I finished OBJECTION! I won Camp NaNoWriMo! And it feels amazing.
My final Camp NaNoWriMo word count is officially 11,864 (even though Word told me 11,867). I went a bit beyond my goal, but my guesstimate was pretty accurate. Page wise, I added 46.
So, my total stats for OBJECTION, according to Word, are 63,867 words and 230 pages. I'm really happy that my novels are starting to consistently reach over 50k. 50k, while a novel, is a small novel and I'm a big cutter during revisions/edits.
Now that I'm done with this draft, I don't know what the next step is for OBJECTION. I know it needs some major work, but I'm not sure what. I don't exactly have the time at the moment to figure it out either. This project is being put on the waiting list for a later time.
To find out what I'm working on next, come back by on Thursday. I'll finally be sharing my big news (and no, it's nothing quite so exciting as an agent). See you then!
I have some bad news. I'm not going to have a poem published in ACCOLADES.
In my last blog post, I told you that I had just put my author release/order form in the mailbox. After the post was up, I, still buzzing with excitement, decided to search for posts about the book/contest on Tumblr to see if anyone else was talking about it. The posts that popped up screamed scam!
Alarmed, I decided to do more research. An Internet search told me all I needed to know. The America Library of Poetry is what's known as a vanity scam.
Once you've entered their contest, they send you a letter saying you've been "selected" to be published in their annual anthology. Everyone gets this letter. Everyone gets put in the anthology. They try to make you feel special so that you and your family members/friends will dish out money for an over-priced book.
They do still send you a book, which is what makes this type of scam so controversial, but they don't promote their book/your work and they don't sell it anywhere. They use your hopes and dreams to make money off you. They use the hopes and dreams of elementary students to make money off them.
Luckily, I found this out in time to retrieve my form/check from the mail. Besides simply not wanting to be ripped off, I don't wish to be associated with this organization in any way. My integrity and reputation are more important than "being in a book." My work is something to be proud of and I won't degrade it because "published is published."
I'll admit that I'm a little disappointed. However, mostly I'm glad that I unearthed the truth before the mailman came to our house.
#2
Now, because I want to end on a positive note, I'm going to leave you with a little update on Camp NaNoWriMo.
Currently, I'm at 9,859 words. The Day Twenty-Eight goal is 10,109, but I'm past Day Twenty-Seven's goal so I'm right on track. I have a total of 1,334 words left to write.
Alsoooo, I finished writing OBJECTION'S climax last night/early this morning! I'm really excited about this because it means I'm so close, so close, to the end. Writing this first draft has been an almost two year journey and I can't wait to finally have a complete story in my hands.
I have a feeling that I'm just going to wiz through my falling action/resolution stuff so I'll probably (hopefully!) have a finished draft before I go to sleep tonight tomorrow morning. I'll have my first Camp NaNoWriMo win under my belt as well.
My current word count for Camp NaNoWriMo is 7,748 so I'm about three days behind. I'm not worried, however, because, since my goal is so low, that means I only need to write about 900 words to catch up. It should take less than an hour. I plan to be at or over the Day Twenty-Four goal of 8,665 words by the end of today.
I've fallen into a pattern this month. Several days will go by where I don't write and then I'll catch up in one big spurt. It's been working pretty well so far, but I only need 3,445 more words so I might decide to power through to the end in the next couple of days.
There's exactly one week left until Camp is over and I can't wait. Not only because I'll finally have a finished draft of OBJECTION (which is awesome), but I'll also be announcing the big news I've been hinting at for some time. I'm anxious to see what y'all think.
I slipped my author release form for ACCOLADES into the mail box today. I had to wait because the release doubled as an order form and it took some time for my family to decide how many books we wanted. Now, we wait. I'll be sharing any news as soon as I have it.
Besides OBJECTION and my author release form, my past week has been focused on books. I completely reorganized my bookshelves. I still have knick knacks to place, but the majority of the work is done. With the clean out I did during the process, I now own 584 books with an unread percentage of 27.6%. I have yet to decide whether I will post pictures here or on my Tumblr.
