Monday, March 12, 2012

Monday #writemotivation Goals Status

One other side effect of some of the personal issues I mentioned in Sunday's post is that I may be keeping blog posts a bit on the short side for the moment. Today will be one of those days, as I'm going to just keep this to a quick rundown of goal status.

Also, there's a good chance that my goal progress will lag early this month. Depending on how things go with the issues we're working through now, it honestly may end up just not being that great of a month in general for my goals. If that's how things work out, then that's how they work out.

1) Read my first draft of "Adrift" and create something akin to a "beat sheet" for it. - Not started, though I have done a tiny bit of thinking about this and discussing it with other writers.
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. - Not yet scheduled, though I'd really like to do this still. If I don't have to take time off of work for other reasons, I'll try to do this late in March.
3) Write 7,500 words of new fiction including at least one new short story. - I was ahead of pace, but I've fallen behind pace. However, I've completed two new short stories (both flash-length) and am very close to finishing a longer short.
4) Keep all my writing routines -- Seinfeld Chain, revised blogging schedule, etc. - On target. This is officially my #1 goal (priority-wise) for the month now. My wife and I talked about this some one night recently, one of the days when I'd been driving all over Ohio... I mentioned I thought I might just take the night off and she reminded me that I always feel better after I've spent time working on writing, even if it's on something relatively low-intensity. She encouraged me to go ahead and put the time in and I'm glad that she did and glad that I did.
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." - Well, I had one. And then I used it Thursday when things got crazier. The good news is that the "low-intensity" writing I did a couple of nights recently was working on first drafts of blog posts. I didn't actually finish either one, but I have good starts on two such non-time-sensitive posts. But I do need to finish one (and not use it before 3/31) to meet this goal.
6) Write and submit one or more short stories for the first time. - This will be done as soon as I mail out my story for the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine monthly contest.
7) Decide if I am going to attend Marcon (a local science-fiction convention) in April or not. - I suspect the answer here is going to be a no. Which is OK. There are plenty of other conventions I can attend within close driving distance later this year.
8) Complete a first draft of my non-fiction project. - Not much progress on this in the last week. I may try to work on this more in the upcoming week.

Thanks to all the #writemotivation folks who stop by. I hope that you're all having lots of success so far with your March goals and that the rest of the month treats all of us well.

10 comments:

  1. Considering everything that's happened lately, I'd say you're doing wonderfully.

    I hope things get less hectic and you find your groove again, but remember it'll always be there to find. Take care of things you need to first.

    We'll always be here to cheer you on.

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    1. Thanks, KT. Having some outlets to talk about things from time to time is helpful, whether it's here or on Twitter.

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  2. any progress is good, especially when things aren't going so well. you also have a lot of goals to work on. maybe just focus on the most important one and be happy with progress toward that one and give yourself a break. hope your week gets better.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Valerie.

      Yes, I'm doing a LOT of prioritizing right now. Not just in writing, in everything. Very important things are getting done. Less important things are being set aside and (hopefully) not forgotten about.

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  3. When life things are going on, it's not easy to find the headspace to immerse yourself in writing. I went through 3 months of not writing after my computer hard drive crashed and I lost 8 months of writing. I could barely check email - my fingers shook just to type on the keyboard. I thought pushing myself was a good idea, but then I went and unplugged and stayed unplugged to work stuff out. I'm glad I did that. It helped make me stronger when I got back. Sometimes you just need to not be pulled into a story when you've got other things to tackle.

    I wish you luck on whatever you decide to do! We'll be here for you!!

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    1. Wow... I can't imagine losing that volume of work. I'd be as devastated as it sounds like you were! Glad to hear that you've been able to get back into things and I appreciate your support. :)

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  4. Goodness, the weekend definitely sucked for some of us. I'm glad that everyone's alive for you (we only lost a pet, but she was a beloved member of the family and this was completely unexpected, so it hit us all pretty hard). I'll be keeping you and your family in my prayers, and make sure you get enough rest for all the driving!

    Don't worry about pressing yourself too hard to make all these goals. There's still plenty of time in the month to make them up if things don't go down a worse path, and just do what you have the time and energy for.

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    1. Thank you, Rebekah. I really appreciate that.

      Yes, I'm trying to find that balance between not stressing myself out and also not just letting things slide because I have (for lack of a more elegant phrasing) an "excuse" to do so.

      A lot of days this week where I'm just doing a bit of writing-related work. Enough to keep some momentum going.

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  5. You've been tagged to join the Great Star Wars Blogathon! Details here: http://www.troublewithroy.com/2012/03/so-you-say-youve-got-this-idea-on-how.html

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  6. Hi, you've been tagged in the Lucky 7 meme! Details are here:
    http://sorchanr.blogspot.com/2012/03/hi-there-nick-wilford-me-in-lucky-7.html

    ReplyDelete