Category: goals

2009: Or, The Year Of Audacious Goals

While I’m satisfied with what I accomplished in 2008, I’m not entirely happy with it. There were several things that I didn’t get done that I really wanted to. But…that’s okay. No matter how much I try, I can’t always do everything. It’s the trying that’s the important part. This year, I made a list of things that I wanted to write or edit, and really thought about whether or not I could do them. And I think I can. So, I made all of them my goals for this year. They are all in the notebook I keep for monthly goals, and I’ve planned out what I’m going to work on in each month (I can’t help it, I’m OCD about planning stuff like that).

I want to either finish, or write first drafts for six stories:
-Zombie story (finish)
-Werewolf story
-Witches II
-2YN II
-Ash’s story
-Mena’s story

I want to edit five stories:
-Tempest of Angels
-Werewolf story
-Zombie story
-Witches II
-2YN II

I want to polish three stories:
-2YN
-Witches
-Atlantis story

I want to start subbing two stories:
-2YN
-Atlantis story

My personal goals:
-Read 165 books.
-Learn one Japanese lesson per month.
-Start a professional website (I sort of gave up on this one last year, but I’m giving it another go this year).
-Run 5 miles in less than an hour.
-Do 10 pull-ups.

And to top it all off, I want to write 300,000 new words this year. Now, this might sound like the most audacious goal of all, considering my word count goal for 2008 was 250,000, and I only wrote 163,000 words. But I’ve set individual word count goals for each of the stories that I intend to write, and if I hit those goals, the 300k will be no problem at all.

So, what are everyone else’s goals?

The Year In Review (Or Things I Did Not Accomplish This Year)

I started off 2008 with ten writing-related goals, and a books-read goal. I met some of them (most of them), but slacked off on others. I learned a lot about writing this year, and about what I’m capable of, which I’ve put into my plans/goals for next year. But here’s how I did on this year’s goals:

Read 150 books: I’ve read 154 books (and yes, that counts Gone with the Wind, of which I lack about 100 pages to read, but I’ll get that done today).

1) Finish first draft of NaNo 2007 (the Atlantis story). Done. I think I finished this in February or March.

2) Start subbing Through Shadowed Stone. Done. I started this in May, and actually stopped subbing it in the summer. Not because of the rejections I got, but because I realized this story isn’t ready yet. It’s on the back burner for now, until I’m ready to tackle its issues.

3) Finish first round edits on Atlantis story. Done. Finished this 12/29/08-Nothing like waiting ’til the last minute. I actually like this story much more than I remembered.

4) Finish first draft of zombie story. Not done. Took a 6-month break from the story, but we’re working on it again now.

5) Finish first round edits on Witches. Done. 10/12/08. I’m not entirely happy with this draft, and I still need to cut a large amount of it, but I cleaned it up some.

6) Finish first round edits on zombie story. Also clearly not done, since the first draft isn’t complete yet.

7) Do NaNo 2008. Done. 100k done.

8) Outline Witches II. Done. Finished the outline in October, and I’m looking forward to writing it, despite the fact that Witches still needs so much work. I have a complete outline for this one, so I don’t think I’ll wander quite so far afield.

9) Finish 2YN class. Done (more or less). It still isn’t quite ready for subbing, and I need to fix my synopsis and draft a query, but it’s been written and edited.

10) Write 250,000 new words. Not done. Not even close. My final word count for the year is 163,570 words. Which isn’t bad, it just isn’t what I’d hoped for. But that’s okay.

This year, I finished up two story drafts. I wrote one complete first draft. I did a lot of writing on the zombie story. I did a lot of editing, a lot of crits, and got a bunch of new ideas that will carry me over into 2009. I’m satisfied with my progress, and happy with what I learned.

Slowly But Surely

I’m slacking off on posting again, aren’t I? Well, I have a good excuse, I mean reason. Yeah. A good reason. Now what was it again? Oh yeah, I remember. I’ve been busy. Sort of. Or procrastinating. One of the two. Probably the latter.

So, I’m down to eight goals left on my writing goal list. I’ve really only worked on three of them lately. I’ve gotten a few hundred new words written in my 2YN story, so I’m at 52,129 words written for the year. Not great, I know, but I’m not actively writing anything right now, either, and haven’t been since March. Editing is much harder for me to do. But I’ve finished my re-read of Witches, and I have my “notes” in some semblance of order (and I use the word order loosely). I’m going to be working on the first two chapters (yes, again) this week. Hopefully this version will make me happier. And…that’s about all.

