Category: Monthly Goals

March Results and April Goals

March was a month of ups and downs. There were a lot of successes this month, but also a lot of losses and hardships. There were several events that were more important than writing and creating and that was ok. My goals this month were hit and miss in several ways, but I did what I could and I’m pleased with that.

March Results

Writing

Finish Edits on MAC

I had a plan this month. A new chapter edited every 3 days to get through the 9 chapters (or so) I needed to get done. The first chapter was a breeze. The next few weren’t so easy, with chapters splitting and new chapters being written. I have reached the part of the book that need the most rewrites. This section is a lot more work than I had originally expected. I was able to keep up a pretty decent pace for most of the month, but the edits were more extensive than I realized.I still have about 4 chapters or so to go, but I’m going to work on them in April and pace myself to prevent burnout or worse.

Outline a Project (or Two)

Outlining has been quite fun this month. I’ve been pulling out older projects to repurpose them (possibly for publishing). I’m planning on expanding a few of my old short stories that need more plot, and so this month I’ve taken a few and worked them out to be longer pieces (or at least novellas). So far, one was easy and quick and the other requires more thought. Yet another is a novel that needs an extra 30-50K to be truly novel length. There are several short stories and projects that are pulling at my brain to be written and rewritten and created, which created a little bit of overwhelm, but I’m getting it under control. I’m excited to start planning and working on something new.

Attend a Writing Conference

Yet again, for the third year in a row, I missed attending the conference in person. Thankfully, this conference records the seminars and makes them available for quite a while after the conference is over. Now, I have an excuse to watch all the recordings and take what I need from them. I really enjoy writing in the digital era where I can access conferences from the comfort of my own home (or even on the go) anytime that works for me.

I’ve started to watch a few of the recordings and taking things from them I feel I need. Taking notes is a must, and so far, I have yet to be disappointed by a speaker.

Finish a Book

This month was not quite the reading month I had wanted. I had good intentions to finish reading a book, but edits, other projects, and my mental health took a higher priority. I did not get to read as much as I wanted. Hopefully in the next month or two I can get back on the reading train and start finishing more books.

Personal Goals

Yoga 2-3x a week

For the first few weeks of the month, there was no exercise. The construction is still going on on the sidewalk and street, I was helping my husband recover from surgery, and everything was just busy, busy, busy. Finally around mid month, I did get back into doing yoga at least once. It wasn’t as often as I would have liked, but I did put forth a solid attempt, so I’m happy with that. There have been a lot of changes this month, but hopefully next month will be better.

Drink more water

Drinking more water this month was a little bit easier. I often forgot to track my water intake, but I do know I did make a solid attempt to drink more and keep drinking water once I started. Thankfully, I’m becoming more mindful of it now and attempting to drink more water when I really feel I need it.

Other

The month of March was interesting. The first few weeks I was helping my husband recover from surgery and working and attempting all my creative goals.

I started exploring new places to publish and ways to increase traffic to the blog and other ways to hopefully start making money from my writing.

On the same day, I got accepted into an MFA Program and found out my grandfather passed away.

So far 2024 has been a brutal year of heartache and pain with several family members and family friends passing away.

On top of that, April has arrived, and April is a month of hard anniversaries for both my husband and me.

Word Count: 20,415

Still, here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish in April.

April Goals

Finish Edits on MAC

I have a goal and a plan to finish MAC this month. I’m hoping I can get it done by working on one chapter a week. Editing is quite different than writing, it’s more chaotic and wild, and yet structured in a way I don’t like. Still, I’m pushing through and improving my craft. Not all growth has to be comfortable. The edits will get done whether it’s this month or the next.

Gain Consistency with Online Posting

I’ve been really trying to find the consistency I had in November and December to work on posting in several places online. I’m attempting to make a schedule that would work best for me and work toward more consistency and then ultimately gaining readers. Writing and a full time job (and school starting soon) do not make a consistent schedule, but I am attempting to get myself organized to better create and distribute.

Outline More Projects and Make a plan for 2024

I had a lot of fun outlining the few projects I did in March. I’m excited to go through and outline more so I can eventually finish more projects and hopefully publish them.

So far, 2024 has been a horrible year for business growth and writing growth. I’m hoping the second quarter and beyond are better. I would like to make a plan of what I want to be working on, when I want to post it and how to have the most impact. To start, I’ll make a quarterly plan of things I want to have finished by the time July rolls around.

Finish reading a book

March was not good for reading. March was not good for much of anything active in the writing or reading hobbies I have. I would like to pick up reading again and start balancing the reading and writing and creating aspects of my life again. I have a book in mind I’d like to finish so I can move on to the rest of the series, so I plan to focus on that this month.

Personal Goals

Yoga or Exercise 2-3x a week

This is one of my yearly goals, to exercise and take better care of myself. March wasn’t the month to do that. Hopefully April will be with the weather getting warmer and the sun staying up longer. I hope the roadwork near my house on my normal walk also improves, but I have a plan in place if it doesn’t.

Drink more water

This month, I really have to focus on my water intake. With some recent health changes, I’ve noticed I have more dry mouth. I’ve also noticed if I keep my water bottle close by and filled with nice cold ice water it’s much easier to drink. Here’s hoping I can get more water intake in April.

Here’s to hoping April is a better month!

 

February Results and March Goals

February is over and gone (with an extra day even!). Thankfully, February was better than January as far as writing and creating and getting back into a routine, but not by much.

There were still family and friend health issues and the usual distractions and set backs, but overall, I think February went pretty well.

Here’s how I did in February:

February Results

Writing Goals

Choose and make progress on an editing project for the month

So I set this goal and in my brain that meant wanting to write a new aspect of the fantasy series I’d been working on for nearly 10 years, but finished a few years ago. I migrated everything from one writing platform to another and formatting was a pain in the butt, so I spent the first week of February doing admin stuff like reorganizing works and writing posts for the blog, Medium and Substack (I’m learning and trying new things!)

After that, I outlined edits for one of the projects where I’m about 10 or so chapters away from completing edits. I’ve started to work on that, and once I started that, the other book in the series (from 2022 that I still haven’t finished) decided it wanted to be picked back up again this year.

Even better, the novel I just finished in 2023 has a great scene I wanted to use for a writing sample into an MFA program, so I edited the living daylights out of that too.

The editing mojo has returned!

Get back to posting regularly on the blog, Medium and Subtack

As much as I wanted this goal to happen, I couldn’t get into the rhythm of posting regularly. However, I do have a lot of ideas brewing and a backlog of posts to work on, so hopefully, over the next few weeks of March and possibly into April I’ll find the mojo again. Or perhaps I’ll simply take a little break and see how far I can get into editing and getting a few projects to the next steps in the creative process.

Personal Goals

Exercise 4x/week

Once again, exercise did not happen. February has been busy with everything else but exercise. I want to get back to it, I’m itching to get back to it, but time has not been my friend this month. Soon enough I will return to exercise and my proper routine (and hopefully all the roadwork on my usual walking path will be done soon too!)

Drink Enough Water daily

I’ve definitely been attempting to drink more water, but it doesn’t always end up making it into the app. Some days, I drink a lot, and other days it’s an “Oops! Did I drink any water today?”

Other

February has been an interesting month with even more family and friend health issues, but there was writing and editing included.

I submitted a personal statement and writing sample for an MFA program and I’m working on getting things ready for that coming up in May. I also finished a piece of fan fiction in 10 days on the last day of the month.

Things are moving in the right direction and I couldn’t be more excited.

I also applied for a writing job (as a side gig to nursing) and I’m excited to see where that takes me.

