Tag: plans

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!

 

 

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.

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!

September Results and October Plans

Here we are at the end of another month already.
September Results

September has been very interesting for writing. I haven’t really focused on all the projects I said I would be working on a few months ago, but sometimes that’s how it goes.

The Kiss: 23849

Inktober prep: 339

Blog: 1017

Total:

25205

Other things I’ve worked on that aren’t exactly writing, but are related.

Instawrimo Challenge: For the first time in a monthly challenge that isn’t NaNoWriMo, I finally managed to complete 30 days of posts over on Instagram. There will be a post on all of the fun I had with that later.

Attended a Writing Conference: At the end of September I was lucky enough to attend the Central Coast Writer’s Conference. Being the first conference I have ever been to, it was everything I hoped for and more. I would highly recommend if you are a writer and want to do something to kick your writing into gear, go to a conference near you. There is something just so inspiring about being there with other writers who have started out where I am now. Keep an eye out for several posts on that later in this upcoming month.
October Goals

There is still a part of me that can’t believe that October is already here. But it is here, and ever fleeting. Before we know it the year will be up. I have some goals to smash, so here they are.

Finish The Kiss: There is still about 30% left to write and my plan is to finish in October before I start a new project in November.

Inktober (Writer Edition): This will be the third year I attempt Inktober, but this year will be a little different. Thankfully (especially since I am not an artist) someone on instagram came up with a writing edition for Inktober. So I will be writing a 50 word story and posting a doodle (Because it’s a challenge, right?)

Edits: I’ve spent so long writing over these past few years that I have a huge backlog of things to edit. With this year’s project for NaNoWriMo being the mirror to the first book of my series, and so close to the end. It’s really time to start editing it and getting it out there for publication. I got so much inspiration from the writing conference and I’m feeding off of that to push myself forward to do things that will get my work out there and published.