Tag: new month

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.

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.

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!