Looking back at 2011

My year started in upheaval. I had no sure footing, no idea where I'd be at the end of the year. I found it incredibly hard to come up with goals. I had three works in progress, so my only plan was to finish one of them.

I had plenty of time I could have used, but got too caught up in insecurities and distractions. Felt like I wasted my year away.

The surprise was getting Lifelines published. That was my writing highlight of the year.

My strengths are in grammar and world building. My weakness is not torturing my characters. The story gets too predictable, not unique or grabbing. I need to take my stories to the next level! I need to apply my poetic description to my prose, and use more story in my poetry.

If I could get a do-over, I would spend less time stressing over the unknown and put more energy into my passions. I also need to spend less time revising works in progress, and more toward actually finishing them.

Still working out goals for this year. My projects still lie unfinished. I have my first book which is calling me to revise it again, but I worry that it still wouldn't have a strong enough hook for publication. My goal is to come up with goals by the end of the week.

Wrote this as a response to Anne’s post on Poetic Muselings.

I am a Renaissance Soul

About a month ago, I read a blog post that really spoke to me. Are You a Renaissance Soul? Use It to Your Advantage. I easily answered yes to the initial questions. Once again, I am recognizing and accepting. I took some time thinking about my answers to the rest of the questions posed, and here’s my musings.

 

How long can I work until I get antsy?

An hour at a time. Any more than that and my attention wanders. On a day to day basis, NaNoWriMo has shown me that I tend to get distracted after about two intense weeks on one project.

How would I react if I was told that I had to work on 1 thing until it gets done?

My urge would be to rebel, and every other project would seem more exciting than the one I have to do. I don’t like should and have to. I would likely have a secret project to at least make notes on.

What about 2 things? 3? 4? Find your optimal number

Four seems to stretch it. I wouldn’t be making enough progress to make it worthwhile. With two I’d still risk getting bored. So three feels like it will be a good balance.

Where do you feel the biggest sense of accomplishment/happiness/growth: starting a project, working on it, or finishing it?

Working on a project. I thrive off that sense of progress. The process of creation. Seeing my ideas come to fruition. I love the sense of discovery, all the things that surprise me despite having plotted the basic story. Starting is always hard, intimidating. Finishing may have a nice rush, but it’s accompanied by a sadness as the story is no longer new and fresh to my own eyes.

What structure will let me live in that place the longest?

After answering the previous questions, I believe I will be most comfortable working on three projects at a time. Since I have the freedom of not answering to an agent or editor, I can get away with multitasking.

 

Conclusion:

As super excited as I am about Twilight Rain, I’m going to let that one simmer a bit longer. Finish at least one of my other projects first. I have three stories that are hovering around the 30,000 words mark: Trinity Coven, Race to 100 Deaths, and The Minotaur Staff. It will be an awesome rush if I can make progress on all three of those each week. By some logic, it will take me longer to finish a WIP this way. In reality, it will be more productive to switch between projects when I get bored or stuck, rather than stress over one story and go a month or more without writing anything.

Aspects of Wellness

This year I didn’t want to set concrete goals and deadlines. There is a big branch in life up ahead, and so much will depend on which path I take. With that in mind, I wanted to focus instead on aspects of wellness. Ways I can improve my life without relying on what else is going on around me.

The site I took this idea from has seven aspects of wellness: Emotional, Intellectual, Physical, Environmental, Social, Occupational, and Spiritual. I have eight. Creativity is such a major part of my identity that I want to focus on it separate from Occupational or Intellectual.

When I first discovered these last year, I took time and visualized, then wrote down, an overall statement for ideal wellness for each aspect. With this new year, I wanted to set my goals/resolutions around those. I’ve gone into more detail in my journaling, but here are my basic goals for each:

Emotional

• Positive journaling
• Monthly date nights
• Daily music time – piano, Rock Band, dance

Intellectual

• Read one non-fiction book each month.

Physical

• Drink more water and less soda.

Environmental

• Go for a walk once a week, to get sunlight and fresh air.

Social

• Join a local writing group.
• Las Vegas trip with sisters

Occupational

• Look into continuing education, such as Library Science or Editing.

Spiritual

• Take time each week to relax, be quiet and alone. Retune with spirit, soul, nature.
• Know myself so I may know my future.

Creative

• Write one hour every day – doesn’t have to be in one session
• Finish at least one novel before starting anything new.
• Main focus: finish The Minotaur Staff (NaNoWriMo 2010)

Nerdgasm

Major revisions are out of the way for Fey Moon. Where do I go from here?

