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!