Category: Monthly Goals

October Results and November Goals

Another month has come and passed and more goals have been attempted and achieved. October has been fun and I am excited for all the progress I’ve made. Here’s how I did on my goals for October:

October Results

Instawrimo

Instawrimo went very well this year. It was wonderful to get reacquainted with instagram and do something out of the ordinary. I’m used to writing, and keeping to myself for the most part, but it was nice to expand my creative horizons and share more of myself with the world. You can see my progress in Instawrimo (here)

Inktober

Inktober was quite interesting this year. I doodled and created. As hectic as this month was, doodling was so calming, it made me want to continue and reduce my stress further. In the past few years I have played around with making a social media for my doodles, and so I finally did. You can see my progress from Inktober (here).

NaNoWriMo Preparation

Preparation for NaNoWriMo went rather well this year. I found which direction I wanted to go, and for a lot of the days it felt like something new came up and helped get the story into place. I am so excited to finally start writing something new in November. Hopefully this will be something I can finish in a relatively speedy manner.

Finish an Original Novel

I wrote quite a lot in October. I chugged away every day on my original novel that’s been patient while I shove it to the side to work on other things. While it wasn’t necessarily the writing progress I wanted, I still managed to make a lot of progress. Now I feel more confident in my ability to finish the novel (hopefully in December!). I have finally reached the fun part, just in time to put it away and start something new.

In October, I started a new instagram for my doodles. I also completed my Shakespeare class (Thank Goodness!) and started a new class in my Bachelor’s program. At my job, I have been given more responsibilities, which is nice, but also makes writing and creating harder some days. Still, my job makes me happier than I was at the previous place so I am in no way complaining.

In October, I also found out I placed second in the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Contest and the joy was such a relief after a difficult work week. Unfortunately, I did not get to compete in round 3 of the competition, but I will definitely take the win. There’s always next year!

Word Count: 11,347

November Goals

NaNoWriMo

This year for NaNoWriMo I am writing a sequel to a novel I finished in 2019. I loved writing the first book, but a lot of plot points got shoved into the last few chapters. I realized a sequel would be the perfect remedy, so that’s what I’m writing this year. You can see all the details I have so far (here).

Doodle More

Last Month, during Inktober, I really enjoyed doodling and making something with my hands. Writing is an interesting hobby because for most of the time it’s looking at a screen and typing but having nothing truly physical to show for it. There are times that I feel like I really want to make something with my hands, so I’m hoping doodling will cure that itch and help me to stress less.

September Results and October Goals

As we approach the changing of the seasons and turn inward, I wanted to start wrapping up projects and get ready to start new projects down the road.

Here’s how I did in September:

September Results

NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Contest Round Two

First of all, let me say that I really enjoyed this round of the flash fiction contest. The feedback I got wasn’t absolutely terrible from round one and I feel like I was able to take the feedback and apply it to round two. For round two, my genre was horror, one I have been itching to write and submit something in for quite a while. The story was one of my best so far. I am so excited for the judges to read it and give feedback. Writing for the Flash Fiction contest again this year has renewed my enjoyment in writing. I’m so glad I was able to write something I can be proud of.

Finish More Projects

Surprisingly, I finished something in September. For the longest time I didn’t expect it because the month only got crazier as it went on. I finished another fanfiction piece on the 29th (Nothing like a close deadline to inspire a procrastinator!). Thankfully, I finally finished a lingering project and I feel so much better for it.

Finish Reading a Book

As far as reading one book this month goes, I didn’t finish a novel like I wanted, but I did read a total of five Shakespeare plays for my Shakespeare class. I’m counting that as an accomplishment, even if it didn’t appear as I would have liked it to appear. Shakespeare is still reading, and it is still fiction, even if it isn’t always enjoyable for me.

Word Count: 16,215

In other news, in the month of September, I was able to read three Shakespeare plays, edit six sections of my novel, and post several chapters up of my now finished Fanfiction projects. Not too bad, if I do say so myself.

October Goals

Instawrimo/Inktober

As it just so happens, this year both Instawrimo and Inktober are in the same month. While I am not sure I’ll be able to do both, I am certainly going to try. I really enjoyed Instawrimo when I did it a few years ago, and Inktober is always fun, even though I am not the best artist. Still, everything is practice. It might be fun to do something new this year.

NaNoWriMo Preparation

Finally at the end of last month, I got an idea for my NaNoWriMo 2021 Novel. I played around with a few ideas, and then in the car on the way to work, my mind went: Write a sequel. Needless to say, I have a decent amount of planning to do on a sequel I had no idea would exist last week.

Finish an Original Novel

I have goals to achieve and one of them includes finished novels. During the month of October, I really want to finish an original novel that’s been in my to do list for over a year now. I’m about two thirds of the way through and I’m hoping I can get through the last third in October.