Word Count: 25,408

Here’s what I hope to accomplish in March:

March Goals

Writing

Finish Edits on MAC

I’m on the last stretch of edits and so far through February, the edits are going well. I would like to finish them this month (and hopefully not get too much in my head that I freak myself out). Then, once again, it’s ready to sit and stew for a bit. If I finish the first round of edits, I plan on moving on to another project and start editing that.

It’s time to start working on the backlog.

Outline a Project (or Two)

Being a writer and having a full-time job (and life) means starting to plan projects more efficiently. I have several plans for upcoming projects, including editing, publishing, marketing and a lot of other things that will go into the publishing process. While I have several projects on the back burner for editing, I also have several half finished ideas and other plans for some finished works.

Attend a Writing Conference

Every year in March, the Women in Publishing Conference takes place online. This will be my third year attending, and hopefully I can actually attend a few live sessions rather than enjoying the recorded sessions later. I’m looking forward to spending more time doing events and conferences centered around writing and learning and enjoying all I can.

Finish a Book

I read two books in January and then promptly fell into a reading slump in February. I’m hoping to finish a book (possibly two) in March, depending on if I don’t get too distracted. I would like to finish the book I’m currently in the middle of and get back to the series and finish that over the next few months. Just like a backlog of writing projects, I also have a backlog of books to read.

Personal Goals

Yoga 2-3x a week

Part of the issue with exercise and not doing it was the construction on my usual walking path. To remedy that, I would like to do yoga (from apple fitness) 2-3 times a week. My husband will be recovering from surgery for the first part of the month, hence the 2-3x a week. Hopefully it will get me exercising more this month.

Drink more water

I’ve been starting to drink more water, which has been great and makes me feel so much better, but now it’s time to keep better track of it and make it more consistent. What worked really well back in October/November was some of the challenges from WaterMinder. So starting today, I’m going to do the 21 day hydration challenge once again.

March will be a busy month, but I’m looking forward to getting back into the routine of writing and editing and kicking butt on projects.

November Results and December Goals

Just like finishing a chapter in a novel and moving on to the next, November has come and gone. Each day was filled with a flurry of words, with each day being a new adventure.

Here’s how I did on my goals in November:

November Results

Writing

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo went well for me this year, despite the hullabaloo going on with HQ and all the vitriol on the internet. I still don’t feel totally good about supporting something that has such serious obligations. Despite all that, I did finish the month out with more words than I started, I did attend write-ins and hopefully helped grow the love of writing in some of the new participants in my area this year. I managed to write 59,033 and dedicated 25.5 hours to my novel this year. I hope to continue the trend and finish the novel in December, or at least set up some habits for 2024.

Post more writing online

This month, I wanted to hold myself accountable and post at least weekly in several different places. Here on the blog, over on medium and also on Substack. This month, despite it being busy with NaNoWriMo, I managed to post every week in each of those places. It was hard work some days, but overall it was enjoyable. It was really freeing to sit down and write things and post them because it needed to be done. No overthinking this time. Post it and on to the next.

Personal

Exercise

There were a few days in November that I did attempt to start an exercise routine. I did not get as much exercise as I wanted, but I did make a solid attempt. For that, I’m proud. I’m excited to continue my attempts to exercise, especially since I found a way I can get exercise inside no matter the weather. I hope to try again in December and hopefully see some better results.

Journal

Journaling this month was almost exclusively related to writing and NaNoWriMo. It was nice to journal how the day went writing wise and what I was looking forward to and what I was struggling with. It was very helpful to keep track of my writing time and how many words I could get out in just a few minutes. It’s been surreal keeping track of my writing time down to the minute, but it’s also been very eye opening.

Hydrate

This month, to stay hydrated, I really started focusing on drinking water. I have an app that I’ve had for quite a while, but have only just started using again. I didn’t track very well at the beginning of the month, but in the last week of November I joined a 21 day hydration challenge. I love a challenge, so hopefully this will help me stay more hydrated and feel better inside and out.

Word Count: 66,725

Other

In November, I pretty much exclusively focused on writing as much as I could. Thankfully I’m done with school for the time being, and I could really take the time to focus on writing a novel. Fortunately, my area is full of other writers and we were able to get together weekly to help each other reach our writing goals. I also celebrated my Grandmother-In-Law’s 90th birthday and had a great Thanksgiving with my family. This has been one of the best Novembers yet.

December Goals

Finish To Have A Heart

I would like to keep up the pace and finish To Have a Heart by the end of December. I would like to get anywhere between 1500 and 2000 words a day (or about 40-45 minutes a day) of writing done. Depending on how far I really am in my outline and how far it takes me to get to the end, I might have to finish the novel in January, but I am going to do my best in December, despite the craziness of the holidays.

Publish more online

Over the past month, I have been fortunate to be able to publish many places online. I would like to keep up that pace and update at least weekly. It worked quite well last month, so once again, I would like to keep up that pace. Stay tuned for more content.

Publish something

This year, one of my goals was to publish something. Technically, I do have something published (a poetry book that never took off), but I would like to publish some work by the end of the year. That means I have some work to do in December.

Stay tuned for updates!

 

 

NaNoWriMo 2023 Week Two Update and Current Thoughts

Week two was a struggle. I feel like I built up all this momentum in week one, all this excitement for the story and then somewhere around the beginning of week 2 (most likely when my outline went off the rails), I started to lose interest.

Thankfully, I got it back and finally I’m now back up to my usual enjoyment of my novel. Other aspects involving the monthly challenge I’m not so enthused about currently, but we’ll get to that here shortly.

Day 8: 2,574 words in 1 hour and 10 minutes

Day 9: 1,772 words in 40 minutes

Day 10: 1,696 words in 52 minutes

Day 11: 1,715 words in 45 minutes

Day 12: 1,917 words in45 minutes

Day 13: 1,892 words in 45 minutes

Day 14: 1,716 words in 40 minutes

Monthly Total: 29,691

Overall, I’m proud of my progress over week two, especially with the lack of motivation I was feeling and everything else going on with the website and certain allegations.

What most of you don’t know is I am a Municipal Liaison (ML) for my county. I’ve been an ML and working with participants since 2015. I started to volunteer for NaNoWriMo because I believed in what they stood for: There’s a novel in everyone, creativity rules, and increased literacy across the globe. I have donated to them, bought merch from them and supported their cause pretty much since I started participating in 2009.

The current allegations are sickening. In fact, the way the company has been trending for the last few years has been sickening. I do not condone what has happened with NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo used to be a place for creatives, a place for the artists and likeminded people to get together and enjoy suffering through writing a novel in a month. It was a place where people who were usually on the outskirts (introverts, book nerds, geeks and anyone else) could be included.

Now, after the recent website changes in 2019, the staff changes throughout the years, the pandemic and these sickening accusations of child endangerment among other things have made it ugly. When complaints surfaced, instead of being heard, users were silenced, banned, blocked and suspended, effectively giving NaNoWriMo a culture of fear and intimidation. That is not what NaNoWriMo should be, but that is what it became.

The forums shut down on November 11th when the board of NaNoWriMo stepped in to investigate. I’ve been reading what should be updates from the board and instead, the forum post is filled with hate, with vitriol toward other users and all around yucky meanness. Users in the forums are throwing anyone and everyone under the bus, including MLs, Staff, HQ and other users. Even TikTok has gotten ahold of the news and has made it a big over conflated mess.

That is not what NaNoWriMo should be. We shouldn’t be fighting with our fellow novelists, discounting the experiences of those vulnerable YWPers who have chosen to share their insights.

I DO NOT CONDONE WHAT NANOWRIMO HAS BECOME.