On top of that, I've been watching lots of booktube vlogs. Last week was an event called BookTubeAThon. Participants in the Thon aimed to read as many books as they could in a week while trying to fulfill certain reading and vlogging challenges. I'm finding the resulting videos quite enjoyable and kind of wish I had had time to take part myself. Perhaps next year.
So, that's what I've been up to since my last post. I will be back with news of my Camp NaNoWriMo victory soon!
While I was away visiting my family, I received a letter from The America Library of Poetry. I entered their annual poetry contest in April so, as you can imagine, I was very excited to hear from them. However, the winners of the contest will not be selected until the end of September. So why did they send me a letter?
In the meantime Brooke, I have even more exciting news for you. The editorial staff at The America Library of Poetry would like to publish your poem "Fishing For A Living" in a special book of student poetry entitled Accolades. Scheduled for release in the fall, this particular compilation is generating a lot of interest as it will feature only a very select cross-section of this year's submissions. Again, I congratulate you on an outstanding accomplishment. You should be very proud, especially when you consider the many talented authors who may never be discovered or have the opportunity to see their work in print.
They want to publish my submission. Isn't that awesome?! Even if I don't win, I feel as if this contest has been a great success for me. This will be my first publication where they picked me. Two of my prior publications were blogosphere volunteer projects and the third was a collection put together by my OSAI class. ACCOLADES feels different. It feels like validation.
I'll keep you all updated, both on the contest and ACCOLADES. Until then, I've got an author release form (squee!) to fill out and Camp NaNoWriMo to win.
In a little under three hours, I'll be in a car headed for the airport. Our flight is scheduled to leave at 7:05 AM, but we live about an hour and a half away so we're leaving the house at 4 AM. At the moment, I'm supposed to be putting the last things in my suitcase. However, I decided to take a minute to fill you in on where I'm at with Camp NaNoWriMo.
Currently, my word count is 3,716 words. The goal for Day Ten is 3,610. I get back from New York on Day Twelve. Not only did I get caught up, but I pushed enough ahead that I'll only be behind a few hundred words when I get back. This was what I was aiming for and it feels awesome to have achieved it.
The end of OBJECTION is close enough I can taste it. When I return, I vow to be a writing machine. I will finally finish this draft. Huzzah!
Originally, I said I would be home the second week of July. That was when I thought my visit to my family would run straight into my trip to New York City. However, due to various factors, I'm home a few days before we go to New York.
I have yet to write anything for Camp NaNoWriMo, but I plan on adding that "big chunk of words" to OBJECTION during these few days while I'm home. I want to I will get caught up, but I'd really like to push further than that. Writing in NYC is not ideal, both because of time and a desire to fully enjoy my vacation. Having that extra padding would ease my mind while I'm gone and help alleviate stress levels when I return.
As for my other goals, I did start on the THINKING OF YOU revisions, though I'm far from significant progress. I began the rewrite for one scene. In total, I need to rewrite twenty scenes and write eight more. I've still got quite a way to go, but at least I'm on my way. Finally.
To top it all off, I finished my poem edits! There is one poem that I deemed unfinished because I want to add on to it. Excluding that poem, I now have another two hundred lines of poetry to my name. (And when I say two hundred, I mean exactly two hundred. Without trying. Because I have magical powers.)
There's a quick update for you and, also, Happy Fourth of July! Talk to y'all soon.
I'm going to be on vacation, visiting my family, until the second week of July. I'm not telling you this because I'm going to be gone. Quite the opposite, I hope to have a lot to report to you in the coming weeks.
This trip means lots of free time. My parents work during the day and sleep at night, meaning I only get to spend time with them from five to ten. I figured that I should probably use the rest of my day (errr, night) to get some much needed writing done.
So I've set myself three tasks:
Make significant progress on THINKING OF YOU revisions.
Add a big chunk of words to OBJECTION during the first week of July/Camp NaNoWriMo.
Read through and edit the NaPoWriMo 2014 poems.
As you can see, I've decided to use Camp NaNoWriMo's July session to finish OBJECTION. I want to fulfill my original April 18k goal, meaning I'm aiming for 11,193 words for July. If I pass that, and I'm not finished with the draft, I plan to continue with OBJECTION. If I finish the draft, I plan to move on to the untitled lucky genes story draft.