July Results and August Goals

Some months I feel like I’m on top of the world, others I feel like things are lacking. July started off strong, then started to spiral toward the middle as things got more hectic. I started working more, school became a bit more involved. Everything seemed to come all at once.


Here’s how I did in July:

July Results

NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Contest Round One

This year, writing for the NYC Flash fiction contest was a little different. I struggled to get motivated to even start and since my genre was historical fiction (for the second contest this year— the first being the Microfiction contest in May), I had some research to do. Overall, I was able to get the words out in an afternoon and make sure it was submitted on time after at least four rounds of edits. I had fun and this is one of those contests where I always feel like I gain something, even if I’m not totally enthused to do it. Another plus is I started and finished a new project in the same day, which never really happens.

NYC Midnight’s Microfiction Contest Round Two

Unfortunately, I didn’t place in round one so did not continue in round two. Thankfully, it does mean I’m getting some work out there and getting feedback on projects. I would have liked to continue, but there’s always next year.

Camp NaNoWriMo

This Camp NaNoWriMo I was supposed to be editing, but in reality it became a bit of writing and editing. The first few days of the month went quite well, with at least some words added to several open projects I’ve had open for quite a while. With editing, it was quite hard to calculate words and before the month was even halfway done, I had passed my goals from previous months. I started with the goal of 30K, but changed it to 50K around the 10th of the month.

As with life, everything began to blow up toward the middle and the end of the month and I ended up passing my original goal, but not the augmented goal. Either way, I’m still counting it as a win, even if it is unofficial.

Send Something out for Publishing

So, I technically reached the goal of sending something out for publishing. It wasn’t a short story, and it wasn’t anything that will make me money, but I did finish a piece of fan fiction and I did post at least the first chapter to popular fan fiction sites. It’s not exactly how I imagined it, but it is a win and a bit of an ego booster too. Maybe sometime soon I will send something original out for publishing, but I’m happy with my progress for now.

Word Count: 31,664

July had some pretty hefty goals, and I did my best to reach most of them, at least the ones I could reach. I wrote more than I edited, but I made some decent progress in a lot of works. I even finished a project I’ve been working on for years. It’s a piece of Fanfiction, but I will still take pride in finishing something. I managed to write something every day this month, and that is something I am quite proud of.

In other news, I’ve been working more and adulting more, so the blog suffered just a bit here and there. Over the next couple of months I’m hoping to start posting with more regularity again.

July was a month to focus on my health as well. I finally took control of my eye health and wellbeing and underwent LASIK on the 30th. Before, my prescription was strong, and having to deal with glasses and contacts was starting to get frustrating. To have the gift of full sight back, and to have it only get better over the next few weeks, is a wonderful thing. It’s something I can’t even put into words, but having full vision back for the first time since I was ten years old is absolutely wonderful!

August Goals

Finish More Projects

After finishing a project in July (finally!), I’ve got a taste for finishing more projects. I have several that are slowly wrapping up, and I’m hoping to get them at least closer to finished if not fully finished.

Read One Book

After starting several books in several mediums (audio, kindle and physical), I would really like to finish another book. It’s been a couple months since I sat down and enjoyed a good book. I’m looking forward to getting back to it.

Edit More

During July, I got a good amount of editing done, but not nearly as much as I wanted. Editing is a different animal than writing, and uses a different part of the brain and more time. I’m hoping to make it through at least five sections in August, and hopefully more.

Write More, Spend Time on Social Media Less

I managed to write a lot in June and July when I focused more on getting some writing down and built up a habit. In July, I started to spend less time on social media and flash games, but then it came back with a vengeance and writing was like pulling teeth. Social media has started to affect my mental health in ways that are not healthy, so I’m going to reduce the time I spend there and focus more on my writing. Hopefully great things will come from it.

June Results and July Goals

The year is now half over, and I can’t believe how fast it’s been going. While June has been very productive for me, I still have some work to do in July.

First, here’s how June went:

June Results

Finish at least one open project

I unfortunately did not reach my goal of finishing one open project. As hard as I tried, I just had way too much fun working on as many open projects as I could at the same time. I made decent progress in all of the projects I do have open and paved the way for them to be finished someday hopefully soon. This month, I added words to projects that haven’t been touched in months, years, and it felt so good.

Reach the Halfway Point of Edits in BOOK A

I like to set lofty goals for myself, and this goal is definitely one of them. I’m relatively new to editing and sometimes I need to be reminded that editing isn’t writing. Sometimes editing isn’t even close to writing. This month, while I did make progress, I did not get anywhere near as close as I wanted to toward the halfway point. The good news is, I made it through a few scenes and sections and I’m now more invested in my edits.

Blog More

This month, blogging did not go as I expected it to go. Wednesdays came and went and any time I had for blog posts was eaten up by other things. Over the past month, I’ve been finding it difficult to work on short pieces when my longer pieces are looming over me begging to be finished. I do hope to continue blogging and building more connections through the blog. Hopefully, once I get some works finished, I can dedicate more time to the blog.