 

This Week:

I’m going to go over the first scene again, using feedback from the latest Secret Agent contest. Then I’ll polish my query, update my outline and synopsis.

 

October:

Submit a batch of queries for FM before The Muse Online Writers Conference, where I’ll be pitching to a publisher.

With those edits out of the way, I can return to writing Trinity Coven. Don’t want to make a solid word count or chapter goal, as I will be attending the aforementioned conference.

 

November:

NaNoWriMo! Honestly, with TC still in progress, and not “winning” last year, I was leaning towards not participating this year. What changed my mind? Scrivener. When I first heard about this writing software, I got super excited. I love lists and having everything organized. I have dozens of documents filled with characters, world info, drafts. All for one manuscript. I would love a way to keep all that managed. Bad news? It’s only been for Mac. Better news? In Jan/Feb 2011 it’s coming out for Windows! How do I justify to my husband that I must have this software?

Anyone who participates in NaNoWriMo this year and achieves their 50,000 words (and has them validated) will get a 50% discount coupon which they will be able to use when Scrivener for Windows is released next year. (source)

I think I had a writer-nerdgasm while watching the preview video. So. NaNoWriMo 2010. I’m in. Are you?

Project Update

I’ve been making good progress on my revisions. I’m feeling really good about the changes so far. As of this morning, 100 pages to go. I came up with a new title that I really like: Fey Moon. I took it from the world’s calendar. Another reason I’m excited about the new title, is that it opens up title ideas for future books in the same series. Each taken from one of the Moons (months). I already have ideas for Spider Moon (tentative title was already Moon Spider), and Blood Moon (War of the Fey). With fourteen Moons, I have lots of inspiration. :-)

Now, back to revisions. I want to get this done so I can reward myself with some Red Vines and Civilization V.

EotF update

About four months ago, I gave up on EotF. I didn’t know how to improve it, or even if I wanted to. And my queries weren’t doing well at all. 50 queries, and only 2 requests (which both ended in form rejects)? Not so good. But now the Muse Online Writers Conference is approaching again. There are a lot more publishers available for pitch sessions. I’ve grown as a writer, and I have some readers willing to help point out where it needs work, so I’m giving the story another go. I haven’t tried pitching or submitting to a publisher yet, so maybe I’ll have more luck than agent hunting.

This next month will be entirely focused on giving EotF a make-over. I’ve got some ideas to make the culture deeper, focus the conflict, and add in some more unisus scenes. I plan to have a new title when I’m ready to pitch as well. Make everything fresh, new, exciting. That’s the plan. I’m so grateful to have a husband fully supportive of me, and willing to talk about a project he is surely sick of by now.

Goal: Have a revised, polished draft of EotF (with new title) by Oct 11.

Tuesday Tally: Slow and Steady

Last week’s goals:

• work out 3x this week
• start Page-a-Day Challenge (May 15th to June 15th) – and on track!
• finish Heavy Rain – loved it

Goals for this week:

• continue Page-a-Day Challenge (see my progress here)
• deep clean house
• catch up on critiques
• submit some poetry

 

It’s been refreshing having a goal of one page a day. It’s something I’m comfortable writing even over the weekend (which I used to avoid), and rather than stressing about how much I should be writing, and panicking at being behind, and writing nothing, I am making progress every day. Something is better than nothing. Not as awesome as high-productivity days, but I can’t always count on those.

We’ve already decided to abandon our 80% complete gaming rule. Turned it into grinding, and doesn’t take into account all the games we’ve finished and traded in.

Speaking of grinding, I think that’s what happened with Trinity Coven. I had boiled it down to how many words I needed a day. It became all about the numbers, and lost the fun.

Three cheers for Progress, Fun, and Rain. (I love rain. beautiful rainy day today. got the windows open. smells fresh and wonderful.)

Page-a-Day Challenge

Page-a-Day Challenge Begins!

The purpose of this challenge is to write every day. One page. Free to write more, but not stressing about unrealistic goals. One page a day, every day, is 365 pages in a year! At an average of 250 words/page, that’s 91,250 words, the length of a complete book. I’m taking on this challenge because I need to relax and enjoy the process, while still getting words down every day.

I don’t normally write on weekends, but I’m going to try it out for this month. Show my commitment to myself, and prove it to my husband.

You can check this blog post for my progress, or follow my updates on twitter. The hashtag is #padc.