I'll have more up about my plans for THINKING OF YOU soon. Keep your eyes open for something big. ;)
The grand adventure of April is over. And we have some things to catch up on.
Let's be rebels and start with the good news. :P I won NaPoWriMo! Choir trips and the like kept me from posting some of my poems on time, but I did manage to write one every, single day. With as often as I've fallen short on my writing goals lately, this makes me really happy.
This NaPoWriMo differed from previous years'. Ideas were hard to come by and, for about the first week, so were the words. The latter became less of a problem when I abandoned the bitty notebook I employed last year in favor of the computer. I'm a mood writer when it comes to the utensils I use and I was not feeling pencil and paper.
On top of that, most of my poems were written at night when I just wanted to crawl into bed. Therefore, some of my ideas weren't as expanded or explored as they should have been. However, I like what I did write. Plus, I can always rewrite those poems later.
Camp NaNoWriMo wasn't quite as much of a success. I wrote 6,807 words toward my goal of 18,000, meaning I didn't finish the draft like I wanted. :/ However, I did pass 50k on OBJECTION! I feel like that's an achievement all in itself. I've finally reached OBJECTION's first Camp NaNoWriMo goal. It took me almost two years, but I did it. And that's something.
Of course, this sort of puts a kink in my plans and I'm going to have to rethink some things. The next Camp NaNoWriMo session is in July and I originally intended to finish last November's NaNoWriMo project during that time. Now, I might aim to finish OBJECTION instead and work something else out for my untitled lucky genes story. I'll let you know as soon as I've decided.
I also heard back from the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute last month. It wasn't entirely bad news. I'm an alternate. This means I only get to go if someone else can't or doesn't want to. They can contact me up to June 13th. My hopes aren't high, but at least I didn't completely fail. My writing was good. There were just a few too many people whose was better.
Aaaand, to end on a positive note, I am caught up on reading blog posts! I've been behind for so long, it feels incredible to have that weight lifted off my shoulders. This means I can follow new blogs again and start looking for other writer bloggers close to my age.
Overall, April turned out good. I hope you enjoyed my poems along with my general-writing-related posts. (I'll be posting more of the latter soon. See sidebar for details.)
My birthday giveaway ended a few weeks ago and I've already contacted the winners. However, I like official announcements. So, without further ado, here are the Rafflecopter results!
Congratulations to Donna and Ashley! I still haven't managed to make it to the post office yet, but I will let you know as soon as I've shipped your prizes. I'm sure you're anxious to receive your winnings and I'm very sorry for the delay.
On a side note, Tuesday marks the beginnings of NaPoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo. I think I'm excited. lol I'm hoping to make a lot of progress during the first week because my boyfriend will be in Virginia for a hockey tournament, meaning distractions will be limited.
Expect to see way more of me throughout April. I'll be posting poems daily as well as occasional Camp NaNoWriMo updates. We'll also learn if I made it into the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute. On top of all that, I may be sharing a big decision along with putting up some general writing-related posts (see Planned Expeditions in sidebar). You're going to be absolutely sick of me by the end of the month. :P
Every year for the past three years, I've posted my New Year's Resolutions on this blog. This January, I didn't. And not because I'm too lazy. I simply didn't make any. I saw no reason to.
I know what my goals are. The arrival of 2014 didn't change them. New Year's Resolutions also suggest a December 31st deadline. My aspirations reach beyond what I can accomplish in a year and, for me, strict time frames often lead to stress.
Despite the lack of resolutions, I'm thinking 2014's going to be a productive year. Since NaNoWriMo, I've only worked on my portfolio for my Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute audition. However, I've been making plans. It's time to crack down and start getting things done.
At the moment, I have three main priorities:
THINKING OF YOU revisions
OBJECTION/untitled lucky gene story rough drafts
short works
I want to finish something. I want something to query. I want something to show people, to let people read. I want something to prove to myself that I CAN DO THIS. And, out of all of my projects, THINKING OF YOU is nearest to completion. So it's what I'm going to focus on. Writing time now means THINKING OF YOU time.
Yet, incomplete rough drafts bother me. I can't not work on them. And I have two. This creates a problem. I'll never finish anything if my attention is divided three ways. My solution? Camp NaNoWriMo.