Word Count: 13,713

In June, I officially finished my first class in my Creative Writing Bachelor’s program. It was a history class and while history isn’t directly related to my major, I did end up enjoying it a lot and doing well in the class. Next up is Literature!

Also in June, I celebrated turning another decade older (and hopefully wiser!). One of my goals by this time was to be a published author, but I’m still working on that goal, slowly but surely. I am finally taking steps toward that goal that are more action oriented than sitting and writing more. This is a big accomplishment for me.

On the plus side, for the first time in months, I have managed to write every single day of the month.

July Goals

NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Contest Round One

This is the second year I will be competing in the Flash Fiction Contest. I had so much fun last year, I figured why not do it all again and work on something that is short and sweet. Something that will hopefully be a palate cleanser and maybe even show me a genre I have yet to write in before.

NYC Midnight’s Microfiction Contest Round Two

As it just so happens, both NYC Midnight writing competitions land in the same month, just different rounds. I’m hoping I did well enough in Round One of the Microfiction Contest that I get a shot at round two. For now, this goal is tentative.

Camp NaNoWriMo

This year for Camp NaNoWriMo’s July session, I am going to be editing. Rather than working on something new, or something I have yet to finish, I am going to focus on some of the short stories I have written over the last few years and polish them up. The ultimate goal is to send a few of them out and get a few rejections before I send out a full length novel (AKA something I have poured myself into for years) as a way to soften the blow, or best case scenario, get published.

Send Something out for Publishing

This month, I would like to get at least one short story fully edited and ready to query. I am starting with something small to metaphorically get my toes wet in the publishing industry. I’m hoping the process goes smoothly, and I can gather my courage and take the next leap.

Wish me luck!

April Results and May Goals

April has come and gone much quicker than I anticipated. Sadly, with the training at the new job and other busy changes, my goals this month have been lacking.

Here’s a look at how I did:

Camp NaNoWriMo

Camp NaNoWriMo happened for a few days this month, but mainly it fell by the wayside. Unfortunately, this sometimes happens with the Camp sessions of NaNoWriMo. I had hoped to keep more of a balance while training at this new job, but unfortunately the new job takes precedence.

Round Two of the Short Story Competition

Round Two didn’t happen. Unfortunately, I did not place with my short story, but honestly I wasn’t expecting a whole lot of accolades for a genre I have never written before. While I did get some good feedback, the main point was to try something new and have fun. I had a lot more fun than I expected with this attempt.

Continue edits on BOOK A

A few sections got edited this month, but it was nowhere near what I was expecting for April. These edits should not be rushed, but I would at least like to sit and work with the story and the plot more than I have.

Send Out Something Small for Publishing

Nothing got sent out for publishing this month, but with everything else going on I let myself have a pass on this one. There was too much going on to focus on this goal this month.

Surprisingly (or really not at all), training for this new job took up a lot of my time this month, but so far I’m really enjoying it. No projects or books were finished. Hopefully May will be a lot better for some goals and I can get a few more things moving and some progress made.

Word Count: 4,371

For May, I am trying something new. A lot of changes came in March and April so I’m not setting solid goals, so I don’t disappoint myself. For the next few weeks, I’m going for quality not quantity.

Here’s what I hope to accomplish:

May Goals

NYC Midnight’s Microfiction contest Round One

One of my side goals this year (which I am just coming up with now) is to compete in every one of NYC Midnight’s fiction contests. I enjoy playing with genres I wouldn’t usually write, or prompts I’ve never used and Microfiction seemed like the perfect challenge. 100 words or less. I can’t remember the last time I wrote anything that was 100 words or less.

Make Progress on any open project

I have a ton of open projects and it is starting to get ridiculous. I want to get something finished or at least close to finished this month, or even just make some progress through. I’ve been getting the itch to work on new things, and I’m hoping the Microfiction will take away that temptation and I can get back into what I really want to work on. I’ve let way too many things sit for too long and it’s time to finish them or officially put them away for a few months.

Make Progress on Edits of BOOK A

I have a feeling this will be one of my goals for the next few months. As much as I want to sit and edit for hours and hours, that simply isn’t possible in my life right now. For the next few weeks and months, it will be a section (maybe two) at a time. I had hoped to have the book ready to go by June (and maybe that might still happen, with any luck) but that will probably have to extend into the next few months.

Bring Back Wednesday Works Regularly

For the last few months, Wednesday Works and other aspects of this blog have not been as regular as I would like. I’m hoping this month (or maybe the next few months) things will become more regular.

How are your goals coming along for 2021?

March Results and April Goals

Wow! March flew by in a flurry of days and I can’t believe we’re already in April!