Progress Update

Long time, no update. Oops. Procrastination is my downfall. I’ve been working on my goals, I just haven’t been posting about them. I’ll do better. I promise. Well, I’ll try to do better.

Out of my ten writing-related goals for the year, I’ve completed two of them: finishing the first draft of my NaNo 2007 story, and starting to submit Through Shadowed Stone. I’m up to four rejections out of my first batch of five on TSS, and I’ll be sending out the next batch of queries tomorrow.

I still haven’t worked on the zombie story. Not for months. It’s horrible. We’re (my writing partner and I) really going to have to get on the ball with this story so it doesn’t completely lose all its momentum. Re-reading the last few chapters of the story is on my to-do list for today, and I’m planning on working on the next chapter on Monday.

I am working on editing Witches. I’ve been going back through the chapters and highlighting the important things: information, dialogue, description, etc. I’m planning on basically rewriting most of the story, cutting the extra things out, and just tightening it in general. I’m mostly happy with the chapters I’ve edited so far, but I want to be able to continue to juggle all of those balls in the later chapters as well.

I’m still working on the 2YN class. I haven’t started editing it yet. I have re-read the manuscript and made notes in the margins, just little comments to myself. I’ve done Zette’s assignments, including making a timeline in Excel. I’ve never worked much in Excel, so that was an interesting assignment. I’ve found several places where I could add scenes and tension in, so it was definitely a worthwhile assignment.

I have a couple of new story ideas percolating in my mind that I’m getting pretty excited about writing. Both of them are urban fantasy, which I’ve never written before, and I’m eager to start. But I have too much else going on right now to start a new story (much less two). I’m saving one of them for NaNo, although I’m not quite sure which one. The other one, well, if it’s ready in a couple of months, I may start dabbling with it.

New Goal for April

I’ve decided to revamp my goals for April a little bit. My original plan was to have Through Shadowed Stone ready to go out the door this month. I’m still planning on that. But to do that, I have to put Witches on the backburner this month, and focus solely on TSS. And I’m okay with that. TSS doesn’t need a lot of work. Just a few minor tightening details and clarifications. After a really in-depth crit from a critique partner, I realized that my MC has a few inconsistencies that I need to clear up, and I need to do a little bit more explaining in a few spots. I also need to add a few setting details to bring the culture a little more fully into life. So I’ll be focused on that this month. And also on polishing my synopsis for this story and getting it ready to go. Of course, I’ll also have to flesh out my plan of attack (i.e. getting a list of agents ready to submit to). Other than that…I’ll be working six days a week for the foreseeable future, so that’s pretty much it.

Still Mad In March

Okay, so I haven’t blogged in a while. I’m not actively writing much, so I guess I just don’t feel like I’m accomplishing anything. But I am. Really. I swear.

I just finished doing a novel critique for a partner. That was a learning experience for me, and one that I enjoyed. Much different from doing chapter critiques for my crit group.

I have nine writing-related goals left to complete this year. I’m still doing the submission package workshop for TSS. Another learning experience. To say the least. I have a rough draft of a long synopsis, a second draft of a shorter synopsis, and a second draft of a query letter. Can anyone please tell me why it’s harder to write the two-paragraph blurb for a query letter than it is to write the entire 100,000-word story?

I’m still working on the zombie story, although not a lot. I need to get back on track with that, and start meeting with my co-writer again. I’ve got the next chapter outlined, it just isn’t done. Must do that before next week…

I’m editing Witches. Right now, I’m still working on a brief pass of the chapters I already did a heavier edit on, so it’s going pretty fast. But pretty soon (like in about two weeks), I’ll be into the untouched stuff. And then it’ll really get fun.

I finished the first draft of the 2YN story, and I’m still working on the assignments for the class. I’m looking forward to what comes next.

The only new words I’ve written have been on the synopsis, but my total word count is up to 51,015 for the year, out of a goal of 250,000.

March Madness

I haven’t made much actual writing progress lately, since I finished the first draft of my 2YN story, but I’ve been working on other things. I’m getting more heavily involved with the edits for Witches, trying to cut a lot of the extraneous details and wanderings, at the same time as strengthening the conflict and some other weak spots. Editing is hard for me. Very hard. Without that initial rush of creative energy, the work seems to drag, no matter how much I still love the story and the characters. Of course, Witches is the first thing I ever really tried to write, so it’s my baby. And killing any part of my baby is hard, no matter how much I know it needs it. The reactions from my crit group to the changes has been pretty positive, so I’m hoping to keep the improvements at least on that level.

