Announcing WINDSHIELDS! + NaNoWriMo Wrap-Up

In this final post of the year, I have some news to share. I mentioned about two months ago that I had an announcement to make regarding OSAI. Here it is:

The anthology for the 2015 creative writing class (which includes me) has been released.

Once more, there is a picture of each contributor and three pages worth of work from them. I have one flash fiction piece and two poems included. I'm quite proud of them.

If you would like more information about the anthology or if you perhaps want your own copy, links are on my Publications page.

Hopefully, I'll have news of more publications soon. I submitted three poems to two literary magazines on my campus and am currently waiting to hear back. I submitted a short story to a contest being judged by Ellen Hopkins as well. I don't really expect to win, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have my work read by one of my favorite authors.

I would also like to tell y'all how my NaNoWriMo went, now that it's nearly the end of December. I finished with a word count of 17,718. Of course, that's no where near goal. However, I am not disappointed. This is kind of what I expected. And 17k is nothing to scoff at. It's a big chunk of a novel, a whole beginning. Something I wouldn't have if I hadn't tried NaNoWriMo this year.

As I said, this will be my last post of 2015, but I think I'll be posting again soon. I'm currently working on my goals for the upcoming year, which involves some serious thinking about priorities and what I want. I may have some decisions to share.

My College Life & NaNoWriMo

Today is November 1, the first day of NaNoWriMo. I am currently at 1,128 words and still only about 85% sure I'm participating this year.

I've been grappling with this decision for two months, going through a series of highs and lows. At times, I was super excited at the thought of writing, of creating a novel. At other times, the mere thought of extra work, extra pressure, made me want to curl up into a ball and sleep for four hours.

Because college is different from high school. Here, it seems like the work never ends. I know every assignment I have to complete by the end of the semester, which means even when I'm caught up, I feel like I have something that needs to be done. This makes fitting in writing seem impossible.

However, for the last few weeks I've been keeping track of how much time I actually spend on homework and studying. It's about twenty-one hours a week, meaning I do school work about three hours a day. One hour on top of that for writing doesn't seem like that much.

So, I've scheduled an hour's worth of writing every day this week except Wednesday, since I have a test on Thursday. We'll see how it works out.

I might not be winning NaNoWriMo this year, I might not even come close, but I think I'm going to try.

(P.S. I should be posting another update soon regarding OSAI.)

Something BIG - The Most Newsie THINKING OF YOU Post Ever

I have made some big decisions. And today I'm going to finally share them with you.

First, I've made a title change. THINKING OF YOU has become THINK OF ME.

I decided to make this change after a burst of inspiration. I've always planned for THINK OF ME to be the first in a series. Originally, that series had a total of seven books. However, I never really wanted to write any of the other six. Then one night a couple of months ago I was lying in bed and everything clicked.

The Controller Chronicles is now a four book series consisting of the tentatively titled THINK OF ME, RAIN ON ME, SPARK WITHIN ME, and DIE FOR ME. Each book still has a different narrator and the series still tells the story of the Controllers coming out to the rest of humanity. Now, though, instead of detailing a drawn out battle, each book focuses on a phase of that coming out. There's the initial rebellion against government oppression, the winning of that fight, the actual coming out, and the aftermath.

The best part is that THINK OF ME's original plot already fits in this plan. This means I don't have to start over and can build on what I already have.

I cannot express to you how excited I am. Thinking about this series makes me want to dance because it fills me with so much happy energy.

Second, it's time for that big announcement I've been hinting at for weeks.

I'm going to be serializing THINK OF ME on Wattpad.

While this isn't like super, super major news, it is a big step for me. I want people to read my writing. I want people to enjoy my writing. I want to hear what people have to say about my writing. And, let's face it, I'm a long way from traditional publishing. Plus, self publishing kind of intimidates me. This is my third option.

I'm also hoping that doing this will finally motivate me to really get on THINK OF ME revisions. I've been hemhawing around for over three years. Serializing my book will keep me accountable and eager.