March Results:

Continue Edits on BOOK A

Editing was quite a slow process through March. There were several other projects going, not to mention a bunch of work and personal life changes. Some days it was so hard to just sit and edit when I could be doing so much more. Slow progress is still progress and I’m further than I was when the month started. I’m happy with any progress at this point.

Continue to work on Open Projects

Unfortunately, none of the projects I wanted to finish this month got finished. Excellent progress was made on some days, and other days it was a complete stand still. Progress was slow, but I still had more words than I did when the month started, so I am definitely not complaining in the least. Hopefully in April I can finally get a schedule down that works better for me and my writing goals.

Attend a Writing Conference Online

So this goal was very interesting. I didn’t actually attend anything live, because that week just happened to be the busiest week in March (Go figure!). Lucky for me, everything was recorded and I have 6 months to watch it all. Slowly but surely I’m listening to the presentations as I do my daily walks and get a little exercise in too! I’m learning so many new things and I’m so excited I’m able to access it and still learn even though I wasn’t able to attend.

Prepare for Camp NaNoWriMo

For a brief moment, I wasn’t sure I would get to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo this year. Luckily, an idea came to me and I began to plot it (as much as I can without itching to write it too much) and I made a beautiful cover.

In March I completed quite a few things that were not quite writing goal related:

I went to a castle (thankfully local and hidden away) for a much needed vacation and celebrated and relaxed in a way I haven’t in quite a long time. I haven’t relaxed that much since I started working. It was so wonderful to go and have fun and let loose a little. The time away really put a lot of things into perspective for me, and now I have a bit more direction when looking forward to the future.

I finished A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas. What a much needed reading break! I’m one of those readers that once I start a good book, I can’t put it down until I finish it. This book was such a nice change from the crazy work stuff going on and a great lesson on certain aspects that I would like to add into my own writing.

As for other things, I mentioned last month that I was having a lot of changes at work and that was definitely an understatement. As of March 31st, I quit my old job. At the beginning of April, I start a brand new job. Same field, same degree, but way different hours and different responsibilities. I’m really hoping this new job will help with the work life balance that’s been lacking more and more since I started working night shift.

I have also started the process of applying for my bachelors degree. I made an attempt in 2017-2019, but with job changes and new stresses of night shift, I had to pull out of it. I’m two classes away from a BSN, but nursing doesn’t make me happy and the 2 years of that program were practically torture. If I am spending money and furthering my degree, I want to do it in something I absolutely love. I’m looking at getting my bachelor’s degree in creative writing, and I’m hoping to get started in the next few months.

Word Count: 12,695

April Goals

Camp NaNoWriMo

Camp NaNoWriMo is here once more! I’m excited to start a new project (along with my new job) and get the creative juices flowing again. This year for Camp NaNoWriMo, I’m writing a piece called The Hollow Opus and I am so excited for it. I first got the idea for it in January, but haven’t been able to plot it out until March.

The dancer in the snow globe has always watched him from the time he was a small boy. As he grew up into a man, something bloomed within her. She would give anything to be human and stay with him forever, but when the magic goes wrong, they must work together to go under the bed and find the Toy Master and make things right.

Round Two of the Short Story Competition

Round one of the Short Story Competition was in January and I had fun, even though it was a genre I have never written in before. I’m hoping my writing was good enough and I get to advance to round two, so keep your fingers crossed. I should know the first week in April and round two takes place the second weekend in April. If not, then that gives me more time to work on other projects that weren’t finished in the first few months of the year.

Continue edits on BOOK A

I had wanted to finish edits for BOOK A by this month, but that simply didn’t happen, so now I’m pushing through it and letting it go at its own pace. As much as I would like for edits to be done as fast as possible, some of them need time to breathe, so I’m making my way through slowly. If I get through at least a page of my outline, I’ll be happy with that. Even if I do less, that is still more progress and is better than nothing.

Send Out Something Small for Publishing

I have several short stories I’ve written over the last few years, and quite honestly I’ve been surprised at the quality as I go through and edit them. Hopefully this month I’ll be able to send at least one (maybe more) out for publishing and see what happens.

Wish me luck!

February Results and March Goals

February Results

Finish the NaNoWrimo Novel from 2020

I finished the NaNo Novel from 2020 pretty early in the month. I put the last words down on February 4th, and for at least the next day or two, it didn’t feel like I had finished the last book of the series. Granted, there’s still work to be done, so I’ll still be writing and editing for a while!

Start Official Edits on BOOK A

Edits officially started on BOOK A the day after I finished writing the last novel. So far, I haven’t been able to get in as many edits as I would like, but progress is being made.

Continue to Work on open Projects

I made some decent progress on my open writing projects. While I didn’t get in as much writing as I would have liked (that’s typical around this time of year), I still made progress and that is quite a win for me.

In February, I also finished Piece By Piece by Tori Amos and Ann Powers. I’ve been a fan of Tori Amos’ music for quite a while, and I finished Resistance in a few days last year. For being more of a fiction reader, I have to say I’ve been enjoying a lot more non-fiction lately. There is so many interesting voices out there and I’m ready to start reading more of them!

