March 2013 Wrap-Up

Phew! What a long and crazy month. Seriously, it felt like at least two months. I honestly kept thinking that I had forgotten to pay my rent because I was so sure that it was April.

It was a pretty busy month, too. This month I ran my half marathon, took a few days to visit my boyfriend (♥), took my P/1 exam for SOA/CAS, and that's all on top of my normal routine! With all that going on, there were quite a few days when I just didn't have a chance to write. Which is why I am so proud of myself for the fact that I met my March goal!

Cruising by the water!

Well, not completely. My goal was no more than 14 non-writing days, and I had 18. But I think that, given what I had going on, that was pretty reasonable. And I did (barely) hit my word count goal! The goal was 9300, and today I edged over to 9302. I put up almost 4k words this weekend, and I am feeling pretty good about it.

April should be a little quieter. No boyfriend time (sadface!), no races, and no exams. And some underway time. So I should have no problem hitting my April goals. I'm giving myself an extra 10 words a day (which puts me at 9300 again, since April is a day shorter) and trying for no more than 14 non-writing days again. Good luck to me!


Percentage of wordcount goal met: 100.0%
Percentage of writing days goal met: 77.8%

Shooting for the Moon

Maybe I've set my sights too high. Maybe, instead of getting published, my goal should just be to get a personalized rejection. At least that would represent progress over the past 10 years.

February 2013 Wrap-Up

February is over already? Yikes!

But although the month was a bit of a crazy one for me, I managed to make it a pretty good writing one as well. My goal was both a word count (5900) and a number of non-writing days (not more than 14). I met both of those goals!!

Okay, so maybe I didn't have an epic breakthrough or anything. My final total for the month was 6655 words and 13 non-writing days.

But I set my goals for a reason, and meeting them makes it a successful month. No point in worrying about whether I could have met them more--I can always up the ante for next month!

Which is what I'm doing. February was 210 words a day, March will be 300. It doesn't sound like  a big difference, but it brings my goal for March up to 9300, which is not an insignificant amount (about 2 chapters). I'm also angling for not more than 14 non-writing days again, but where that was 50% for February, it's only 45% of March. So slightly increasing the pressure on myself. I'm currently sitting at almost 50k for Novel 6, which means about halfway. I will finish it this year!

Percentage of wordcount goal met: 112.8%

Percentage of writing days goal met: 107.7%

Submissions: 1 (Short Story 2), resulted in form rejection

A Drop in the Ocean

I usually like to write at the library. It is quiet and relaxing, and it reminds me of a childhood spent falling in love with books. There is internet in case I need to do a quick bit of research, but it does not tempt me to lose myself in surfing the web. Plenty of table space and outlets, and no one to bother me while I work. And no food to distract me!

On top of all that, I find it inspiring to sit in the midst of the stacks, surrounded by books. To imagine myself joining the ranks of published authors and to picture my book sitting in its place on a shelf.

Usually.

Today something feels different. Maybe it is because I am quite tired, but today all these books just make me feel insignificant. How many of these books will I never read? How many will my eyes just pass right over on the shelf without a second thought? And if I were to ever clear the massive hurdle that is being published, what would make my book any different to everyone else? If I ever finish my debut novel, and if it gets accepted and published, what then? It will just be one more book on the shelf. A drop in the ocean, a grain of sand on the beach.

Still, I'm not going to give up. I just finished another chapter in novel 6, and I do in general feel good about it. And even a drop in a nameless stream can someday hope to be a drop in the ocean.

(On a mostly unrelated note, the above image is from Beautiful-Libraries.com, which is a pretty freaking awesome collection.)

Digging Through the Past

The other day I was having a little trouble coming up with the
inspiration to work on my WIP, and so I indulged in a time-honored
writing tradition: procrastination.

I wanted to be able to pretend I was going something useful, so I
decided to stick with something relating to my writing. I began to dig
through the "Archived Projects" folder. I ended up spending several
hours throughout that day reading up on several manuscripts at varying
stages of completion. Some were years old, some as recent as last year.
And I discovered the strangest thing--I like my writing!

This might sound ridiculous. Because why would I write if I didn't think
I was any good? But it's hard to see that when you're lost in the thick
of the weeds that consist of the middle of a first draft. To be able to
back and read something I wrote years ago and be drawn in and want to
read more is something different. I was actually mad at myself for not
continuing on with those projects because I wanted to finish reading
them!

But then, I began to think, maybe this isn't such a good thing after
all. Where is my critical eye? How can I ever hope to improve if I can't
tell myself where I suck? I'm not saying they were perfect, because of
course they weren't, but I didn't get the editing bug that sometimes
strikes me when I am reading less-than-satisfactory books by others. And
shouldn't I be growing as a writer? Why isn't my writing now leaps and
bounds above where it was two years ago? And if my writing is as good as
all that, why does it get form rejected time and time again?

I don't think there is a perfect answer to this conundrum. I eventually
closed out of the old files and put some work into my new one, and I
told myself not to worry about it. Do my best, keep writing, and keep
submitting. Hopefully someone else will someday be as enthralled with my
writing as I am, and then I can pass a little bit of pleasure along to
the lives of readers everywhere. And that is a dream that hasn't changed
for decades!

January 2013 Wrap-Up

Not a bad start to the year. I ended up at 7128, or 109.0% of my goal, which makes me pretty happy. I had 21 days of no writing, which makes me less happy, but taking into account my vacation at the beginning of the month, it’s not bad.

My goal for February, short month that it is, is a fairly modest 5908. I think perhaps I need to start evaluating my writing goals in terms of days actually spent written. So in terms of that, my goal is to have only 14 non-writing days. One of those things that sounds easier than it is? Possibly. But it’s also possible that I could smash my goals! I like to think on the bright side at least some of the time!

Give Me a Break!

Here I am, back with my nose to the grindstone, missing the lovely shores of Costa Rica and the amazing luxury of getting to see my boyfriend every day for 9 whole days!

I have to say, vacation is a wonderful thing. Not just for the beaches and the cuddling and the great food, but for writing! I told myself that I was off the hook for writing over my vacation. I wasn't going to worry a bit about not getting any words down. And that was just what I needed.

Having a planned vacation is so much different than those drawn out, accidental departures from productivity. The kind where you say that for sure you are going to write today, but then you're crawling into bed with nothing done. First one day, then two, and before you know it, it's been almost 2 weeks since you've written. (I can't be the only one this happens to...right?) That kind of vacation is terrible for writing. It destroys any momentum or rhythm you've established for yourself. The guilt eats away at you until you start wondering why you ever wanted or thought you could this in the first place. When you finally do get words down, they're stiff and horrible.

A real vacation is not at all the same! By taking a dedicated, guilt-free break, I was actually excited about coming back to my project. I was champing at the bit, wanting to get going again! My mind was refreshed, my characters more vivid, and I was ready to start up again firing on all cylinders.

Sadly, my vacation—and all the wonderful things it entailed—is over, but it is some consolation that novel 6 is going strong! Escaping to another planet of my own making is like a mini-vacation every day.