Writers sometimes can get lost in their writing to the point where they become unaware of where precisely they are headed in their writing careers. This is like floundering in a dark dungeon. This doesn’t mean that your writing is a dark dungeon. It’s just that you don’t have a big picture of where you are going in your writing career. And that is one way not to be excellent. Therefore, you have to bring where you are going both in the short-term and long-term to awareness and write down your process of proceeding step-by-step. When you have this kind of road map, you will be successful as a writer. Otherwise, you will just be busy but not completing manuscripts or goals. A few ways to be your own coach is to first always write down your long and short-term goals. Take stock of how you are doing on completing your writing goals from week to week and month to month. Second, monitor which of your writing goals you are completing. Focus on completing your whole goal before moving onto the next one. In other words, never start a new manuscript unless you haven’t finished the one you are working on. Third, make sure that you follow-through on your goals. Make sure that you are completing all the goals that you committed to at the beginning of the year. Lastly, aim to complete each of your writing goals with excellence. This means making sure your manuscripts are proofread and well organized. By following these steps you will be working towards being your own coach, and you will be striving to be the best that you can be, one small goal completion at a time. Irene S. Roth