05/15: 2 pages

05/16: 1.5 pages

05/17: 2 pages

05/18: 1 page

05/19: 1.5 pages

05/20: 2.5 pages

05/21: 3 pages

05/22: 2.5 pages

05/23: 1 page

05/24: 3 pages

05/25: 1 page

05/26: 0 pages :(

05/27: 1 page

05/28: zero

05/29: nada

05/30: zilch

05/31: nought

06/01:

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06/15:

Tuesday Tally and video games

Last week’s goals:

• create custom workout for EA Active
• create summer schedule to include writing time
• relax, read my bliss book
• take some time to read and enjoy Trinity Coven

Goals for this week:

• work out 3x this week
• start Page-a-Day Challenge (May 15th to June 15th)
• finish Heavy Rain

 

Like story? Play video games? Have a PS3? Play Heavy Rain. Intense, completely immersive. Makes me think. Not many games I keep thinking about for days after putting down the controller. Each time I have to balance whether to take a break because the emotion and adrenaline is so intense, or keep going because I have to know what happens next!

My husband and I have decided not to buy any new video games until we finish more. Trying to keep an 80 percent completion rate. Got a few games coming out next month, and some already out which we’re waiting on, so I need to take a break from Sims and play some consoles.

Games I’m most looking forward to this year: Alan Wake, Sims 3: Ambitions, Lego Harry Potter, and Civilization V. Are you a gamer? Which systems do you have? Any favorite games on the brain?

Owning my Health

I think Wendy hit it on the head in last week’s comment, when she tied lack of focus into lack of sleep. April was an awful writing month. I think two things contributed to this. Health and stress. Allergies, then my son’s sickness, and getting sick myself (just recovering for those concerned). Plus the self-inflicted stress of falling further behind on my writing goals.

I’ve spent way too much focus on how much do I need to write to finish, rather than enjoying the process. Where did the passion go? I’m going to release the deadline. Be free. Breathe easy.

Weronika is inviting writers to join her in a page-a-day challenge from May 15th to June 15th. I think the timing is perfect. One page. No stressing that I’m falling behind on looming deadlines (even if self-imposed).

If I stress less, I’ll probably be healthier. But I’m not relying on that alone. I need to own my health. I’ve come up with five ways I can do that:

1. drink more water – keep a water bottle at my desk. if it’s close, I’m more likely to drink it
2. exercise – walking has been great for lower body, but my core and upper body are weaklings
3. eat a more balanced lunch – I don’t send my husband to work with just a PBJ, so why fall back on that myself? If I don’t eat enough at lunch, I end up snacking on unhealthy stuff through the day.
4. if sleepy, use caffeinated soda as last resort. get active with Rock Band, or take a nap!
5. less repetitive gaming (*coughfacebookzooworld*) so my wrists last longer

 

Last week’s goals:

• clean physical space (corner bedroom) – some improvement
• write something

Goals for this week:

• create custom workout for EA Active
• create summer schedule to include writing time
• relax, read my bliss book
• take some time to read and enjoy Trinity Coven

Tuesday Tally: wandering muse

Last week’s goals:

• simple goal: 250 words/day
• clean virtual space (folders/documents)
• enter Friends of Acadia contest

Goals for this week:

• clean physical space (corner bedroom)
• write something

 

It’s been very hard to focus on TC this past week. My other projects have been calling. Enticing me to wander. Like yesterday - I read through all sixty pages of the unfinished Rt100D. It was my first time reading any of it since writing it during NaNoWriMo, and I was surprised at how well it held my interest.

Then there’s Sienna’s Story. It’s the least structured of my novels so far. I have a clear conflict, but don’t know where the story will take me. I want to know what happens next. With the family focus (MC is a mom of two, separated from her crazy husband), it has such a different dynamic from anything else I’ve done.

I don’t know if I need an official break from TC, or need to focus that much more. Maybe my self-imposed pressure is getting to me. Maybe it’s the dreaded mid-story block. I open the document and feel uninspired. Uninterested. I could jump ahead to a more exciting scene, or allow myself to dabble in a different story. Either way, I need to get my fingers moving over that keyboard.