Of course, my novel isn't quite ready for the public eye. The first thing I have to do is complete a structure or "fill-in-the-blanks" revision. As I've said in a previous post, I have twenty scenes I need to rewrite and eight I need to write. After that, I'm going to be revising chapter-by-chapter as I post them on Wattpad.

My goal is to have my first chapter up on October 31st. This gives me around three months to complete my structure revision and prevents that stress from leaking into NaNoWriMo time. After my initial posting, I aim to post a chapter every two weeks. I feel like this is totally doable and often enough to keep people interested.

THINK OF ME is not the only work I plan to publish on Wattpad either. I want to post my City in the Sky stories there as well. Again, it's a motivation thing. I need to start writing this series already! I don't have an exact date set for the first short story yet, but I'm thinking sometime in January. Hopefully by then I'll have a few readers.

So, that's my big news. I'll probably be posting a revising schedule soon because I feel like I need one to reach my deadline. You can check out my Wattpad profile here if you want, though it's not much to look at at the moment. I can't wait to see what the coming months bring!

Guess What?

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!

Two Things: Vanity Scams & Being Almost Done

#1

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.

So, yeah, I'm pumped.

Camp NaNoWriMo Update + What Else I've Been Up To

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!

The Editorial Staff at The America Library of Poetry Would Like to Publish MY Poem

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.

An Update on Camp NaNoWriMo Before I Go

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!

I'm excited. What are you excited about?

I'm Back! Well, Until Tuesday

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 Taking a Trip!

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:

1. Make significant progress on THINKING OF YOU revisions.
2. Add a big chunk of words to OBJECTION during the first week of July/Camp NaNoWriMo.
3. 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. ;)

NaPoWriMo Went Great, Camp NaNo & OSAI So-So

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.)

How was your April?

Birthday Giveaway Winners + It's Almost April

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!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Cracking Down

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:

1. THINKING OF YOU revisions
2. OBJECTION/untitled lucky gene story rough drafts
3. 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.

2014 - An Update

As Michael put it to me, "Hey, it's 2014. Stop being lazy and post something."

So here I am!

I guess I should start with NaNoWriMo: I didn't win. My final word count was 30,155. However, as I state on my newly updated NaNoWriMo profile, there are no regrets involved. Of course, I would have loved to have reached 50k and completed a first draft, but my reason for falling short of my goal was, I believe, a good one. Either way, I now have a pretty substantial beginning to a new story.

Nothing major has happened since then, but I have a lot of big events coming up.

This Saturday, I will be attending the third annual YAK Fest. For those who don't know, YAK Fest is short for Young Adult Keller Book Festival. I attended the festival the year before last and had a great time (read about it here, here, here, and here). I'm hoping to obtain a couple extra signed books to giveaway for my birthday on February 4th.

On February 15th, I'm going to Tulsa to audition for the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute (read about my prior experiences with the Institute here). Between now and then, I have to work on the needed portfolio. I don't have many written-in-the-past-year short works to draw from besides my NaPoWriMo poems. Hence, the next few weeks will be dedicated to writing short stories. As I choose to add and write new pieces, I may post them on Figment as I did last year (here and here).

In between those two things, there's my Solo and Ensemble competition for choir. Since I decided to enter a solo, I have to practice that as well as my ensemble. I'm also a part of ANNIE, the musical we're doing at school. I have rehearsal almost every day until the end of February.

On top of all that, the AP life is about to hit me hard. Between Chemistry and English Language and Composition (side note: in this class, we are going to write haikus about whales for a contest soon), the Saturday sessions, mock tests, and homework might kill me. I'm also taking AP U.S. History, but, said nicely, my teacher isn't really up to par.

Soooo, in conclusion, I'm going to be busy.

Topics For Next Post: 1) my lack of New Year's Resolutions and 2) projects I'll be working on

Productivity for the Win!

21 days until National Novel Writing Month

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?

AAAAHHHH!

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.

Change of (Goal) Plans

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.

Go here for the explanation behind this style.

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?

Starting Today

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.

Dudes! Two Months Until NaNoWriMo! + Some Other, Less Mindblowing Stuff

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!

P.S. Going with excited. ;)

My Writing Week

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?