Camp NaNoWriMo hosts two sessions every year, one in April and one in July. They also allow you to choose your word count goal. Since OBJECTION's closer to its end, it will be my April novel. I'm aiming for 18,000 words. That's only 600 a day. I'll finish my untitled lucky gene story in July, when I'll have more time for writing.
While I'm giving up April and July, they're a small sacrifice. My brain can now zero in on THINKING OF YOU without the other two stories clamoring for their turn. But I have another issue.
I realized when I was putting together my OSAI portfolio that I did not write many short works in 2013. I love my short works. They're fun to write and I'm fairly decent at them. They're also something I can share with others quickly. Their shortage shows how I've let my writing slip, take a backseat.
That's not what I want. I want to get back to enjoying writing. To surprising and thrilling myself. Revising is hard and, while it does bring a feeling of success, it's not always pleasant. So I'm going to sprinkle in some short works to remind myself why I write in the first place.
For instance, NaPoWriMo starts on April 1st. I will be participating by writing at least one poem every day in April This will be my fourth year taking part and I always love the outcome.
Yes, 2014 is going to be AWESOME.
Topics For Next Post: 1) how querying will change in a year and 2) something big.
My NaNo is beginning to come together. A cast of characters has manifested and just thinking about their relationships makes excitement flutter in my chest. Prominent settings have been established. I also have the thinnest thread of a plot. And when I say thin, I mean nearly invisible. But at least there's something.
Planning isn't the only thing I've made progress on this week either. I have also added about another 1500 words to OBJECTION, putting it at a little over 45k. While this is great progress and makes me very happy, I think I'm going to have to alter my pre-NaNo goal. With everything I am trying to accomplish before November gets here, finishing the first draft of OBJECTION seems too ambitious. I am now aiming for at least 50k by October 31st. If I get farther than that, great. If not, I will have still made substantial progress.
That's not even the end to the good news. Recently, I've begun working with a new critique partner. This exchange has prompted me to take another step in my revisions of THINKING OF YOU. I completed the transfer to Scrivener and reordered the scenes to fit my new plot line. This is a big step because I can now see what I need to work on in an organized layout and tackle each task one at a time.
Overall, I am quite pleased with what I have managed to accomplish in my writing so far this week. I've gotten more done than I have in quite a while. This aura of productivity is the perfect lead in to NaNo.
What achievements, big or small, have you reached this week?
Sorry. I had to get the excitement out of my system.
Because you see... I made All Region! And I wrote every day the past week! And I'm almost done updating Goodreads! And all the things!
-takes a deep breath- Now. Now it's all out of my system.
Over seven days, I wrote 469 words. Though that doesn't even equal two pages, it makes me happy. Those are words that I normally would not have written during a week like last week. Every day needed more hours in which to get everything done. Yet, if only for a minute or two, I found time to tap out a few words. That's a special accomplishment to me.
Since All Region is over, I hope to get more words written in the upcoming days. However, I have heard that All State (which I now get to go to :D) is in October. If I really want to make it, I need to practice a lot more. I'll have to figure out a way to adequately adapt my schedule.
Also, once I finish catching up on my social networking, I'll have buckets more time to write. I just need to add these last twenty books to my Goodreads and update my NaNoWriMo profile, which won't take too long. Then it's off to Tumblr and Youtube. At the same time, I'll continue reading my backlog of blog posts. Soon everything will be back to normal.
To part with, because I promised Laura I would be posting my writing, here are the 469 words. Please keep in mind that they are rough.
...I start to read the words with a voice in mind. I can’t get it perfect. I can’t match it up.
With the prompt, our minds automatically turn to Armie, because that’s all we’ve been able to think about for days, and from Armie it turns to our meeting in the bar.
“We had lunch with a friend,” we say.
The computer takes a second to reply. We wonder what tests it has to run before it can give us what it considers to be the best response.
Tell me about your friend.
We cock our head to the side, wondering what we should reveal and what’s important to keep hidden, because somehow we feel there is something we shouldn’t share.
We’re taking too long. The computer nudges us. What is their name?
Again, we take a moment to contemplate. Do we want Armie connected to this? What if they decide to bring her in too for more experiments? What if her name pops up some weird flag and gets her caught as a revolutionist?