The only new words I’ve written in the last week have been on the synopsis for Through Shadowed Stone. I’ve never written a synopsis before, and I know the drafts I have now are…not very good. Not horrible, I don’t think, but nowhere near good. I’m so grateful to have found the workshop on Forward Motion on putting together a submission package! It’s going to be a lifesaver, without a doubt. The original draft for my long synopsis was 1k over where it needed to be, so I had to cut that. The shorter synopsis involved cutting another 750 words. I know I tend to be a bit wordy, but cutting things out of the synopsis was difficult for me. The current result is definitely still a work in progress. It needs a lot of smoothing before I even get to the polishing stage. It’s more of a step-by-step description right now than a narrative. I know I need to make it flow, and show a lot more of my writing voice. But it’s a start.

I’m also working on a novel crit for a novel exchange. Well, “working on” may be the wrong word. I’m working on starting to read the story so I can critique it. I’m a fast reader, so I’m not worried about that part. I’ll read through the story the first time fairly rapidly, then go back through at a slower pace and pick it apart. I’m really looking forward to reading it, though. I just did another novel crit on a work with really strong, vibrant writing, so I’m looking forward to reading this one as well. I just have to conquer my procrastination tendencies and get started.

Other than that, well, there is no other than that. Besides working crazy hours this week, that’s all I’ve been doing. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep up the rather chaotic pace for the rest of the month.

Lazy Times

This will be a short update, since I’ve not accomplished much lately. Of my nine remaining writing goals, I’ve worked on…two. One of them was finishing the 2YN class. I finished the chapter I had in progress, and wrote another one, for a total of 2,836 words. Which brings me to 25,106 for the year. Not too bad, but only 10 percent of my goal for the year. I need to hurry!

Much Progress

Oops! It’s been a few weeks since I blogged about my progress on my goals. Work has kept me pretty busy during the week, but weekends (a.k.a. Friday and Saturday for me) have been productive. So, let’s see, what have I accomplished in the last two weeks?

Of my ten writing-related goals, I’ve worked on eight of them. Wow. I didn’t realize I’d accomplished quite so much. Yay! That makes me feel a lot better about the days I felt like I was slacking.

First and foremost, I finished the first draft of my NaNo 2007 story. I’m not entirely thrilled with it, and I think I dropped a few threads, but I uncovered the bones of the story at least. It topped out at 76, 243 words, which is by far the shortest thing I’ve completed.

I’ve done some work on the 2YN. It amazes me how well that story flies off my fingers. And Samantha is so effortless! It’s like she writes herself. I really love this story.

I’m semi-working on submitting Through Shadowed Stone. I found a novel exchange partner, so I’m hoping the new eyes will give me some fresh insight into what needs work.

I’ve also been editing Witches. Thanks to some hints from my wonderful crit group, I’ve done some polishing on the first two chapters. I’ve also done some work on Chapter Three, getting ready to throw it to the wolves (or post it, whichever phrasing you prefer).

I’ve done a bit for research for NaNo 2008. Basically, I’ve been looking for a mythical, human-like species to make my MC. No success yet. But I think I’ve come up with another story idea (which I’m hoarding right now until it’s through stewing).

I have the next chapter in the zombie story outlined (a detailed outline). More mayhem! I also briefly know what my next chapter is about, as well as my partner-in-crime’s next two chapters (lots more chaos and some funny stuff).

And finally, I wrote 8,506 new words, which puts me at 22,270 for the year. I’m woefully behind!

Week Four Progress

I’m a little late with my update post this week, but that’s due to working 13-hour days, and then being sick. That’s about par for the course for me, though.

Well, let’s see. I’ve added the scenes into the zombie chapter. There was a lot of action going on there, and according to my co-writer, I successfully kept up the tension level, so that’s good.

I finished a chapter on my NaNo 2007 story. Actually, I’ve realized that I need to go back in and add some things to this chapter, so I guess technically it’s not quite finished. Also, I’m planning on doing a lot of work on this story in the remainder of the week, and finishing up the first draft on Saturday at the latest. I was getting a little too distracted with trying to write this, the zombie story, and my 2YN, so I want to go ahead and finish this one, since it’s the closest to being done. I think there are only about four chapters left, so I should be able to get those done easily.

The only other goal I’ve worked on this week is my word count goal. I wrote 3,784 words this week, which puts me at 12,695 for the year (towards a goal of 250k).