March Goals for #writemotivation and 11 Questions from the Writer's Campaign

Thursday I will review my goal progress for February and also talk about the future of the Dissecting the Short Story Series. Today, I'm going to lay out my goals for the month of March.

1) Read my first draft of "Adrift" and create something akin to a "beat sheet" for it. - I'm hoping that having a more tightly-define goal for working on this will help keep me directed on it.
2) Have a short story revising day where I get at least three stories into a form where I am ready to send them out for beta or submission.
3) Write 7,500 words of new fiction including at least one new short story.
4) Keep all my writing routines -- Seinfeld Chain, revised blogging schedule, etc.
5) On 3/31, have one non-time-sensitive blog post written and ready for future use on a day when I'm not able to post something "new."
6) Write and submit one or more short stories for the first time.
7) Decide if I am going to attend Marcon (a local science-fiction convention) in April or not.
8) Complete a first draft of my non-fiction project.

I've been doing a bad job of following up on this month's Writer's Platform-Building Campaign. This has been a combination of not having given it a high enough priority when I had time and then having some personal circumstances arise which cut back on the time I could spend on the computer some days recently. I still intend to get around to the blogs of everyone in my groups, but I'm not going to try to do the challenges, etc. this time. I'm sorry that I haven't been a better Campaigner this time around.

About a half-dozen people have tagged me to answer 11 questions as part of the campaign. Rather than trying to answer 66 questions, I've chosen one of the taggers (Melissa Sugar) and will answer her questions. Follow past the jump to see the Q&A.


1) Name one thing you consider your biggest regret in your life so far?

Not traveling more when I had fewer obligations.

2) If you could go back in time and do things differently, what is something you would change?

Well, the flip answer would be to tell myself to buy some stock in Apple and Google, right? :)

This is a question I hate trying to answer because you never know what the ramifications would be of trying to make a change in your past. Though I may not always seem it, I'm content enough with my life today to not want to disrupt how I came to it.

3) If you could travel to another time period, but you must agree to remain there for a full six months would you go? If yes what time period & where would you time-travel to the future or past.

1927 New York City, hands down, without even a bit of hesitation. Watch Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig play, try to get published in Weird Tales or some other pulps, enjoy live music of the era.

4) Would you rather be on the best seller list once (only once) or win the single ticket mega multi-state lotto?

Just how big is this best-seller list? :)

I suppose I'd go with the multi-state lotto because of the two choices that would best enable me to do the things with my life which I'd like to do. Since my first writing love is short fiction, knowing I'd never make the best-seller list wouldn't be a huge loss.

5) When you write in the privacy of your own home, what do you wear?

Whatever I was wearing before I sat down to write. Seriously, no pattern here.

6) What was the happiest day or time of your life?

The trip my wife, children and I took to Washington DC a couple of summers ago was awfully darn cool.

7) Would you rather have loved deeply and been hurt deeply or have never felt true love before or the hurt that can go with it?

I suppose the former, because there would always be the hope of getting back to that place again one way or another.

8) If you current novel is made into a Major Motion Film; who would play your protagonist?

After browsing imdb for a few minutes, I suppose Bridgit Mendler has the look I imagine for her.

9) If a movie was made about your life, who would you want to play you.


Gotta be Zach Galifianakis.


10) Name one thing about you that you seldom share with others~or something that we in the blogosphere do not know about you.

Though I rarely make time to do it, I enjoy cooking.

11) You are a character and are being interviewed: What is your greatest strength? Worst flaw?

In order: Persistence. Stubbornness.