A small puff of breath escapes our mouth as we part our lips with no words behind them.
Where did you eat? The computer nudges us again.
“At a bar.” No thought required. I tilt our head to the side. “A Homo bar.”
Why did you go there? It is trying to sneak up on us. We feel it. It is trying to slowly twist the information we would not previously give from our throats.
We smile. “It seemed appropriate.”
The computer takes longer than usual to respond. We wonder if we should nudge it. Our lip twitches.
Have you gone there before?
That’s the hammer that strikes the nail on the head.
Because for me the answer is no. Never. Never. Never.
And for Eme the answer is a million times.
Loneliness and the slumped shoulders of exclusion well up in my mind’s eye and the cavity where my heart usually sits. Backs come up from memories. Backs that are shaking with laughter, having already forgotten me, having no need for me.
Eme is trying to intrude, trying to comfort. But the hurt is a thick wall especially made to keep her out.
All of this rips through me in a second. Just a quick flash. The littlest pinch. Yet it leaves me shaking as the two of us stare at the computer screen in a silence with too many words in it.
“It depends on who you ask,” we finally say after what feels like a millennium or two.
There is a pause. Which one of you I ask? The computer asks, requiring more information.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to go shriek with joy again.
In order for me to explain the changes I've made to my goal plan and the thought behind them, I will go through each step that led to my current format.
Above is the beginning set up of my goal plan, entitled The One Year Goal Plan - 2013 Edition. I'm reposting it as a refresher and a reference.
In June, I decided my original idea needed tweaking. Months went by where I barely accomplished anything. My March goals became my April goals became my May goals. I knew I wasn't going to reach my aspirations within the year. I began to stress. For those of you who don't know, Brooke + stress = JUST NO.
I had to find a way to fix my plan. Gone were the Year Goals. In came the Long-Term Goals.
However, most of my goals were still time-constrained. Even though removing the January 1st deadline relieved a lot of pressure, that fact still weighed on me. So a few weeks after I made this mind-blowing change, before I even told you guys about it, I decided to carry it further.
First, I made each one of my projects their own sheet in my Excel workbook.
Then, I removed the aspect of time. Long-Term Goals became Big Goals. Month Goals became Medium Goals. Half-Month Goals became Small Goals. Mini-Goals became XS-Goals.
I also added other features as I revised my goal plan.
As I was adding in goals, I realized I had some that needed to be completed, but that weren't necessarily part of a larger goal. Yet they weren't enough by themselves to be a Big or Medium Goal. These I called EXTRA Goals and typed in color. On the picture above, which shows goals for OBJECTION, the EXTRA Goal is in pink. This goes along with my WIP color-coding system. On the THINKING OF YOU sheet, the EXTRA Goals are blue.
I included counters for some goals, too. If you take a look at the OBJECTION image again, you will see that in the Finished column for Medium Goal #1.1 I show the number of words I have out of the number I want to have.
Overall, I am very happy with how my goal plan has turned out. I ended up with eleven sheets and I will get to each one in my own time. It's what I call freedom with direction. And it feels great. :)
What do you think of my new goal plan? What about freedom with direction?
I have reached a decision. I will complete the first draft of OBJECTION by NaNoWriMo.
Starting today. Every day this week I'm going to write. It doesn't matter how much, just that I do. I could write two hundred words or I could write three chapters. For this week, they hold the same level of achievement.
This method will work partly because I need to get used to writing on a regular basis again. Also, my All Region audition is on Saturday. One of my friends suggested I listen to my music while writing. That will help me better memorize the notes, which is great, but I can't type, look at my music (which requires turning pages), sing, and listen all at the same time.
I have yet to write today, but I plan to as soon as I sing all four songs at least once. It's already late, so I probably won't add a lot, but it will be something!
In other news, I'm already completely caught up on a third of my blogs. Now I'm working on my Goodreads as well, which requires going through all my shelved books and adding all my owned books.
I also finally finished my goal plan post. Come by Wednesday to see it.
I forget what I was doing and why it suddenly occurred to me, but, the other day, it struck me that NaNoWriMo starts in just a little over two months. Two months! Sixty-five days! I don't know whether I'm excited or terrified!