Currently, I can’t step down from my ML position. I have too many new participants this year that thankfully don’t seem to be on the forums as much. I would love for them to have as good of an experience during their first year as I did. I would love for them to find the good in NaNoWriMo, but I’m not sure how that can happen this year.

After November, and hopefully after the investigations, NaNoWriMo can be better than it was. I’m not sure I’ll be as much of a part of it, if at all.

We’ll see.

In the meantime, I’m going to keep writing and keep creating.

See you next week for another writing update!

 

October Results and November Goals

Here we are in November already! October was full of fun, including concerts, travels, fun experiences at a writing conference and different experiences at work. I hope November is a little more steady as far as schedules and routines go, but here’s how I did in October.

October Results

Writing

Finish Edits on Book 1

I did not finish edits on book one. I will not have a completely clean slate in November like I wanted, but I will get a decent break for the month of November. During the hustle of edits, I forgot to actually enjoy the story and what’s being built up in the story. I lost the love of it, for the technical aspects of style. So I’m going to take a little break and come back to it fresh in December or January.

Finish as many chapters/ sections as possible

This goal did not go as well as I planned either. With the travel and the upheaval of my usual schedule at the beginning of the month, it was quite difficult to get back to “normal”. I really started to push and get a few things finished in the last week of the month, and I’m glad to say I finished a few things. Which means a little less stress when I focus mostly on one project in November. There are still some projects to finish, but they can wait until December, or more likely, January.

Preptober for NaNoWriMo

This goal has been the most fun and most successful this month. I have managed to turn the notes I’ve been collecting over the last few months into a somewhat successful outline. I have been able to create mood boards and ramp up the excitement for myself. I have even played around with the idea of a spin-off from the first book. When November starts, it’s off to the races!

Inktober

Once again, I let the fear or not being perfect step in the way of trying something new. Not only that, but I always forget how much time I never seem to have in October. This month could have been such a good creative month but instead, I was more focused on other important things. I did attempt a few drawings, so perhaps I’ll post those sooner rather than later. It’s always a possibility!

Personal

Exercise

This month has been better for exercise. I’ve been more aware of it. The first few weeks of the month went really well and my exercise trend is back up. We’ll see how I do once the time change hits, but I hope to keep pushing forward.

Journal

Morning pages this month did not go as well as I had hoped. Digital pages, while they do help in a pinch, are not the way to do journaling. There were several days where I simply didn’t do my pages at all, because there was either too much or too little going on. I can only write so much about my desire to write and motivate myself before I realize I’m overdoing it. There have been a few weekends/days off that I did miss 2 days in a row, but I am still trying to do my best, even if that doesn’t mean every day or letting myself miss more than a day.

Hydrate

Once again, hydrating did not come easy. While I did not log things as much as I wanted to in my water tracking app, I do know I attempted to hydrate more. It’s getting to be fall, which means I’ll be drinking more hot liquids like green teas and non-caffeinated teas, so I am very excited to add those into my goals. Coffee is still a main staple, and caffeinated teas, but I have attempted to add more water, especially when I feel I need it. I hope to continue the practice in November.

Other

October was full of fun. I traveled a lot between 4 different state for a wedding, a concert and a mini-honeymoon with my husband. I went to a local writing conference and found my inspiration for creation again. I finished another book, which puts me way ahead of my goal for reading, so now it’s time to write more!

I started a few substacks, that should be going live sooner rather than later. You can read the start of them here. I hope to maintain them and update regularly, even during the hectic months at the end of the year.

Word Count: 12,269

November Goals

Writing

NaNoWriMo

This year, as with every year in November, I want to write 50,000 words in November. I will be participating with several writers from all over the world in this international challenge in hopes of having the start of a story. This year, I want to get as close to finishing this novel as I can. I’m excited to get started.

Post more writing online

I want to keep up with the blog schedule more regularly than I have. I also want to post more in other places. Keep an eye out for more posts here on the blog and other links to explore!

Personal

Exercise

This month is no different from any other months of the year, even though I am attempting to write a novel (or most of it) during November. I still want to exercise and try to stay motivated and take control of my health. Plus, exercise usually helps me find more awesome songs for my playlists or awesome ideas for the current story.

Journal

This month, I still plan to journal, but I’m going to do something a little different. Instead of my normal morning pages of just brain-dump, I am going to focus more on the novel writing process and what works and what doesn’t. November often flies by in a haze of “I have no idea how I did that”, but I want to explore the process a bit more this year. What better way to do that than in a journal?

Hydrate

Drinking water is important. Staying hydrated, especially in the throws of creativity is even more important. I have a better system of tracking my water intake that makes each attempt feel like a small reward, so hopefully I will make more progress this month and start to notice more positive changes.

If you would like to join me and write a novel in November, you can sign up here.

 

May Results and June Goals

May has definitely been a month of highs and lows in several areas. For the first few weeks, writing and editing were not my priority. But I picked it up toward the end of the month and managed to be rather successful in my goals.

May Results

Writing

Edit One Short Story

Unfortunately, during the month of May, I did not edit a short story. This month was a strange month, with very little motivation until nearly halfway though the month. Time got a way from me this month with all the other projects I had to complete, such as homework and work. While it wasn’t a short story, I did manage to edit a few poems for a school project.

Edit An Arc of Book 1

This month, I was not able to edit a whole arc in the novel, but I did get two chapters done. I made some decent progress and now I have a plan for June. Not every month has to be an entire arc, and I am pleased I’m getting back into it and making positive changes again. Even if the editing is going a little slower than usual.

Finish A Project (of any kind)

This goal was easier than I expected. I finished a short story rather unexpectedly in the first few days of May. With the completion of the short story from December 2022, my monthly short stories for 2022 are now completed. Thankfully, I didn’t finish just one project this month, but multiple. I finished a few shorter pieces as well.

2023 is the year of finishing things and edits.

Personal

Exercise

Exercise over the past few months has been hit or miss, mostly miss. This month was no exception. This month, it was easy to feel like time got away from me. The first thing to go when time gets away from me is exercise. This wasn’t the best month for exercise. With any luck, June will be better, or at least I can start a better routine.

Journal

Journaling in May was a little different than the past few months. I managed to journal every single day, per my goal. I also added reading a few pages of my older journals to the mix as well. I got some news regarding work that put me into a foul mood and I had a similar situation in the past, so I made it through most of my previous journals from 2019/2020 and compiled some data that might come in handy later.

Other

In May, on the weekends I wasn’t working, I did a lot of traveling. It’s always nice to take mini vacations when I can get them.

I also have several new ideas. I’m itching to work on them, but I want to give them the time they deserve. Instead of jumping right in like I usually do, I am letting them sit in my idea folder for now. Hopefully soon, I’ll be able to work on a few new projects. For now, it’s edits and finishing the projects I have.

Speaking of finishing things, I am a class and a half away from graduating with my Bachelor’s degree. I honestly never thought I would get here. I attempted 2017-2019, but it was a program I detested. Now I love it.

I am excited for what comes next!

Word Count: 37,134

June Goals

Writing

Edit One Arc of Book 1

Now that I am back into the swing of edits, I would like to get some chapters completed in June. With any luck, I will be able to get an arc done or at least 4 chapters, but June will be quite a busy month, so we’ll see how far I get in edits.

1000 Words of Summer

1000 Words of Summer is returning for 2023. Jami Attenburg of Craft Talk started the project 6 years ago. For two weeks, I attempt to get 1000 words with a ton of other writers. In a way, it’s like a shortened version of NaNoWriMo in June. I’m stoked for another challenge and a deadline.

NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge

The NYC Midnight Challenge that started my patronage of NYC Midnight has returned. This is the third year I am participating. I could not be more excited! As an added bonus, it takes place during 1000 words of Summer, so I have at least one project to work on during that time. This is my favorite challenge of theirs so far, 1000 words is the perfect amount of words to get a story down, but not make it too verbose. I am excited for more challenges.

Personal

Exercise

I have been working to find why exercising has become so challenging. Mainly it’s been time and weather. Hopefully with the changing weather as we get closer to Summer and maybe a bit more time management, I’ll be able to get more exercise. Walking outside is my favorite form and I would love to get more of it when I can.

Journal

Journaling has been one of my most consistent habits of 2023 and I feel so much better for it. It’s been fantastic to get my thoughts down on the page and not have them floating around in my head wreaking havoc. I have found I’m excited to journal every morning and I look forward to it instead of dreading it like I did a year or two ago. I’m steadily making it through notebooks. The goal is the same, I would like to journal every day in June.

March Results and April Goals

As I head into the hardest month of every year, I’m thankful March was so productive. It flew by in a blur of homework, work, and writing, but I’m glad I was able to accomplish as much as I did.

March Results

Writing

Edit One Short Story

I didn’t quite edit a short story in the way I wanted to. Another project landed in my lap to edit, and I couldn’t help it. I actually had a deadline for this project and the edits involved with it. I can’t say much about it at the moment, but stay tuned for more updates!

Edit 4 chapters or finish the current Story Arc

This goal took up my whole month. March was definitely the month for editing the novel and the story arc and it did not disappoint. The arc took me the whole month, and five chapters instead of four, but that means I have edited half of the proposed chapters for the current project I’m editing.

NYC Midnight Screenplay Challenge

This challenge goes into April too so I’ll talk about it then. So far, working on other projects has taken precedence, but tune in next month for a better update.

Finish a Short Story from 2022

This month, writing didn’t really come as easy as reading or editing. As much as I wanted to finish this short story, it will have to be at another time. I have a direction now at least, which is always better than no direction.

Personal

Exercise

Exercising wasn’t really my top priority this month. With the rain and the strange weather throughout March, I spent more time wishing I could exercise, rather than actually doing the work and exercising. Next month, I am really hoping to get back to a decent routine and stick to it.

Journal

I journaled every day but two in March. Things have started to move forward with certain aspects of my life and my health. A few days I got too swept up in it and completely forgot to journal. I’m hoping to keep up my streak next month and do a full month and full pages for my mental health.

Other

Reading a book series, or I suppose re-reading, sucked up a lot of my time in March. I can’t help it, I get sucked into a good book and it’s hard to claw my way out and write original things. I managed to read three books in the main series this month, which means once again, I will reach my reading goal waaaayyy before the end of the year. Now it’s time to read another trilogy I’ve been trying to read for a long time, but have always been distracted. That also means I need to update my reading goal for the year. Nothing too crazy, but I do like to have goals.

I also have good news coming, with any luck sooner rather than later now that the momentum is moving in the right direction.

Word Count: 34,786

April Goals

Writing

Edit Another Arc of Book 1

I’ve started to like the idea of editing my novel in arcs. It’s nice to work on a few chapters at a time, make them as strong as they can be, rather than slogging through the whole novel from front to back over and over again. I’m hoping to keep editing through a few arcs and hopefully have the novel fully edited by June or July.

Camp NaNoWriMo/35K in book 3.

I’ve been itching to finish book 3 of the series for months, especially since November and NaNoWriMo when I started book three was absolute trash. Slowly, I’ve been chipping away, but I’m excited to focus on it in April during Camp NaNoWriMo.

Poetry

I’m looking forward to working on some poetry in the upcoming month. The idea struck me toward the end of March, and with it being National Poetry month, why not?

Personal

Exercise

With any luck, the weather in April will be better than the stormy stuff we had in March. I am hoping to make exercise more of a habit and less of a chore, so we’ll see how that goes.

Journal

Journaling has been getting more difficult, more dragging, so I’m hoping I find more joy in it again this month. Or if not joy, at least a place to pour out my grief as we approach the month that sucks every year.

Hopefully the month of April won’t be too rough and I can actually get some decent work done.

What are your goals for the month of April?

January Results and February Goals

If you are reading this, it means we have all made it through the first month of 2023. January has been my most productive month so far, and that’s not just in 2023, but for a long time. I’ve been able to set a routine and keep making progress little by little. I’ve never been happier.

Here’s how January went:

January Results

Writing

Participate in the NYC Midnight Short Story Competition

This month, The NYC Midnight Short Story Competition went well—Once I got my butt in gear. For the first few days, I took my time, then realized how soon the deadline was. I panicked a bit, then did a mad dash to the end and finally submitted it. At first, I wasn’t sure I would do well with the prompt, but now that it’s done and looking back, I did the best I could. Now I can’t wait for the results and of course, the next NYC Midnight challenge.

Edit One Short Story

This month, I did edit a short story. (Actually I edited two if you count the NYC Midnight submission). I have to say I quite enjoyed it. The short story I edited was one from January of 2015. So far, it has been amazing to see how far I’ve come in my writing. One down, several more to go. I’m starting to remember that editing isn’t as easy as writing, though it is quite informative.

Edit Three Chapters

For quite a bit of the month, I wasn’t sure I would make the three chapter goal. I had a few long chapters to work on and some days not a lot of time to work on them, especially with homework and other duties. I’m pleased to say, I did get three chapters done (with one day to spare). Sometimes, it’s better to let the editing process surprise me. A chapter ended sooner, which means I get to add another chapter and really lay on the romance (my favorite!)

Personal

Exercise

So far, exercising has been going well. I did a long streak of 8 days in a row, then there was a not so great streak of a few days I missed due to inclement weather. Now, I’ve been doing my best to make it out and at least walk every day, or at least three days a week, like I wanted, but some days it isn’t easy.

Journal

I had to work at it, and force myself to journal when there were tough days, but I managed to journal every day in January. I really enjoyed sitting down with myself and journaling through any thoughts or concerns I had. By the end of the month, I was actively excited for my journaling.

Now I have to keep everything up through the rest of the year.

Bonus

This month, I also wrote a few plays for my current class. Once I got the format down, I didn’t absolutely hate it. I have had experience writing plays and screenplays in the past, so it was fun to be able to jump back into it in an educational setting. I got to adapt one of my previous short stories, so that was another version of editing and tweaking that I really enjoyed.

I also read two books this month. I’m working on another book review to post, but the first one is up already.

Word Count: 25,260

Here’s what I hope to accomplish in February:

February Goals

Writing

Edit One Short Story

Similar to last year, I want to edit a short story a month. It worked last year with writing them, so why not do a year of editing? Last month went so well, I can’t wait to get started! The hardest part will be choosing which story to edit!

Edit 4 chapters

After a trial run in January, I think I have this editing thing down. I want to see if I can get 4 chapters edited, which is about 1 a week. I am hoping that some chapters will be shorter and take less time to edit, so maybe I can add on a few extra, but I’ll have to wait and see how the month goes.

Finish a short story from 2022

I have two short stories I still need to finish from 2022. The story for November and December. I would like to finish at least one of them this month, and then perhaps the other one next month. With a few paragraphs a day throughout the month, it shouldn’t take me too long to make decent progress and get at least one of them finished.

Personal

Exercise

Even though I didn’t manage to exercise every day last month, I did manage to average at least 3 times a week. I have noticed I feel so much better when I exercise and more creative. I would like to get out and walk or do some form of exercise at least 5 days a week.

Journal

In January, I managed to write in my journal every day, and it definitely improved my mental health. I would like to keep that up and write every day with no excuses.

