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Co-creating by heart with sandy cathcart through writers helps and art info, focusing on all things wild.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Vision Statement

A wise man told me long ago that I needed to make a vision statement for my writing business. What do I want to accomplish through my writing?

He told me to set some guidelines BEFORE making it big in the publishing world, because once I get caught up in the flow, it will be difficult to change directions.

So, I made a simple vision statement and have changed it over the years.

Part of the final for my writing students is to come up with a well-thought out vision statement of their own. Have you done this? It can be as simple or complex as you want it. Start out with whatever you can come up with, then tweak it from time to time as inspiration hits.

Here is mine as an example:

Sandy’s Vision Statement for Writing:

I want my reader to learn something new or to relearn a wonderful truth that they have forgotten. I want my words to “have hands and feet. I want them to climb all over my reader and work their way into my reader’s heart and conscience” (G. K. Chesterton), so that the reader will not be the same after having read my words. I pray for my words to be full of God whether I’m talking about awesome God things or the “stuff” of life. If my readers are children, I want them to hide away under the covers with a flashlight after bedtime to finish the story they’ve started. If my readers are adults, I want them to think about my characters long after they’ve put the story down. I want my words to affirm the good, encourage the needy, give hope to the despondent, and bring the reader closer to God.

2 Comments:

At 1:41 PM, Blogger Mike Duran said...

I've never developed a vision statement, Sandy. Even though I have an intuitive sense of what I want to do with my writing, a vision statement would probably bring much more clarity to my thoughts. Thanks for the reminder... and I love the Chesterton quote.

 
At 2:45 PM, Blogger Sandy Cathcart said...

Thanks Mike!

Means a lot coming from you. Glad to be of a small help.

 

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