Really, I don't know why this is all so mind-blowing or why I'm flipping out.
I chose my main concept already. I think I've been planning on writing my untitled lucky genes story for NaNo 2013 for over a year. (I'm actually kind of worrying about not having an idea for next year yet.) My brain has even been contemplating and analyzing plot ideas for the past couple of weeks. I guess it realized and forgot to fill me in. -grumbles at brain-
Of course, with NaNoWriMo eminent, the next question is: What do I want to get done before then? My mind instantly starts throwing things at me. THINKING OF YOU revisions. THE TRUE PRINCESS read over. Short stories to write. Old poems to edit. Blogs and other social networks that require attention. Plan, too! Good thing I don't bruise easily.
However, though I dodged most of those goals, letting them fly past for a later time, I managed to catch one. OBJECTION. If I sat my ass in my chair and buckled down, I know I could finish that draft. It's far from impossible and it needs to be done. I mean, I was supposed to have this done before last NaNo!
Nothing has been finalized yet. I'm still thinking, still considering. But it's looking very likely that finishing the first draft of OBJECTION is going to be my pre-NaNo goal this year.
Now, that I've gotten my little freak out out of the way (ha!), I have some other things I'd like to share with you.
Firstly, I should be posting about my revised goal plan very soon. I'm almost finished finalizing the changes. After that, writing the post shouldn't be so hard. I know I've been promising this particular post for a while now, but my life has gotten busy again. In a good way. :)
I'm also proud to announce that I've begun to catch up on blogs. Like really catch up. Like months' worth of catching up. So far, I've finished four out of twenty-four. And I'm extremely happy about it! I'm not letting myself get stressed out over the workload. I'm pushing through. Better yet, I want to do it. I have the motivation to do it. And beyond that, I have the motivation to search out more blogs when I'm done (I know twenty-four is low and I want to remedy that).
I'm just in a really good place in my life right now.
I get to stay in my town with my friends, at least until Christmas. (We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.) I'm enjoying my classes a lot. They provide a broad, well-balanced spectrum of learning. By the end of the day I feel almost saturated with knowledge. I'm currently learning the French numbers and conquering my All Region choir music (which entails singing in both Latin and German). I have three AP classes and I'm steadily immersing myself in Trigonometry. Friday, there's a meeting to discuss this year's musical. Saturday, I'll be hanging out at a friend's house for half the day. Even the movies I've seen lately have seemed to add to the wholesome happiness I've been feeling. (I really recommend YOU'RE NEXT, if that's your sort of thing.) It's all just amazing!
Visit this post to see how you can help me win the Ink Haiku contest. Thank you!
I spoke with my critique partner, Tania, recently, as I mentioned in yesterday's post, about which of my projects I should focus on next. I explained to her how I haven't had the chance to work on anything major in months and I wanted to get back on the horse.
She asked me the following question: If you had more time, what would you work on?
I considered it. OBJECTION, THINKING OF YOU, and THE TRUE PRINCESS all came to mind. Each of them is at a different stage. One is being drafted, one revised, and one is somewhere in between. However, each one gets me excited to sit in a chair until my butt becomes flat.
After listening to my answer, she asked me the next obvious question. So, what story will you start with first?
She wanted me to pick? I stared at the computer screen while one part of my brain tried to find an answer and another just screamed. Then, suddenly, a third, reasonable voice said, "Shut up and calm down. You can work on all three." And then it told me how.
So, ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, I present to you my writing week!
Sunday: reading Monday: OBJECTION Tuesday: blogs/others writing Wednesday: short works Thursday: THINKING OF YOU Friday: blogs/others writing Saturday: THE TRUE PRINCESS
My first week is halfway through, and Mr. Reasonable is kicking back with a smug expression on his face, going "See? Nothing to worry about." I've already added a little over 1k to OBJECTION, something I haven't done in so long I was genuinely concerned that I had forgotten what my planning notes meant. Afterward, at three in the morning, I danced down my hallway. I haven't been that happy in ages. And I didn't fret over reading blogs every day. I knew I'd have all day Tuesday to do that and now they can wait for Friday.