November Results and December Goals

Thank Goodness November is finally over. I usually love November for the intense joy of writing, but this November has kicked my butt in too many ways. I’m excited we’re now in December, a brand new month, with brand new goals, but that also means the year is wrapping up. Time to get my butt in gear and finish the year strong.

Here’s how I did in my goals.

November Results

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo could have gone better this year. With oral surgery, a wedding to attend, antibiotics, cough medicine and everything else that went on this month, it was a struggle to find the time and the energy to sit down and write words. At one point, I was even close to 10K behind, but I slowly started to crawl my way back and try to make a dent in the actual novel I should be working on and not all my side projects. Thankfully, the last day of the month, I crossed the finish line on multiple projects and reached the 50K mark.

Continue Edits

This month, edits were stop and go. There were a few days where I was consistent in editing, and then there were more days where I wasn’t consistent at all. Unfortunately there were a lot of zeros on my spreadsheet for editing, but I expected that with it being NaNoWriMo and all. Drafting is definitely quicker than editing and usually gives me more words. But I did learn a decent trick over the last few weeks of editing backwards and keeping the story fresh in my head. Hopefully it helps me edit more words as we roll into December.

One Short Story/Finish a Short Story

This month, I worked a little bit on everything. I started a new short story and added that to my ever-growing list of short stories for the year. I finished two short stories this month and nearly caught up in my short story per month quota. By the end of the year, I hope to have 12 short stories that I can edit next year and see where they end up.

NYC Midnight’s 250 Microfiction Competition

The NYC Midnight Microfiction challenge went well. I was able to throw it together in a few hours, right in the heat of COVID and more than enough cough medicine to kill a horse. The genre was romantic comedy and I hope I caught enough romance and comedy to make it shine in only 250 words. Now I wait for the results.

Word Count: 50,721

Toward the end of October, I fell down my stairs and had to nurse that back to health with a metric ton of Ibuprofen and Tylenol. Then the first week of November I had oral surgery and had a tooth removed and had to take antibiotics and narcotics (which always make me queasy), then finally the week after that, COVID finally caught up with me and kicked my ass. Toward the end of the month, when I finally started to feel like myself again after a few days off, I managed to catch up on all my projects for the month. I really found the community of writers in my local area which helped me find the final push I needed to get some things done.

For the first time, I published some of my microfiction to Medium. You can read it and follow me here.

December Goals

One Short Story

I already have my idea for the short story in December. I already have a good portion of the short story from November mapped out. I’m hoping to work on both in the next month and finish my goal of 12 short stories this year strong. It’s been a really good year for short stories and I’m looking forward to adding another story to my ever-growing list.

Continue Edits

Edits are picking up again after NaNoWriMo and now that I have a direction, I’m ready to get moving and make as much progress as I can before the end of the year. I’m thinking if I spend at least thirty minutes a day doing some kind of editing, I’ll have more than I started with at the beginning of the month.

Poetry

On a whim, I signed up for a poetry competition. I’ve been looking for more publishing opportunities, and that will hopefully include poetry one of these days. The goal for the competition is one poem a day for 21 days. Either way, if I manage to get a few poems down, it’s more than what I started with at the end of the month.

What goal are you trying to wrap up by the end of the year?

October Results and November Goals

October started off a bit rocky, with a lot of things that needed to get done, and then simply didn’t get done. The month thankfully picked up a bit more toward the end, which means I was able to hit some goals.

Here’s how I did in October:

October Results

Inktober and Writetober

None of these goals ended up happening. I was so excited to go forth and create and post, but then it just didn’t happen. Whether it was exhaustion from work or lack of motivtation, I only posted one day and then decided I had more important things to work on this month with the little time I have to create and Inktober, Writetober and Instawrimo weren’t those things. Maybe next year, or throughout the year there will be more doodles. We shall see..

Finsh Ghost House Heart

At first, I wasn’t sure if I would finish Ghost House Heart this month. I’ve been working on the project since January of 2020 and it’s been dragging for a long time, but I am pleasantly surprised to reveal that I did finish Ghost House Heart at the end of the month. I am so relieved and happy and so excited to start something new in November.

Continue Edits

I’m still working through edits, even past my self-imposed deadline. I did hit 25K in the edits so far, and I’m counting that as a big accomplishment. I also started something new with my edits, where I have started to edit the book backwards to make the foreshadowing easier. I’m hoping it will help the edits go by a little quicker, especially since we’re quickly approaching November. There are still more edits to be done, but a decent amount of progress has been made.

Prepare for NaNoWriMo

This goal was relatively easy. As it just so happens, last year when I plotted the second novel there was way too much plot for a single novel, so I ended up separating it into two. This gives the characters more bonding time and more time for anguish as they continue their journey toward the crown. This year’s novel is called “Magic and Obligation” and I’m excited to get started on it in November. A few days before NaNoWriMo started, I did finally sit down and plot my big plot points, so I feel like I am adequately prepared.

(Possible) NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Challenge Part Three

This goal didn’t happen, which I’m fine with. Over the last few years, I have consistently placed higher and that is good enough for me for the moment. It’s actually better this goal didn’t happen, because that gave me more time to focus on other things I needed to work on, like edits and finishing a novel.

In October, I didn’t submit anything for the Rhyming Story challenge. The deadline snuck up on me and ultimately, school had to come first. Speaking of school: I finished another class. This class was by far my favorite, a short fiction workshop where I got the opportunity to write a short story and have it critiqued by my peers and my instructor. I loved it, but now it’s time to move onto the next class: World Literature II. I was supposed to have dental surgery in October, but it got moved to November, so that’s coming up. A few other opportunities have come up, but I’m not quite ready to reveal those just yet so stay tuned!

Word Count: 20,520

Here’s what I plan to do in November:

November Goals

NaNoWriMo

Every November is NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. This year is no exception, even with an upcoming dental surgery and everything else life has been throwing my way lately. I’m hoping after my surgery and a few other important things I have to attend the first week of November that things will settle and I can get some good writing in.

Continue Edits

Am I that crazy person that is going to work on two projects in November during NaNoWriMo. Yes. Edits have been going well and I would like to make more progress than I have been. I would like to get to the halfway point of edits by the end of November, if not sooner. We’ll have to see how the month goes.

One Short Story/Finish a Short Story

This year started off so strong with a short story every month. It’s been more difficult as the year winds down, but I’m hoping I can finish and/or start another short story in November and keep pushing toward 12 short stories by the end of the year. I’ve been encountering the problem where there’s more plot to my ideas than a short story will hold, which isn’t always a bad idea.

NYC Midnight’s 250 Microfiction Competition

Another NYC Midnight Competition popped up and since I didn’t finish or even submit the Rhyming Story Challenge, I figured a 250 word challenge shouldn’t be that difficult. We’ll see if I can fit it into my crazy November schedule.

August Results and September Goals

August started in slow motion and then flew by like a speeding train. Between school and work and several weekend trips, it was a whirlwind. I had a lot of goals in August, so here’s how I did:

August Goals

Write One Short Story

In August, I started a short story. The idea came to me later in the month, and I worked on it here and there. Overall, the short story didn’t get finished in the month of August, but I will be pushing forward in September.

Continue Edits on Book One

Editing is a different brain process for me. I have continued edits on book one, but because it is a different process than writing, I’ve been struggling with feeling productive while I edit. I’ve been playing around with my process, and trying to find a routine, which so far has been a hybrid process between writing and editing. There have been great days and there have been days that I avoid editing like the plague, but I am slowly working through it to make the story and the novel as great as it deserves to be.

