Monday, March 26, 2012

Monday March 26th #writemotivation Weekly Status

This is the last Monday in March, so it's the last "official" #writemotivation checkin for the month. Even with everything that's not gone to plan this month, the past weekend made this a fantastic writing month for me with a total of three short fiction sales, including my first ever "professional rate" sale. Both of the other two sales are semi-pro rate sales to Kazka Press, one for their monthly themed flash fiction contest and one for their monthly unthemed longer short story contest. Each of these latter two are scheduled to be released on April 1st, so in under a week, I'll have two shiny new links to add to my Publications page.

1) Read my first draft of "Adrift" and create something akin to a "beat sheet" for it. - Once again, this isn't happening this month. I suspect I won't create an "Adrift"-related goal for April, simply because I have no reason to believe my schedule is going to get any easier next month than it has been this month. As I've said before, I do want to return to this sometime, but when I have limited writing time as I currently do, coming back to this is not at the top of my priority list.
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. - I've got Thursday scheduled off work. Unless I have too many other things which I have to tackle on Thursday, this will be revising day. Can I get three stories done in that day? We'll see. It's a bit of an ambitious goal.
3) Write 7,500 words of new fiction including at least one new short story. - Probably not happening at this point, though I did complete multiple flash-length (under 1000 words) stories.
4) Keep all my writing routines -- Seinfeld Chain, revised blogging schedule, etc. - Still going strong here. There are lots of days when I've only gotten that bare minimum of 500 words in for my daily writing chain, but I have kept it alive.
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." - No updates on this. I still have two which are nearly done that I just need to finish up. It's simply a matter of actually getting it done, and there's no good reason not to get it done.
6) Write and submit one or more short stories for the first time. - Done.
7) Decide if I am going to attend Marcon (a local science-fiction convention) in April or not. - Also done. The answer is "no." I'll still look for another convention to attend this year.
8) Complete a first draft of my non-fiction project. - Well, I had thought that the main portion of the work was done last week, but I was mistaken. I actually had a bit more to add. That's part of what I've done this week. I've also started on the Bonus Features and lined up someone to do a "sanity check" on the first draft of the main portion. I feel good about the progress here.

Looking back on my words from last week, I find it interesting to see how a few days can change things. I had said: "I haven't had any large successes yet, but I've had small successes and [...] believe that the large successes are possible with perseverance and effort. I fully intend to keep on pushing through towards those large successes."

Little did I know just how close I was.

Congrats to everyone who made progress towards their goals this month and thank you, very much, for your kind words and encouragement. It really does mean a lot.

11 comments:

  1. Huge congratulations on your sales! That is such awesome news. Goals are helpful and meant to be adjusted as needed. Looks like you are doing this as it works with your priorities. Wishing you continued success. YAY!!

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  2. Still awesome, Michael! Don't worry about life. It always has a way of sneaking up on you. Just remember that tomorrow is another day! Hey, at least you got your seinfeld chain still rocking it hard!

    PS: I'm jealous you already heard back from Kazka. I'm still waiting :(

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  3. Thanks, Angela and Jamie!

    And, Jamie, I hope that you hear back soon and that it's good news. :)

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  4. Congratultions on your sales. I saw you on duotrope and I was very pleased for you.

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  5. This has been a fantastic week/month for you. Fantastic news. Congratulations hon!
    (Can I say that I'm SO DAMN proud of you. First pro-sale is fantastic!)
    Here's to another productive month, because, to be honest, you've been amazing this month!

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    1. Thanks, K.T.! I appreciate all of the encouragement, here and on Twitter.

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  6. Congrats on that first pro sale! That's huge and so exciting. I remember jumping around my room when I made my first--I'm surprised I didn't break something. You now know you have the chops, now you got to make it happen. Good luck and keep the roll going.

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    1. Thank you! I didn't do any jumping -- probably best for all involved -- but there was plenty of celebration all the same.

      I'm keeping at it. In fact, I just finished the first draft of a new story several minutes ago.

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  7. Congrats on all your sales! I'm actually going to be published in this month's 713 flash call too, and I'm happy to be appearing beside a talented Kazka veteran like yourself. :-D

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    1. That's excellent, Jillian! Congratulations on your sale. :)

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