Tuesday Tally: surviving April

Last week’s goals:

• TC – write five scenes
• submit revised poems
• write a color poem  
• clean physical space (shelves/desk)
• write and/or revise nature poems for Friends of Arcadia contest

 

Goals for this week:

• simple goal: 250 words/day
• clean virtual space (folders/documents)
• enter Friends of Arcadia contest

 

I had forgotten how crippling my Spring allergies are here. Sneeze, wipe watery eyes, sniffle, blow. Even with allergy medicine. We have a nice HEPA air purifier, which I crank up to high after being outside. I think the sinus headaches are the worst. Even when the other symptoms subside, that sinus pressure keeps pounding.

I didn’t get all my scenes in, but did make progress. Keeping my expectations low this week. Hoping the storm later this week will lessen the pollen in the air, so I can be more functional.

mid-April Tuesday Tally

Last week’s goals:

• TC – write every weekday; create goal timeline
• revise 3 poems
• write another color poem – started, not complete 
• clean virtual space (bookmarks)

 

Goals for this week:

• TC – write five scenes
• submit revised poems
• write a color poem  
• clean physical space (shelves/desk)
• write and/or revise nature poems for Friends of Arcadia contest

 

Three and a half of the four goals complete. Not bad.

Scary how many of those bookmarks were for pages that don’t even exist anymore. Took a long time going through them all, but now that it’s trimmed down to what works, and what I’ll actually revisit, it looks so much cleaner! Maybe I’ll actually visit the bookmarks I have left.

If I average one scene a day in Trinity Coven during the weekdays, I should be on track. I’ve got a new writing routine which seems to be working. I’ll blog about that another time.

Another thing I need to do is clean house! One of my sisters is coming up Friday to hang out. Looking forward to it!

Is there anything you’re looking forward to this week?

Tuesday Tally: Spring Cleaning

Trying to get back in routine. This month’s theme is Spring Cleaning. As a family we’ve begun tidying up our house and yard. We actually put up wall hangings! For my personal goals, I plan to clean and organize my virtual and physical work space. Each week I will focus on something specific.

I came nowhere close to finishing Trinity Coven by the end of March, so we are going with my reserve deadline of June 4. Spring Break was a preview of how much harder it will be to make writing and me time once summer comes. I’ll have to re-evaluate and determine how much I need to write each week to make it possible.

Goals for this week:

• TC – write every weekday; create goal timeline
• revise 3 poems
• write another color poem  
• clean virtual space (bookmarks)

Tuesday Tally 3/23

Last week’s goals:

• finish editing up to current point
• submit some poetry to Basement Stories
• get crits done for the month
• write something new for TC each day

Goals for this week:

• TC: get through chapter ten 
• poetry: research a new market

 

Feeling good about where the story is going. Hoping it continues! And that my hay fever doesn’t slow me down.

Upcoming Thursday’s Tale will focus on Bridget, who you have met in a previous excerpt.

Spring is here! I love the flowers, the blossoms, and the smell of fresh cut grass. Not so excited about the hay fever and the snow this morning. What do you like about Spring?

Mid-March Tuesday Tally

Last week’s goals:

• rewrite first chapter
• write like crazy! urr, that should be more concrete. minimum 1500 words/day
• edit one scene/day

Goals for this week:

• finish editing up to current point
• submit some poetry to Basement Stories
• get crits done for the month
• write something new for TC each day

 

Keeping actual writing goals low this week, as it’s going to be busy. My husband took the day off for a date day – going to the mall, Olive Garden for lunch, and possibly a movie. Tomorrow the elementary school has the March Birthday Table, where any student who had a birthday that month can sit, and parents are invited. A lunch date with my birthday boy.

And as stated in my goals, I need to get my critiques done and get some poems out, so don’t know how much focus I’ll have on TC. I plan on still working on it in some fashion each day, so I don’t have a hard time getting back into it.

Didn’t hit my writing or editing goal for last week. Instead, I rewrote the first scene three times, trying to find out what worked best. I’m considering revising again, but am determined to sit on my hands until I get feedback. One of my ideas was to have Kaelin working at a natural history museum, but once I finally got around to pulling up maps, I learned the nearest was an hour and a half drive away. Okay for an occasional visit or volunteer day, but too much to expect for a regular drive. So I scrapped that and went a different direction. Now, back to chapter nine! I’ll never get this done if I keep jumping around, or fussing with details.

Upcoming Thursday’s Tale will introduce another coven member, and give a little insight into their purpose.