I also watched Soul this month and it made me cry (in a good way). It was exactly what I needed during these tumultuous times in my creative and occupational life. I’ve been struggling to find balance and trying several things for personal growth, and Soul definitely helped to put a lot of things into perspective.

Not really one of my goals when February started, but I’ve also been working on personal growth in the form of mediation and exercise. I’ve started picking up exercise again after some waffling (The second dose of the corona virus vaccine knocked out a lot of my progress) and now I’m doing my best to run a mile (or most of it) on the days I’m off. I’ve been doing my best to meditate via an online meditation class/retreat. Within 3 days I saw some differences, and I’m so pleased I can finally make changes to be healthier and happier.

Word Count: 22,500

March Goals

Continue Edits on BOOK A

My dream goal is to finish edits before April, but based on the pace I’ve kept in February I’m not sure that will happen in March. Changes are happening in my occupational life (and they’re not very fun ones), so I will be happy with any kind of progress in edits during March.

Continue to work on Open Projects

Again, I had a lot of plans for making progress in (and finishing) projects during February (which didn’t quite happen) and March (which might happen and might not) but I’ll be happy if I make decent progress in everything I have open. Even small steps are steps in the right direction right now.

Attend a Writing Conference Online

I’m quite excited for this writing conference. It’s the Women in Fiction conference. By pure luck, I stumbled upon it while scrolling facebook. I looked into it and it sounded like a great idea, so I’m going to see how it goes. I’m relatively new to the writing conference scene, only going to one local conference for the past two years. I’m excited to branch out and take a leap and see what happens.

Prepare for Camp NaNoWriMo

Even though life is wild right now, and I have several projects still open, and absolutely no idea what my project will be in the April session of Camp NaNoWriMo, I am still going to make preparations and hope for the best when April arrives. Hopefully I’ll be finishing some projects and can start something new!

January Results and February Goals

January is now gone (and has been for a few days), and February is in full swing! I made a few writing goals last month, and there are always more goals to come! Here’s how I did in January:

January Results

Write at least 500 words a day:

As hard as I tried to write 500 words a day, it just simply didn’t happen. There were several days where 500 words was just too difficult with work and training. I got the second dose of the COVID vaccine and it knocked me out for at least a week. There were also other days where I got over 1000 without any issue. I did write quite a lot this month, but there were several days where I had zero days on more projects than days I did write. In the upcoming months, I would like to work on finding a balance that works best for me.

Start Edits on another book:

Official edits weren’t started, but notes and outlines and organization happened, so I am officially counting that as a win. I’m ready to get down to editing now that I know what I need to fix and where I need to go.

Round one of the NYC Midnight Short Story Contest:

Despite getting a genre for round one that I was apprehensive about and honestly quite scared to write during these volatile times (political satire), I wrote my short story and submitted it, even though I knew it wasn’t perfect. I’m definitely counting that as a win and growth on my part.

Word Count: 19,076

February Goals

Finish the NaNoWrimo Novel from 2020

I had planned to finish the NaNo novel by the end of January, but it is unfortunately going to be extended into February. There’s still a little novel left to write, but I’m getting quite a bit closer to the end.

Start Official Edits on BOOK A

BOOK A is now outlined and notated and ready to go through another round of edits. I’m hoping to get the final edits done by April of this year so I can start querying.

Continue to Work on open Projects

I still have several open projects open either from last year or a few years ago. I’m hoping to finish at least one of them, if not multiple by the time February is over. February is the shortest month of the year, but I’m hoping I can still be productive and make big changes over the next few weeks.

Wish me luck!

What are some of your goals in the upcoming months?

December Results and Year End Summary

December Results:

Finish My NaNoWriMo 2020 Project

Sadly, I did not finish my NaNoWriMo 2020 project before the end of 2020. I made great progress in November, writing a massive amount of words and getting through a good portion of plot, but progress stalled in December.

What I did end up doing, no matter how small, is write every single day except for Christmas. Slowly, but surely the plot is chugging along still, even into January.

Finish Several Open Projects

As a typical writer, I’m not happy unless I have several projects open. This month, I made a lot of progress in a few projects, but didn’t close as many of them as I wanted (or really any of them). I tried and that’s what important. As mentioned above, the only day I missed writing was Christmas. Hopefully I won’t miss any days in 2021!

Read One Book

While I didn’t finish any books this month, I currently have a few books I’ve started, but haven’t finished. Fiction and Nonfiction currently, but at least I’m still reading!

Personal Growth

As far as personal growth goes, I’ve made several positive changes in the month of December. I’ve started walking more on my days off and getting exercise in. I’ve started to care more for my mental health and start meditating or at least remembering to breathe. These are small changes, but in the long run will help overall. I’m feeling better than I was in October and November and I can only hope the trend continues.

