Tag: goals

I Have A Plan

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On March 1, 2013

In By the Numbers, Just Keep Writing, Organizing, Planning for the Future

So after working out all my dilemmas about what I should be doing right now, I’ve made a decision about my next writing steps. I didn’t meet the last set of goals I set for myself, unfortunately, but based on how things have been going for me these past two months, that actually turned out to be a good thing.

With respect to my current WIP, I’m going to write until I reach a point in the plot that’s a major transition, and then I’m going to stop for awhile. It’s a good place to pause because at that point the way I’m going to be writing will be changing significantly. The perspective is going to get complicated, and I think I’m going to have to be very, very good if I’m going to pull it off. Basically my main character will be experiencing something akin to locked-in syndrome (with a bit of a paranormal twist), written from her perspective. Oh, and she’ll be blind. Poor Callie. So I think it will be good for me to take a bit of a break and mull over how I’m going to accomplish that.

It will be hard to stop writing for awhile, since I’ve been making such good progress lately. I just got back from a ten-day trip to California with my kids, found time to write on seven of those ten days, and eked out 15,000 words. I should be sitting at around 40,000 total when I pause.

In the meantime I’m going to go back to my first book and do another round of edits, then (for real this time) start querying. I know what changes I want to make, and although I’m sad to make one in particular, I can see that it’s not really relevant to the story arc and just serves to slow things down. My goal is to have the edits completed and at least one query sent by the end of March. I think that’s completely doable, especially since I expect I’ll be finished with my WIP by the end of this week, maybe even tonight.

Exciting times! I’m glad to have an outline I can follow for the month. Good things should come of this. 🙂

I did it!

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On September 18, 2012

In By the Numbers, Excitement, Just Keep Writing, Writer's High

So I’m outing myself as a total noob here, but I’m going to do a little happy dance for a minute because I just achieved a very important goal to me, one that a year ago I would have thought was entirely impossible. For all those longtime authors with a few books under their belts this is totally going to be nbd. But for me it’s like, squeeee!

Crazy, hey? I was hoping I’d get it done tonight, and I did, adding about 1,400 words. I can smell the end now, it’s so close (and by close I mean within 20,000 words). I kind of hate to stop where I did tonight, but it’s late and tomorrow’s a school day for the grom. I’ll go to bed happy though, knowing I hit a milestone that I’ve been working toward for over six months.

Exciting! Yay! Exclamation points everywhere!!

Goals and deadlines

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On May 5, 2012

In Distractions, Just Keep Writing, Learning

I’m kind of a goal-oriented person. I was talking with someone the other day about leaving things until the last minute because I work better under pressure – case in point, my taxes filed less than 24 hours before deadline, and my post-secondary habit of beginning essays the night before they were due. That sort of pressure just seems to work better for me. And it’s a positive motivator, because I always did well on those papers, and my taxes were error-free.

I told one of my early readers that I would try to have chapter four finished for her for the weekend so she could have something to read. I think I’m close and I’m hoping to have it done tomorrow, if all goes well (I consider ‘the weekend’ to be a pretty loose deadline – that could mean 11:59pm on Sunday night). Unfortunately (for her) it’s going to be a cliffhanger ending and it might be another eight weeks before I’ve finished five and six. Anyway, having even a vague deadline looming over me has kicked me into high gear, which I appreciate.

I read a lot about gargoyles today, which was cool. And I’m slowly filling up my characters’ pinterest boards, which is always a fun break if I need to give my mind a few minutes to mull something over.

I feel like May is going to be a really positive month for me, creatively. 🙂

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