Accountability by Rebecca Seaton

 

Accountability by Rebecca Seaton

Many of us have lots of projects on the go. I find I’m often thinking about the current novel but don’t always actually sit down to write on it as often as I’d like. My magazine contributions, however, are up again. I’ve contributed an extract to the next issue, been to a meeting and have an interview planned for the new year. Considering I’ve been away from it for a while, this is pretty good going. Why has my magazine input been more successful? Accountability. I have deadlines and meeting them (or not) affects others. No-one is waiting for my next novel and it’s purely up to me to get it out there.

Why does accountability work? Although writers are often thought of as solitary, and can be so, we usually write for an audience. We are also often great observers of others. It therefore makes sense that we care about what others think and can accept the input of others. We need the feedback from others. Essentially, if someone is checking in, we can have faith in the worth of the project.

The bible talks a lot about accountability and community, something I’ve written about before. We are not alone and were created to be part of a family. It’s more than just not wanting to let people down, it’s knowing that someone is invested in us and our work. Discipleship gives us a model of leadership and mentoring which can be applied to writing as well, especially if we see it as working on using our gift to honour God.

How do we go about creating useful accountability though? This isn’t about asking every friend or family member to check in daily. Some people find the challenge of an organised event like NaNoWriMo helpful, or regularly setting themselves a daily or weekly amount of words to get to. Some people find it valuable to have good friends or mentors to check in. This may be a bit trial and error to start with but consider the following: How often do I need someone to nudge me? What do I want them to ask about? How flexible or fixed am I in the way I work? What expertise or knowledge does this person bring when holding me to account?

It is possible to complete projects! 

Have a think and give it a go, start with one person who can hold you to account for one simple thing: having started the thing you talked about or finished that page/chapter/book/article by the next time they see you. It’s best to start small and work up, it’s always a nice surprise if you seem to be getting on better than you expected! When you have helpful relationships and methods of accountability, the next step is to think who you could hold to account and remember the things that helped you!