Word Count: 17,687

Accomplishments in 2020

January

In January, a lot of things changed at once. I started a new relationship and got rid of a lot of things and people that were no longer serving me. At first it hurt, but looking back now, there would have been no other way for things to go. I needed to grow, and sometimes growth can hurt.

February

In February, I had a few health scares, which really changed how I viewed taking care of myself and my relationship with myself. Thankfully, they were merely scares and not full blown health issues. I was lucky in that regard. I also wrote a short story during this month and it was exciting to work on something new.

March

March was quite honestly a huge disaster as far as life outside of writing. As a nurse I was working during the whole pandemic and shutdown. Stress was high for sure. Writing was a much needed stress relief and sanctuary and I’m so glad for it!

April

April, for being April, was a pretty decent month. Every April there are some hard anniversaries to face, but there is also Camp NaNoWriMo, which helped me get back in the writing mojo. I finished my NaNoWriMo 2019 novel in April of this year.

May

In May, I did a few creative things. I started editing a novel and wrote a blog challenge for the whole month. Mostly productive but flew by in a blur due to work and the pandemic.

June

In June, I started reading again and made some changes and improvements to the blog. It was a great start to the rest of the year as far as reading and blogging. Writing was decent in June, but it was still more edits than anything else.

July

Camp NaNoWriMo came around again in July and I reached my goal for writing. Edits still continued and I competed in a flash fiction writing contest. The flash fiction writing contest was a learning experience and a lot of fun!

August

I finished edits on a previous book in August, which was a huge relief. I got results back from the flash fiction writing contest and completed round 2 with some decent results. It was a great month for my writing and editing goals.

September

The highlight of September was definitely the writer’s conference, even though true to 2020 it was all on Zoom. I learned quite a bit, and even now, I plan on putting what I learned into practice.

October

I had so many great plans for October that ended up falling through in the end. Overall, I let my emotions have too much control and let my goals barely even get off the ground. Progress was made, but nothing big was finished.

November

NaNoWriMo appeared in November once again and it was an amazing month for writing goals. I made great progress in the novel and am still continuing it. I read a great book and overall November had to be one of the best months of 2020.

December

While my actual goals were not met, I enjoyed myself this December. I wrote almost every day on several projects. I was able to read parts of several books. I’ve been able to take care of myself and feel more rounded. It’s been a good month and overall a decent year for it being a global pandemic.

Total Words: 272,375

Here’s hoping 2021 is better! Happy New Year!

November Results and December Goals

November was a strange mix of fast and slow, creativity and drought, and work and play. It’s hard to believe it’s already over and we’re now in the last month of 2020.

Here’s how my month went and how much I accomplished:

November Results:

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo 2020 went great as far as the straight challenge goes. I did reach 50K and “won”, but I did not reach my personal goal of 60K (or 2K/day). I did get nearly 75% through the plot though, so I’m taking it as a win.

Finish Several Open Projects

Not much progress was made on any other projects besides my NaNo project this year, but I planned for this goal to work through December too.

Read One Book

I actually did this one! I read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab and I absolutely loved it. Reading books has always been a favorite activity of mine, but I have never seemed to have enough time. It was really great being able to return to it.

Word Total: 54,182

December Goals:

Finish My NaNoWriMo 2020 Project

As I said, I got a good portion through the plot during November, and I would really like to finish it before the end of 2020.

Finish Several Open Projects

I have several novels and short stories to get through by the end of the calendar year, so I can start fresh once 2020 is over. I’m hoping I’ll make decent progress in these pieces (Ghost House Heart, Fan fiction part 3, and a few miscellaneous others) during the month of November and into December.

Read One Book

I’m hoping to get some time away from writing and refill the tank and read something new. I’m working through something nonfiction for the first time in a while, so we’ll have to see how that goes.

Personal Growth

The month of November has shown me I need to make some changes and do some growing and changing if I want to have the life I strive for. I’m not entirely sure yet what personal growth will include, but stay tuned!

November was really productive and I hope the streak continues in December!

October Results and November Goals

Well, here we are at the end of another month, and let me just say, October did not go at all as I planned it to go. It was not a good month for me, and I have no problem saying that. I pushed a lot of goals to the side because I wasn’t doing well mentally. I did the best I could with the circumstances I was given, and there were a lot of outside influences (mainly my job) that kept me from pursuing my goals as I wanted to.

Here’s how I did:

October Results

Inktober

To my credit, I did start Inktober and intend to post it. I got about five days in, and then my perfectionist self kicked in and worried about it for too long, then didn’t actually do anything about it. I do plan on playing around with more art, but this October just wasn’t the right time.

One Short Story

Similar to my goal of Inktober, my goal of writing one short story was started, and then quickly abandoned. I got about 2500 words into it, then got pulled away to other things, other projects and a whole lot of doubt crept in, along with mental stress from outside sources.