It's also a flexible, non-strict schedule. If I get the itch to work on OBJECTION on, say, Wednesday, I'm going to do it. Or if my life eats me for a day, well there's always the next week. It acts as a guide and motivator. When my brain starts up with its "You could do this. Or this. Or, oooh, this!" I can say, "You know, I really don't need that. It's Saturday. And Zoie has waited patiently for her turn." When my mind starts whining that it's tired or itdoesn'twanna, I can say, "Come on now. It's Wednesday. You can at least edit half this story."
Everything will get done. One day at a time. :)
How do you divvy up your time between projects? Do you work on one or more WIPs at a time?
Visit this post to see how you can help me win the Ink Haiku contest. Thank you!
When I was little, my favorite show was THE POWERPUFF GIRLS. I had nightgowns. I had dolls. I had a sleeping bag, a bedspread. I had the movie. I had it all.
I don't have those things anymore, but I still love the cartoon. Lizzie and I catch it on Boomerang as often as we can. (We also recently discovered it on Netflix!) We, along with our friend Jessica, even dressed up as them last Halloween (and sadly got no good photos -.-).
Only last Thursday night, however, did I notice a certain color-themed connection between myself and my three favorite superheros.
You see, I assign each of my WIPs a color. Then I buy notebooks, binders, folders, index cards, whatever supplies I need to write the project, to match. And guess which colors the three novels I'm focusing on at the moment have been delegated?
Isn't it awesome? I didn't even plan it! In fact, I don't know when or if I would have noticed it, if Tania (by the way, did you see her cover reveal?) and I hadn't been discussing what story I should work on next (which brought me to another revelation I will be sharing with you soon). My subconscious just knew those colors were right.
And in case you aren't convinced the Powerpuff Girls and I have a deep chromatic relationship, here's a picture of three shirts I recently bought:
Tomorrow is the first day of February. I have quite a few exciting things going on during the month. There's my Winter Formal, my sixteenth birthday, my mother's birthday, pre-enrollment for eleventh grade, my Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute audition (as well as Lizzie's and Ben's) where I'll also get to see some of my writer friends for the first time since this summer, and one of my other good friends has her sixteenth birthday too. I'm going to be very busy.
Today, however, it's still January, and I would like to give you an update on my goal progress as well as analyze and evaluate my goal system.
I had five Month Goals I wanted to complete in January. I completed one. And I am ecstatic!
Look at all those yeses.
My storyboard is finished, you guys! I feel like my story has finally settled into place. For two years it's been twisting and flipping around in my brain. Now, I have an outline I'm happy with set out in a way that makes it obvious what I have to do to make the writing reflect it. I can't wait to start work on the actual prose in March.
And while I didn't complete my other goals, they initiated progress. I added about 10k to OBJECTION and am focusing on finishing that draft in February. I finished SHOW ME YOUR FANGS and even though I didn't do anything with THE SMILE FIXER, I still completed two short works with the addition of HEARTH AND HOME. I haven't been feeling the reading, but I've squeezed some in.
This system is working great for me. It's helping me to be both productive and organized. It keeps me from feeling bad when I don't accomplish something in a certain amount of time by showing me all the things I have accomplished. It makes me feel good about what I'm doing and motivated to keep doing it.
I've already decided on and inserted February's goals into my spreadsheet and I can not wait to get started!
Yesterday was the last day to complete my first set of Half-Month and Mini-Goals. Since I've never tried this goal system before, I thought I might share my experiences and progress. It could help you decide if this is something you might like to try in the future and it will assist me in getting my thoughts/plans for the second-half of January organized.
Before we dive into feelings and thoughts and all that mumbo jumbo, let's start with some stats.
I have eight BIG MAJOR goals. Four of them had Half-Month Goals for the beginning of January. The rest were "Non-Focuses." I finished none of these Half-Month Goals.
The four Half-Month Goals were broken down into fourteen Mini-Goals. I finished five of them.
Looking at those numbers, it does not seem as if I had a productive fifteen days, but let me put it into perspective for you.
The four Half-Month Goals were:
Read through THINKING OF YOU's modified draft one and make index cards for already written scenes.
Reach 42,000 words on OBJECTION.
Finish drafting SHOW ME YOUR FANGS and planning THE SMILE FIXER.
Read 15/31 books under 200 pages.