Mini 1000 Words of Summer

The mini 1000 Words of Summer did not go well. The week was the most hectic week I’ve had at work in a while, with early days, long days, and craziness just all around. There were days where I didn’t write anything and there were days where I wrote a single sentence. The timing wasn’t right, but maybe the next one will be better.

NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Second Round

The second round of NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Contest went very well. I wasn’t entirely sure how the elements I was given would come into play, but I was able to make them work. I surprised myself with how dark the drama turned out to be, and how tragic I could make myself feel. I was able to reach a rawness in myself that I’ve always avoided and from that rawness came a thing of beauty.

Word Count: 14,841

In August, I also finished another class toward my Bachelor’s degree and then started another. From the looks of things, I will complete my program by October of 2023. I’m really excited for my next class, which is a short fiction workshop, so I will definitely be writing more short stories.

That being said, here are my plans for September:

September Goals

Write One Short Story

Even though I don’t always get a short story done within a month, I enjoy writing and creating. I intend to finish the short story from August and start another one in September, and keep the trend going. I’m not sure what I’ll write about or when the idea will come, but I am excited to see where it all goes.

Continue Edits on Book One

For September, I would like to find more of a balance between writing and editing. I would like to build a routine around editing and make more progress than I have in the previous months.

Instagram Writer Friends Challenge

My social media presence has been lacking, and I would like to make an attempt to have more engagement. I’ve done the Writer Friends Challenge in the past and it went well, so I would like to attempt it again.

NYC Midnight’s Rhyming Story Challenge

I’ve been receiving emails for the Rhyming Story Challenge for a few months. I’ve waffled between joining and not joining, but it is now official. At the end of September, I am going to attempt to write a rhyming story.

July Results and August Goals

July has been a wild month, with several trips, loads of homework and a day job, it’s a wonder I had time to get any creative projects done. Still, I made a good effort in all of my creative endeavors.

Here’s how I did:

July Results

Write One Short Story

In July I finished one short story and a couple of other short stories in a few anthologies I’ve been working on since 2016. I made it an informal goal of mine to write at least a little bit in every project I have open when the opportunity presented itself and I’m glad that I can keep the works open and going and even exciting.

Camp NaNoWrimo

As is with the case with edits, I never seem to get enough done in the time alotted. I did make some strides to get some edits done. There were days when I would get a ton of work done and move through the story with ease, but some days were like pulling teeth. I love the story and I’m still pushing through for edits, even though Camp NaNoWriMo is now over. As for the word count for Camp NaNo, I only really got about half way where I wanted to be.

NYC Midnight 100 Word Microfiction Challenge Round Three

Unfortunately, I didn’t place in the second round of the challenge so I could not continue on to round three. I did however receive some good feedback on the work I submitted, so I am happy with the results.

This month, we took several trips to the lake, a trip down to Los Angeles to see Dear Evan Hansen (cried my eyes out), and a last minute trip to a funeral out of state. The class I’m currently in for school has a lot of papers to write and a lot of in-depth work, which meant there was a lot of writing for homework, but not as much time as I would have liked for creativity. Still, I’m getting closer to the end of my program, with a projected graduation date of August of 2023.

Word Count: 17,964

August Goals

Write One Short Story

In July, I actually didn’t write a short story specific to July. I finished the short story from June and worked on some anthology pieces, but with all the extra projects I’ve been doing for the NYC Midnight challenges and everything else, I already have something like 11 short projects done this year. I would like to start a short story this month, specifically dedicated to August, but we’ll see how the month goes.

Continue Edits on Book One

I started editing book one and so far so good. I would like to dedicate more time to edits in August and get further through the edits. It will have to come down to finding balance to take the time to sit and edit.

Mini 1000 Words of Summer

In June, I participated in Jami Attenburg’s 1000 Words of Summer. I found out there will be a miniature version for a week in August and I’m hoping to use it to get some good work done in August and perhaps get the push I need to find that creative spark again.

NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Second Round

The second round of NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Contest takes place during the second week of August. I’m excited to get my prompt, excited to spend a weekend writing something completely new from scratch and excited to get some more creativity flowing.

June Results and July Goals

June has been the most amazing month for the first time in a long time. I’ve had several writing successes in the last month, along with successes in school and life in general. I hope I can keep it up as we roll into July.

Here’s how I did in June.

June Results

Write One Short Story/Finish the short story from May

I wrote one short story in the form of the Flash Fiction contest. I also finished the short story from May after waffling on it for a few weeks, and started another short story which I hope to finish in the next month or so.

NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Challenge

This year, I really enjoyed round one of the challenge. It has been so nice writing something short and sweet with a 48 hour deadline. I love the feedback and the opportunity to edit through and improve with every challenge. I’m excited I was able to get it done and submit a great story.

BONUS Result #1: NYC Midnight’s Microfiction Challenge

I actually forgot about the microfiction contest for NYC Midnight. I placed 13th, which meant I got to write in the second round the week after the Flash Fiction challenge. 100 words is a lot harder to write than 1000, as strange as it sounds, especially with a genre like romance, but I made it through and submitted a story.

Finish the 2021 NaNoWriMo Novel

Finally, after eight long months of working, I can finally say the first draft is finished! Writing a thousand words a day for nearly every day in June really helped push the story along . I was really able to enjoy the plot and the characters again and reach the finish line. Now it’s time to go back to book one in the series and get some edits done.

Bonus Result #2: 1000 Words of Summer

As a substack reader, I found out about Jami Attenburg’s 1000 Words of Summer, where the goal is to write 1000 words every day for 2 weeks. I was able to use it to work through the last few chapters of the 2021 NaNoWriMo novel. I was so inspired by the challenge, and felt so accomplished with 1000 words a day that I have a new goal for the rest of the year (once I’m done with editing).

Along with my other goals in June, I also finished another class for my Bachelor’s in English. I celebrated another birthday and I’ve begun to be more conscious about my health. Making the shift from writing new content to editing has been a bit difficult, but it’s getting easier the more I attempt.

Word Count: 31,934

July Goals

Write One Short Story

Even though I haven’t always finished the short stories within the month I make it a goal, I really am enjoying the process of writing a short story in a month. I’ve already done at least 8 for the calendar year if I count the submissions for NYC Midnight’s competitions, and I plan to keep it up for the rest of the year. Maybe I’ll even catch up and do more than one in a month.

Camp NaNoWrimo

For Camp NaNoWriMo this year, I want to edit the first book in the current series I’m writing. Now that I’ve finished the 2021 NaNoWriMo novel, I would like to go back to book one and get edits done. I’m over halfway through with hand edits and then it’s time to start typing it up and making it look pretty. My goal for Camp NaNoWriMo is 30,000 words edited, but as usual, I’m always pushing for more.

What goals do you have for July?

May Results and June Goals

May Results

Write One Short Story

The short story this month was nowhere near as easy as I had expected it to be. There were several starts and stops and several days where I didn’t do a lot of writing for the short story. Unfortunately, this short story will have to continue into June. I’m still interested in it, and finally found a direction, so I’m thankful for that.

Reach 100K or Finish the 2021 NaNoWriMo Novel

I barely reached 100K on the last day of the month, but I did reach it. I was very behind for most of the month, but thankfully, I was able to find some motivation and get my butt moving. At first, writing a lot in a short amount of time absolutely sucked. I’ve been out of it so long I feel like it was hard to get a routine again. The last few days of the month helped me build it up again and I am so excited to see where the end of this novel goes next month.

Edit Something

I’m happy to say that I have edited something this month. I started editing an old manuscript, one of my favorite ones I’ve ever written, and I managed to reach somewhere between the 20% mark by editing a chapter every couple of days. I plan to continue the editing through June and hopefully complete it in July.