Tuesday Tally 3/9

Last week’s goals:

• submit a batch of poetry 
• finish needed research for TC and rewrite first chapter
• if above goal finished early enough, write like crazy

Goals for this week:

• rewrite first chapter
• write like crazy! urr, that should be more concrete. minimum 1500 words/day
• edit one scene/day

 

Took me longer to decide on a passion for Kaelin than anticipated. I wrote some notes and snippets, and am ready to rewrite chapter one. That’s today’s project. Tomorrow I’ll begin a minor round of editing on chapters two through eight, making sure they are consistent with the new material, while moving forward writing chapters nine and up.

I realize if I don’t get this book finished by March, or April, my ultimate goal is before school gets out! Once my son is home all day, it would be easier to focus on revisions and poetry than trying to immerse myself in new writing.

Initial goal: March 31

Revised goal: April 30

Ultimate deadline: June 4

March Tuesday Tally

My initial goal for Trinity Coven this year was to finish by the end of March. eep! So not happening! However, there are some challenges going on right now to motivate writing lots. If I push myself, I could still finish in April (husband is doubtful, and I really want to prove I can do this!)

A group on WDC is doing March Novel Writing Month (MarNoWriMo). Unlike the official one in November, this can be revising or words added to a work in progress. I set a goal for 20,000 new words.

In tandem with that, there is also a Mad Dash to make a big word count in one week. This week. I made a goal for 8,000 words to give myself a big boost.

Dreaming in Ink also has challenges going on for March and April. I signed up for the novel challenge there, to get new words and chapters. 

Stating goals here = even more accountability.

… …

So I’m all settling in for a long writing session yesterday, chatting with my husband about my characters. Then what happens? Hubby points out that Kaelin has no skills to bring to the coven! Being naive and outcast is not the same as sitting around home doing nothing with her day before finding her destiny. How did I miss that background?? Anywho, I have three career/hobby ideas to research, each which would impact the story differently. Need to find which is best for story, and most plausible considering her character, age, location, etc.

Got to love how just as I am gearing up for this big writing month, I have this epiphany that requires rewriting the first chapter. I really wanted to get through an entire draft before doing rewrites, but this is something that affects the bigger picture, including the ending! I will save myself a lot of work by going back now rather than when the draft is done. Prevention rather than fixes.

The Mad Dash has been tripped up, but I may still be able to salvage my other goals.

Speaking of goals…

 

Last week’s goals:

• TC: two chapters
• send out batch of snail mail queries

Goals for this week:

• submit a batch of poetry (poems and market already picked)
• finish needed research for TC and rewrite first chapter
• if above goal finished early enough, write like crazy

last Tuesday Tally of February

Last week’s goals:

• outside feedback on two poems
• send out more queries
• TC: write twenty pages

 

Goals for this week:

• TC: two chapters
• send out batch of snail mail queries

 

Almost hit my twenty page goal. Didn’t write at all yesterday. Procrastinated the morning away, and then my mom called and wanted to take me to lunch. So by the time I got back from lunch and shopping, I only had a short rest before turning around and walking to the school to get B, signaling the end of my writing day. If I can squeeze three more pages between the half hour I have left this afternoon, and during American Idol if needed, I could cross that goal off.

I started to prepare some queries to mail today. Got frustrating. Examples of my incompetency today: had to look up business letter format (so used to email queries, mind was blanking), forgetting to sign query (remembering right after sealing envelope of course), forgetting to put header with name and page numbers on my synopsis before printing. Wasting ink, paper, and stamps here! Then my husband offered to teach me how to print on the envelopes so it will look all professional. I am perfectly happy setting the mess aside until he gets home. I’ll have to find the local post office so I can mail one that asks for sample pages.

Upcoming milestone: If I can get those three pages in, I’ll hit 100 pages! I have a feeling this novel will be much shorter than EotF. Which is fine, as it doesn’t have all the world-building of a traditional fantasy.

Next month I’m really going to push myself in my writing. Details on the 2nd.

Tuesday Tally mid-February

Last week’s goals:

• TC: finish current chapter and next
• poetry: revise two poems before submitting 
• get feedback on revised query (itching to send it out again. patience, young grasshopper)

 

Goals for this week:

• outside feedback on two poems
• send out more queries
• TC: write twenty pages

 

Poems still not quite ready. A couple lines I’m not happy with. Going to submit them to critique group. I did get the one chapter finished, just not the second.

Going to do something different, trying page count goal instead of words or chapters. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I completely forgot about Monday being a holiday (President’s Day here in USA) when I made last week’s goals. Didn’t even get a happy holiday. Most of the day was taken up by a funeral (husband’s uncle). Hoping you all had a better Monday, and a wonderful Valentine’s Day.