I do plan on continuing the short story (more like Novella now) until it’s completely done.

Finish Ghost House Heart

It’s safe to say, none of my goals got anywhere close to done this month and Ghost House Heart was one of them. I had these huge plans to write a massive amount and making massive strides toward the end of the novel, but I barely eked out a chapter.

Looks like I’m going to be a rebel during NaNo this year.

Finish part 3 of a Fanfiction piece

I did not finish part 3 like I had planned, but I did make progress. I have a direction and know where I’m going, and that’s better than nothing. The world will just have to wait a little bit longer for the conclusion of the masterpiece I’ve created.

Read One Book

I actually did this one! I finished the book I was reading, which technically means I did read one book, just not in a whole calendar month. I did intend to start another one, but there were too many chainsaws in the air and too many other things to do.

Round 3 of the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Contest

Round 3 didn’t happen, and while I was a little upset I didn’t score high enough to continue, I am proud of myself for trying. I put myself out there, I was brave and submitted something I wrote in 48 hours and I tried. I’m definitely going to try again next year and in the meantime improve my shorter pieces.

Write Every Day

This month, with my increasing goals, I did pretty good for the first week and part of the second week, then it all went off the rails. There were several stretches of days that I didn’t write, didn’t even open my documents and try to write. I always look back at the end of the month and wish I had tried harder to write, but I can’t change the past and I can’t change how I’ve felt over the last few weeks.

I did what I could for the month, and I’m happy with that.

Word Count Total: 14,657

November Goals:

NaNoWriMo

I’ve been participating in NaNoWriMo since 2009, and I don’t intend to stop. NaNoWriMo is a great way to get the words out and onto a page and get the cobwebs out, especially for me this year. It’s going to be a little different this year, since I have a lot more projects I want to finish by the end of the calendar year, but I’m going to make it work for me. That’s the beautiful thing about NaNo, is the flexibility of it all.

Finish Several Open Projects

I have several novels and short stories to get through by the end of the calendar year, so I can start fresh once 2020 is over. I’m hoping I’ll make decent progress in these pieces (Ghost House Heart, Fan fiction part 3, and a few miscellaneous others) during the month of November and into December.

Read One Book

I’m hoping to get some time away from writing and refill the tank and read something new. So many good books came out in October and I’m looking forward to diving into at least one of them.

I’m keeping my goals pretty light in November, simply because I stacked too many goals in October that were unattainable, I was blindsided by some work issues and I have a feeling things are going to be changing for me in the next few weeks during November.

Wish me luck!

September Results and October Goals

September has come and gone in a flurry of work, writing and goals completed and not completed. I can’t believe we’re already in October and getting closer and closer to the holidays already. Here’s how I did in September.

September Results:

Reach the 50% mark in Ghost House Heart

I wrote quite a lot in Ghost House Heart this month, but in my mind I haven’t quite reached the halfway point. It’s hard to say, since I’m doing a lot of discovery writing, but just by feel, I would say I’m pretty close. I didn’t quite hit the 50% mark though.

Instawrimo

True to 2020 fashion, Instawrimo did not take place in September. Now I’ve already got too much going on in October, so Instawrimo will have to wait until next year.

Read at least one book

Unfortunately, I did not read one book in the month of September. I really wanted to, I really wanted to finish a few of the books I have in my TBR pile, waiting to be read, but it didn’t happen. However, I did get halfway through a novel, so I’m definitely counting that as progress.

Possibly “Go” to a Writing Conference

I caved and actually did “go” to the Writer’s Conference. It was spectacular, as it was last year, even if this year it was all over zoom. I learned a lot, too much to put in one post here, so keep your eyes out for more posts about the conference.

Word count total: 14,781

October Goals:

Inktober

This year, I’m practicing doing all of my art digitally, which should be simultaneously fun and cringeworthy, but I’m going to do it anyway, because everyone starts somewhere.

One Short Story

I’ve been planning on writing more short stories for a while, but things just seem to be getting in the way left and right. For the rest of 2020 and hopefully all of 2021, I’m planning on writing at least one short story a month.

Finish Ghost House Heart

This novel has been taking forever, but I’m hoping to finish it by the end of this month so I can move on to something new in November (for NaNo!)

Finish part 3 of a Fanfiction piece

Speaking of taking forever, this fanfiction piece has been in the works since 2017 and I finally got more inspiration for it. It’s time to get it finished and posted for the world.

Read One Book

Like I said in the results for September, I made it halfway through a book, this month I’m going to finish it and possibly start another one.

Round 3 of the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Contest

This goal is a possible goal, I need to score high enough in round 2 to move forward and I won’t know those results until about mid month. I’m hoping I’ll get to participate in round 3, but if not, I’ll have at least a short story written for October.

