission statement. Doing so will help you to stay true to you as a writer.

A sunflower from my garden.
Watch out for the bee!