I finished reading/making index cards for THINKING OF YOU up through chapter ten, putting that Half-Month Goal at one-third complete. That's serious progress for me. I've started working through my scenes, deciding what has to be moved or merged. I've started considering where new scenes need to be added, which is important since deciding on and making index cards for those scenes is January's second Half-Month Goal. I'm not worried about finishing my storyboard by the end of the month. Next Monday there's no school and I'm setting aside that day to do the last twenty chapters.
While I didn't reach 42,000 words on OBJECTION before my first deadline, I did get there today. The word count currently stands at 42,058. I plan to finish the draft by February 1. However, before I write another word, I intend to sit down and re-outline my ending. I've changed it quite a bit and I need to see how it's going to play out on paper. I'll probably do that tomorrow and then continue my steady progress to the end.
I now have a draft of SHOW ME YOUR FANGS, a story you may remember from early last year. I intend to edit it in the next couple of days and use it in my OSAI audition. I didn't even touch THE SMILE FIXER though, barely even thought about it. Perhaps this weekend in between laundry loads I can finish outlining and start drafting.
On each of the first three goals, substantial progress was made. This cannot be said for the reading goal. I read two out of those fifteen books. If I catch up in time, it will be a miracle. Right now I plan to focus on the sixteen books I planned on for my second January Half-Month Goal. If I have time after reading them, I will go back to the books for the first half of the month.
I have to say, even though I barely finished anything, I am not upset or disappointed in myself. In fact, I'm rather happy. This goal system is more a way to keep me moving forward with my writing than to make sure that I finish all of my minor goals. And it's doing its job splendidly in my opinion.
How did the beginning of January go for you? What do you think of my goal system?
Every year I make New Year's resolutions and post them on my blog. Every year so far I've gone about keeping up with them in a different way. In 2011, I posted "report cards" a couple of times. In 2012, I posted updates on the first day of each month for most of the year (last update at the bottom of this post).
In 2013, starting tomorrow, I have an entirely different plan.
I have eight goals to accomplish by December 31, 2013.
Finish THINKING OF YOU revisions.
Draft all CITY IN THE SKY stories.
Finish THE TRUE PRINCESS revisions and edits.
Finish drafting and rewrite OBJECTION.
Replan and start rewriting THE LULLABY.
Draft untitled lucky genes story.
Finish 26 short works.
Reduce percentage of unread books to 10%.
To make sure I actually work toward all of these goals throughout the year, I have developed a plan with the help of Microsoft Excel: The One Year Goal Plan - 2013 Edition.
When I look at those big goals and think about trying to finish them, my heart sinks a little bit. They're not goals that can be completed quickly or easily. Hence, they're hard to keep my sights on. These feelings are what my whole plan revolves around.
Each "Year Goal" will be broken done into twelve "Month Goals." Looking at that smaller goal is better, but a month still leaves plenty of time to get distracted. So each month is split in half and each half is given its own goal. Both "Half-Month Goals" are then split into various amounts of "Mini-Goals" that are easy and far less stressful to reach.
I feel this method will keep me focused on and excited about accomplishing my goals. I've completed January's breakdowns, but will be waiting to do the other months until they roll around. This way I will be most up-to-date on each goal's progress and know for certain what might decrease or increase my writing time each month.
And, in case you were wondering how Excel helped me:
January Goals for THINKING OF YOU (drag to URL bar to embiggen)
I will be updating all of you on my progress in the style of my usual posts and with occasional snapshots of my spreadsheet.
2013 is going to be a great year!
2012 NYR Last Update - 1 Year
I will havecomplete THINKING OF YOU'sready for queryfirst round of revisions. I finished small revisions on the first six chapters and conquered my fear of revising.
I will have two new first drafts. I finished one first draft of THE TRUE PRINCESS and got to 32,393 words on OBJECTION.
I will win National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo).
I will submit at least two short stories to two anthologies, journals, ezines, and/or contests.
I will read at least one hundred books. I read 57 books and made it over half-way with two others.
I will post at least one vlog a month. I posted one vlog in January, March, April, July, September, October, and December. I posted five in November.
I will exercise in some way once a week. Since the beginning of September, according to the My Fitness Pal app on my phone, I did a round of jumping jacks on six different days.
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