Write Every Day

This is a typical goal for me, but I never can quite reach it and keep it for long periods of time. The longest stretch I had was from July 1st to November 30th last year. I tend to have days of high counts and low counts, but I’m hoping to work my way back up to 2,000 words a day and stay there. This month I’m playing around with it and increasing my count weekly.

500 for the first week

1000 for the second week

1500 for the third week

2000 for the last week.

I’m hoping I can stay at 2000 words a day for all of 2021, since I have some lofty goals coming up.

Stay tuned for more content coming soon!

August Results and September Goals

August is now behind us and September has only just begun. I’m very pleased to say August was a very productive month for me and I can only hope the productivity continues well into September and the rest of the year.

August Results

Finish edits on book one.

I’m very pleased to say I finished the first round of edits five full days ahead of time.

Flash Fiction Contest

Round Two is now completed and submitted. Round One results have been received. There will be more on all of this later, so stay tuned!

Read at least one book

I read one book for sure, and started a few more. I really had fun reading published fiction again and plan to make it a habit. Stay tuned, there may be a few book reviews coming up.

More Blogging

Stay tuned for more fun posts coming up!

Total Words: 27,457

September Goals

Reach the 50% mark in Ghost House Heart

I’ve been working on this novel since March or April, but it’s been on the back burner with edits and everything else going on. I’m hoping to make some progress and get to the 50% mark (or more) so I can finish in October.

Instawrimo

It is now September, which means it is officially NaNoWriMo prep season. Usually, instawrimo is a whole month long, but thanks to COVID, nothing is the same this year, but Instawrimo will be a few weeks instead of a month. I’m still participating as the ML for my region.

Read at least one book

I’m really getting into reading novels again and one a month is relatively manageable.

Possibly “Go” to a Writing Conference

I say “go” because like everything else this year, COVID has struck again. The writing conference will be over zoom and while I was excited to go when it was in person, I’m not sure I want to sit in a zoom meeting for three to four days. I’m debating if I want to go or not.

June Results and July Goals

Another month here and gone!

Results for June:

  • FInish Edits on Book One of the Series
    • Unfortunately, I did not finish edits this month. There was too much to do, and simply not enough time. I have extended this goal into July.
  • Write one short story
    • I did not write a short story this month, even though I wanted to and had several ideas. Self care came first this month.
  • Prep Ghost House Heart for Continuation in July
    • My plans for Camp NaNoWriMo have changed. I’m putting GHH on hold again and working on edits and additions for the first book of my fantasy series.
  • Continue to Blog
    • Wednesday Works are back!

I did make good progress on a lot of smaller projects, but didn’t quite finish anything. I read two books this month, which I haven’t read a novel all the way through in quite a while.

Total: 11,683

Goals for July:

  • Camp NaNoWriMo
    • 35K, but I’m sure there will have to be more words than that if I’m planning on finishing edits.
  • Flash Fiction Contest
    • I signed up for NYC Midnight’s Flash Fiction Contest. It’s new and exciting!
  • Finish Edits on Book One of the series.
    • Everything is outlined and ready to go. Just need butt in chair and hands on keys.
  • Continue to blog
    • Slowly but surely, things are coming back and there are new things on the way!

Wish me luck!

May Results and June Goals

Here we are as one month wraps up and another begins. May was a productive month (for the most part). Here’s how I did:

Results from May:

  • Continue Ghost House Heart
    • 443 words added
  • Start editing previous books in the series.
    • I started with book one and got a total of 19,911 words (more about the editing process later)
  • Write 30,000 words of anything.
    • Completed the May Blog Challenge in the 31 days I set forth to do it: 3,050
    • Typed up a handwritten short story from February: 3626

Total: 27,030

Goals for June:

  • FInish Edits on Book One of the Series
    • I’m about 20% through and have a direction, all I need is time to sit down and actually do the work.
  • Write one short story
    • With editing going on, I find I need to stay focused in that world for the time being. Short stories don’t take me out for too long and let me write through the angst of editing.
  • Prep Ghost House Heart for Continuation in July
    • May wasn’t a good month to continue the novel, so I’m pushing it off until the next session of Camp NaNoWriMo in July.
  • Continue to Blog
    • I have some great ideas for June. Certain things are coming back.

June is here and I have a lot of goals to smash. Wish me luck!

April Results and May Goals

Well, another month of writing and goals done. April is always a bit of a tough month for me, with difficult anniversaries, but it ended up working out well in the end.

Goals from April:

  • Camp NaNoWriMo: 40,180
  • Ghost House Heart: 14,770
  • I finished Under Grey Skies with a total of 138,799 words and 11,247 words of notes. ( with 24,501 words during Camp NaNo)

Goals for May

  • Continue Ghost House Heart
  • Start Editing previous books in the series
  • Write 30,000 words of anything and everything (Look out for new blog content!)
This month was hit and miss to start, but in the end I smashed goals!
Finally, after months, this beast is complete.