You Can’t Improve Your Plan if You Don’t Have One

I’ve been charging in about four directions at once the last few days, trying to prepare materials to launch FoxBytes while at the same time preparing the materials I want to include in it while at the same time learning WordPress (the open-source software that is running FoxBytes) along with the Traffica theme and the Easy DIgital Downloads plug-in that I am using it — and also getting clear about what, exactly, a theme and a plug-in are in the context of WordPress — plus doing stuff that is old hat to me, but still pretty intricate — InDesign layouts, FTP uploads, FileMaker databases, Excel spreadsheets, etc. etc., all of it needing to be coordinated and done in the right order. It’s challenging and fun, and, I suppose, the sort of thing I do instead of (or rather, in addition to) crossword puzzles.

I’d say the key thing I take away from the last few days is the tremendous value of knowing what you want to do when you start. I am working with some fifth-grade writing students, and I what I tell them is what I needed to know myself: know where you want to go, where you want your story to end, what you want to accomplish, before you start. That doesn’t mean you can’t change your mind or shift direction (I have done so, a lot of times, very recently). But having an initial goal in mind gives you something to judge other things against. Before you can decide if something is better or worse, you have to ask yourself — better or worse than what?

I more or less accidentally followed that rule in sitting down to write this post. I started out just to do an update on my progress, and chit-chat about finding typos and the like, and titled this post “Learning Curves and Then Some.” But then I realized there was some underlying meaning to my effort that actually led me to say something of more general value.

How’s that for being Very Slightly Profound?

All best —