Word Count: 9,874

June Goals

Write One Short Story/Finish the short story from May

I’m really enjoying writing about a short story a month, but sometimes the story is so long, or the month is so short that one short story doesn’t fit or vice versa. This month, I’m finishing 5e short story from May and starting a new one for June. I already have everything set up, but the only thing will be finding time to write.

NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Challenge

This is one of my favorite challenges from NYC Midnight. A mystery prompt with a setting, an object and a genre and 48 hours to write a story in 1000 words or less. I really enjoy the quickness of the whole thing and the brevity of it all. It’s a fun challenge where I can’t take myself too seriously and I get to play around.

Finish the 2021 NaNoWriMo Novel

I’m nearly done with the novel and June is going to be the month that I finish it. It’s been sitting around too long and I need to put the words “THE END” on it and move onto another project. I’m excited to see how the plot unfolds and what surprises I can give myself as I work toward completing the novel.

April Results and May Goals

April unfortunately was not better than March. There’s always a lot of heartbreak for me in April, and I’m sad to say there was only more this year. Even through all of the issues I had through the month, I still tried to accomplish my goals.

April Results

Finish/Write One Short Story

I finished the short story for March in April, way later than I had planned, but I am quite happy with it. What it came down to was sitting down and putting words on the page, as it happens with everything else! As for the second short story of the month, AKA the short story for April, I finished it with a day to spare, and surprised myself with a great writing streak like I haven’t had in a while. It was one of the darkest things I have written, but it was quite fun.

Camp NaNoWriMo

This year, Camp NaNoWriMo did not go as well as I had hoped. I had so many hopes for several works that simply fell flat as the month went on. While I did write a decent amount of words on several works, it simply wasn’t the year to be successful at Camp in April. I’m still writing and still pushing forward in several projects though.

Poetry

April was National Poetry Month. For the first few days, I attempted to write a poem a day, but it ended up falling off and I think I wrote a max of five poems. While I didn’t write a poem every day in April, I did enjoy thinking about words in a different way and experimenting.

NYC Midnight’s 100 Word Microfiction Challenge

Thankfully, the microfiction challenge went well this year. I was able to sit down and write something rather pithy for the challenge and submit it without any issues. It exactly the gentle nudge I needed to get excited about writing again.

Hazel the cat celebrated her last birthday (14!), but the next day we had to put her down. We gave her the best birthday and spent all the time we could on that Saturday, but we knew it was her time. Another class for school wrapped up, and I’m grateful. This class, along with all the circumstances around it kicked my butt, but everything managed to work out in the end. I also managed to finish reading another book and start a new one in the month of April.

April is always difficult. At the end of the month it was my mom’s birthday and the day right after is the day she died. This year marks nine years, and in certain ways it gets easier, but also more difficult. I don’t cry as much as I used to, but at times, it feels like the grief is getting deeper.

I’m happy to say that April is over.

Word Count: 10,869

May Goals

Write One Short Story

The goal is so far going well, even if there have been a few small bumps in the road. I’m hoping to keep the goal going and have a lot to show for it at the end of the year. I’m not sure what I’m working on this month yet, but I’m sure it will come to me soon.

Reach 100K or Finish the 2021 NaNoWriMo Novel

I have an outline, I know what needs to happen, but lack of motivation lately has been kicking my butt. I’m really hoping to buckle down and make some progress or even finish the 2021 NaNo Project. Currently I’m sitting at around 88K, so 100K is not a crazy goal.

Edit Something

I’ve had the itch to edit for quite a while, but certain projects are taking me longer than I have liked. I’m hoping that I can get back into editing a few projects and make some good progress that I’ll feel good about. I have a loose plan set up, and I hope I can stick to it and have some progress by the end of the month.

February Results and March Goals

February was a busy month. Between work, writing and school I feel like it simultaneously dragged on and flew by all at once. February, I have been very happy to say, has been a relatively productive month.

Here’s how I did on my goals:

February Results

Write One Short Story

I finished a short story this month, and true to form over the last few years, I always write somewhat sad stories in February. The short stories over the past few months have been vastly different, both in content and how excited I’ve been to write them. The short story this month, I definitely left until the last minute, but it almost seemed appropriate because of the heavy subject matter.

Finish An Open Project

I technically did finish an open project when I finished the short story for this month, but that was not exactly what I meant when I made the goal. I suppose I should be more specific next month.

Read One Book

I read TWO books this month! I finished the second book in the Spellbreaker Duology by Charlie N. Holmberg, SpellMaker, which I loved, and The Phantom of the Bathtub by Eugenia Riley, which was not my cup of tea. Two wildly different books, but it would seem that I have caught the reading bug again. I have definitely missed reading a book and immersing myself in other worlds. I enjoyed it so much over the last few weeks that I have added reading as one of my daily goals. Hopefully that means I’ll read a lot more books this year!

This month, I also finished a class for my bachelor’s program, started an email newsletter through Substack (more on that later), and I have begun to come up with some ideas for projects I have never attempted to write before. Overall, I am quite pleased with how February went.

Word Count:12,136

March Goals

Write One Short Story

The goal to write a short story a month continues. I’m hoping March goes easier than February, but we shall wait and see. At the time I’m writing this post, I still have no idea what the short story of this month will be, but I am excited to get writing anyway.

Finish My 2021 NaNoWriMo Project

I have made my goal more specific. This month, I would like to finish my 2021 NaNoWriMo project. It’s been slow going since December and I would like to get it finished before the next installment of Camp NaNoWriMo in April. As of now, I would guess I’m about 75% or so through, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to get that last 25% done, or so I hope.

Attend a Writing Conference Online

Last year, I signed up for the Women in Publishing Summit, but didn’t actually attend anything live since my schedule was so hectic working nights last year. This conference is wonderful because everything is recorded to watch later. This year, I have signed up again and even though I work all of the days, I’m hoping to at least get in on a few sessions. Everything I’ve seen so far is so helpful and I have high hopes for this year.

January Results and February Goals

January Results

Write One Short Story

I succeeded in writing a short story, and actually reaching the end at the end of the month. If I had focused more on writing this month, I could have finished it a lot earlier and had a lot less stress, but it’s all a learning experience. I guess that’s the first lesson I’m taking in to February when I write the next short story.

Finish an Open Project

Technically, because I finished the short story this month, I finished an open project. That was not my intention, to count the short story as finishing something, but technically I did finish something this month. I still have a massive pile of things to finish, but I at least accomplished something over the last 31 days.

Compete in NYC Midnight’s Short Story Challenge

Unfortunately, between being in school and working full time, procrastination hit me hard when it came to the NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge. I wasn’t super inspired by the genre, I had a larger amount of homework due than I expected, so I reluctantly had to pull out of the challenge to focus on what needed to be done. I’m looking forward to the next challenge that comes my way though!

Word Count: 14,035

February Goals

Write One Short Story

Writing a short story in January could have gone better, but I persevered and got it done. I’m hoping to continue the trend in February and add another short story to my growing collection. One short story a month for the year 2022 is going pretty well and I would like to continue the trend.

Finish An Open Project

Yet again, I have the goal to finish one of my open projects. I’m hoping to finish my project from last year’s NaNoWrimo, or even the novel I started back in 2020, but we shall see how the month goes. I’m hoping I can finish something so I can move back into editing in the next couple months.

Read One Book

My list of half read books is ever growing again and it’s time to finish reading something and refill the creative well. There are several contenders of what I can finish this month, and what I might possibly start reading once I finish another book.

What are your plans for February?

