Writing Goals for 2011

13 01 2011

It is the 13th of January, and it feels like the year is already half gone.  I hope I’m not wishing it away!

So my writing goals this year – my setting of goals last year was very successful, and I enjoyed having the motivation of something to do, not just meandering around wondering what I will do next.  It really got me writing and spending time focusing on something other than my own life.

So this year, I am being rather ambitious, but I believe I can do it.  Here are my Writing Goals for 2011

1.  Finish the bloody Gothic Novel

2. Write three novels this year – evenly spaced out – March, June and September

3. Edit the three novels – May, August and November

4. Edit the twelve short stories accomplished in 2010

5. Create twelve new short stories in 2011

So that is my plans for 2011 – leaves plenty of time for other challenges and ideas to peculate through!  Plus gives me some leeway if anything should go haywire!


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Another Holiday Been and Gone

27 12 2010

Well, if that was Christmas, we have had it.

Another busy day with lots of presents and family around.  It was a lovely enjoyable day, made all the more pleasurable by the company of a friend who is currently staying with us until she has her baby (which at the time of writing is 7 days overdue!)

As a result of all of the activity going on around the house, no writing has been made.  No creativity has taken place, no beading has been done, and as a result, one very frustrated writer!  I am feeling very frazzled and concerned about the lack of effort I am putting into trying to write!  I have lots of excuses, but that is what they are.

Am I beating myself up?  Hell yes!  There is nothing wrong with taking the laptop to bed at night and writing, except I haven’t been to bed before 10pm most evenings and that tired that I read for 5 minutes before passing out.  I could make 5 minutes in the day, but my 6 year old son wants to go swimming, or I am talking with my friend.  At least she is understanding my frustration, which does help a little bit.

Anyway, the Gothic novel is still not finished, and not looking promising for anytime soon, but I have promised myself that I will not start writing the next story until this one is finished, and it is only good habit to start getting into.

So on to the next holiday – New Years, when I will reveal what my next years writing goals will be, and I am quite excited to get started on them.


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November Writing Goals

6 12 2010

The year has really run past me this year, and I have achieved a lot.  But here is an update of my November Goals.

# Get Chrystias finished off and start looking around for a publisher / agent for it. – Haven’t worked on this one.

# Create more short stories and really start to focus on developing this skill further – I haven’t written any short stories this month

# Get one short story published (in a magazine / e-zine) (something other than my own blog site!) – I haven’t submitted anything this month.

# Finish off some story ideas and start writing the next novel – the first draft to be completed before the end of the year (2010) –  Medusa’s Garden completed, currently working on Tobias and Arabella, my gothic novel.

# Encourage some of my writing friends – This month was great for critiquing others work, I still have a couple which got away on me, but I haven’t forgotten you!

November was an incredibly busy month for me, and as a result my writing has gone by the board.  I really want to get onto the Gothic novel and get it finished before the end of December, but this month is also getting away on me!  Fingers crossed!

 


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Just One Week to Go

23 06 2010

Week 4 Blog of SoCNoC Month at KiwiWriters

There are only 7 (or 8 ) days to go until you are finished.  Now is time for a reality check.  Have you been consistently writing over the last 23 days, or hitting it spasmodically when the desire hits you.  How many words have you got to go, are you going to achieve your goal?

Setting realistic goals is a biggie for me this year, I have a year plan written out regarding my writing.  I know what I want to accomplish and have broken it down into small achievable goals, which I have been consistently hitting each month.  So have you achieved your goal this month?  Some may have already finished and hit the 50k mark, don’t let them put you off.  This isn’t a race, it is a chance to put pen to paper (keys to paper or fingers to keyboard, depending on your preference) and work on that novel that has been bubbling away inside for ages.

With 7 days to go, are you going to finish your goal?  Are you going to have a finished product at the end of the month?  Or another half finished novel that will be put on the back burner?  Don’t get discouraged.  Keep writing, you don’t have to finish on 30th June, if you are still writing, keep writing.  Set aside a little time each day to get that novel finished!


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Creativity Workshop: Setting Goals

7 05 2010

Merilee has given us the homework of setting some goals – Achievable goals – for the course the workshop.

I chose four of the interests / problems that I have and set the following goals:

Using the right words

Specific:  Use my subscription to “Word a Day” (Dictionary.com)

Measurable:  Try and use that word in my writing (within reason)

Achievable:  Write a piece with at least 4 new words in it each week for the 12 weeks of the course. (I get 7 words a week, but some, like iatrogenic just aren’t something that can be comfortably inserted into a story! – btw, it means a malady induced inadvertently by a physician or surgeon or by medical treatment or diagnostic procedures – yip that’s one word that won’t be included :o )

Themes

Specific: Study stories and try to pick out there themes.  Pick a simple theme and use it in several stories with different outcomes

Measurable: Write a short story using the theme with different outcomes

Achievable:  Write a different story each week for four weeks, using themes as the main basis.

Resolving conflict

Specific:  Define conflict and the variations.  Work conflict into one of the stories, and work towards not having it resolved.  Work conflict into a story and work towards slowly resolving conflict

Measurable:  Have one story where conflict is not resolved and one story with a conflict that is slowly resolved.

Achievable: four  short stories with different endings based on how the conflict is resolved.

Writing Gothic

Specific:  Define a gothic tale.  Understand and translate a gothic tale onto my own pages.

Measurable:  Produce a piece of material that is gothic in nature

Achievable: Have two stories of gothic undertones within the 12 week period.

I think that will give me more than enough to keep me going over the next few weeks, bearing in mind I also intend to write a 50k novel in June!  Wow, I am going to be busy – might have to start the housework at 6am so I can fit everything into my day!


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Writing Goals – March Update

30 03 2010

I am posting this early because I have another interview of another MoH Anthology writer coming up tomorrow.

March has been another busy month with editing, whether it is short or long stories.  Here is a roundup of the goals for the month

# Get Chrystias finished off and start looking around for a publisher / agent for it. – have finished editing The Quest and now a quarter of the way through The Rise of the Chrystias – I suspect I am missing some of the information, not sure how that has happened, but hopefully will find out soon.

# Get Kings Queens and Noblemen edited to the second edit – with a view to getting it finished by the end of the year – Haven’t started this one.

# Create more short stories and really start to focus on developing this skill further – I have been working on a short story which became 7,500 words in the end.  Will leave this one to sit for a bit before I go back to it because I struggled with it. But I am happy with the way it turned out once I restarted it.

# Get one short story published (in a magazine / e-zine) (something other than my own blog site!) – On some encouragement from one of my friends, I pulled out a short story I wrote last year, a retelling of Red Riding Hood and have been polishing it up for submission to Sonar Publications Fairytales Anthology.

# Finish off some story ideas and start writing the next novel – the first draft to be completed before the end of the year (2010) – I haven’t carried out anymore work on this story, saving it up for June – SoCNoC!

# Encourage some of my writing friends – I have been critiquing work for friends again, and also through Critters.  There was one I read through Critters which was really good, and I offered to read the story, but didn’t hear anything back.  Oh well!

So April is another month, I was hoping to have Chrystias finished by the end of March, but I am happy with where I am at. But I have to get the story finished by the end of the month, along with the Synopsis I am working on.


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