2022 Goals

Here’s to a New Year and new writing and publishing goals! This year, I hope to accomplish more than I have in the last couple of years. I want to push myself to be more creative.

Write Every Day

This is a goal I have every year. Last year, I wrote every single day for over half the year. This is the year I do it for 365 days and hopefully build a habit that lasts a lot longer. This year, with a little luck and a lot of drive, I’ll get some writing done every single day, whether it’s one sentence or more.

Short Story a Month

In years past, I attempted to write a short story every month. I’m planning to pick it up again and get more short works done this year. It won’t be easy, but I’m hoping it will be worth it in the end.

Write/Edit Six Novels in 2022

2022 is the year of editing. I have several finished novels that have been waiting to have their edits. It’s been a couple years, the novels have had space, and it’s time to start some edits. I always like to have several projects open, so there will be some writing too. I am shooting for at least six novels either edited or written.

Read at least Four Books

Over the years, I have given up reading for writing. I have several books on the backlogs and I always love a good story. I’m going to read to refill the creative tank every once in a while. With any luck it will be more than just school books.

Creative Challenges

Over the years, I have competed in a few creative challenges. In 2022 I am going to compete in even more. I want to compete in any writing competition I can find this year. I’m leaving myself open to opportunities that might come up in the next twelve months.

Here’s how I’m going to attempt some of them in January:

January Goals

Write One Short Story

Technically, this month I will write two short stories, one for myself and one for the NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge. I want to write a short story each month this year. There’s no place to start like January.

Finish an Open Project

I have several projects still open from 2021 and 2020. I would like to make my project list shorter. Hopefully, this month I can get some good writing in and finish something. I want to feel that high of finishing a creative project again.

Compete in NYC Midnight’s Short Story Challenge

For the second short story I write this month, I am excited to say I signed up for the NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge again. I participated last year, and had a blast. This year I’m back to do it again. Last year was fun, but hopefully I can move onto the next round and make it farther than I have in the past.

Wish me luck!

December Results and 2021 Year End Wrap Up

December Results

Finish an Open Project

December seemed to get away from me this year. I had lots of plans to write and create and finish an open project, but with getting sick (thankfully not COVID, but a nasty chest cold), working long hours through December and finishing up a class for my Bachelor’s program, finishing a writing project wasn’t as easy as I had hoped. I still made a lot of progress and wrote every day, but some projects will need to be extended into 2022.

Read One Book (That isn’t related to school)

In December I managed to start a lot of books, mainly non-fiction. I have a few novels I’ve started to read and then had to put down, but I am happy to say, I finished a book. And even better than that, it was an actual print book. I can’t remember the last time I sat down and read an actual book with pages. Even better than that, the book also has a sequel so I definitely know what I’m reading next. Stay tuned!

Word Count: 9,643

2021 Year End Wrap Up

Write every day of 2021:

As hard as I tried this year, it was not possible to write every day. Whether it was a distraction such as a new job, or taking a day off for vacation or studies, this year it simply wasn’t possible to write every single day. While there were some days where not writing was necessary, a lot of it also had to do with sheer laziness or distraction. Still, I persisted and toward the later half of the year I set up good habits for myself

Here are my percentages for the months of 2021:

January: 97%, with a total of 30/31 days.

February: 96%, with a total of 27/28 days.

March: 77%, with a total of 24/31 days.

April: 33.3%, with a total of 10/30 days.

May: 67%, with a total of 21/31 days

June: 100%

July: 100%

August: 100%

September: 100%

October: 100%

November: 100%

December: 100%

Finish writing at least 4 novels:

  1. Strange Birds- Finished February 4th, 2021
  2. Coming Back as We Are- Finished July 24th, 2021
  3. My Heart With You- Finished September 29th, 2021

Read at least 6 books:

  1. Piece By Piece- Tori Amos and Ann Powers- finished February 2021
  2. A Court of Silver Flames- Sarah J. Maas- finished March 2021
  3. Bridge of Souls-Victoria/V.E Schwab- finished May 2021
  4. Shakespeare Sonnets and Plays: Henry V, Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Hamlet- September to October 2021
  5. Steal Like An Artist/Show Your Work- Austin Kleon- Finished October 2021
  6. Spellbreaker- Charlie N Holmberg- Finished December 2021

Gain More Confidence in my writing abilities:

  1. Participated in NYC Midnight’s Short Story competition- January 2021
    Unfortunately, for this competition, I didn’t make it past round one. It was definitely fun to write something in a genre I never have before.
  2. Participated in NYC Midnight’s Microfiction Competition- May 2021
    Unfortunately, I didn’t make it past round one in this competition. Still, I put myself out there and had some fun writing a story in under 100 words.
  3. Participated in NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Competition- July 2021
    This year, I really enjoyed the Flash Fiction Competition. My first genre was historical fiction, but the round I had the most fun with was the second round where I got to write a horror story. I was super excited to get second place with my horror story. I didn’t quite make it to round three, but I am quite proud of my work.

Send out something for Publishing:

This year, I started with an editing plan. I was going to finish editing this novel I’ve been sitting on for years, send it out and hopefully hear back by the time 2022 rolled around. Unfortunately, with distractions and new projects and everything else going on, I didn’t send out anything original for publishing. I did however post a lot of pieces online and through Fanfiction websites.

Miscellaneous, but Writing Related

  1. Started a creative writing bachelor’s program.
  2. Built some book shelves, got chairs, a new desk lamp, and a new office chair to make a true writing space for myself.
  3. Created a new instagram for my doodles.
  4. Participated in Instawrimo and Inktober and built up my online presence.

Yearly Word Count: 221,122

One Final Note: Thank you to you, reading this. Thank you for spending some time with me in 2021 as I create and blog. May 2022 be a great year for us both!

November Results and December Goals

Another month here and gone! I love November and the flurry of deadlines it brings, but now we’re in December and it’s time to start winding down the year. November was quite a fun month with the hectic rush of writing 50,000 words (or more) in the 30 days of November, plus school and working full time. It’s months like these that sometimes make me believe I thrive in chaos.

Here’s how I did in November.

November Results

NaNoWriMo

This year, NaNoWriMo went spectacularly. It wasn’t my best year by far, but I was able to get ahead and stay ahead for most of the month. I finished off strong and got more than 10K over the original goal and the good basis for the start of a novel. As it usually goes, I still have more project to write after November, but I’m thankful I left myself a few plot threads and a few rabbit holes to fall down in the next coming weeks.

Doodle More

Unfortunately this month, I didn’t doodle as much as I would have liked. My focus was almost exclusively on working on my NaNoWriMo project, but I did work on one doodle throughout the month. I created a calendar where I colored in the boxes based on how I wrote day by day. It got a little creative juices going and some excitement to keep up the momentum and not lose a good writing streak. Hopefully in December I can get back to more doodles.

Word Count: 61,510

Here’s what I hope to accomplish in December.

December Goals

Finish an Open Project

I have a few open projects I would like to finish as the year draws to a close. I’m excited to keep writing the novel I started during NaNoWriMo and hopefully to finally finish a novel I’ve been slowly chipping away at since last year. Some novels come out quick, and others take their time, but I’m hoping to get some decent words down in December and hopefully form a habit I can keep for the rest of this year and into the next.

Read One Book (That isn’t related to school)

I’m happy to say I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading over the past few classes during my bachelor’s program. I’m sad to say that it hasn’t really been the reading I enjoy doing. While everything I’m learning is quite interesting, I would like to sit down and finish a book that isn’t related to my schooling in December. I’ve started several books this year, so I really have my pick of the book I want to finish before 2021 ends. Hopefully I can finally get through a novel.