Mid-Year Goal Status and June/July Goals

June has ended up being my best writing month in a long time. Like I said in my mid-month goal check, I'm not quite sure what changed, but I'm very happy and it seems to be continuing.

So, here's how I did for June:

1. Make 20 non-reprint submissions of short stories. - KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK! I more than doubled my goal by making 44 non-reprint submissions of short stories. Along the way, I reached a new personal best for number of stories out for non-reprint submission -- 43.
2. Submit one backlog story for each full week in June. - KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK! I more than doubled my goal here, getting not just four backlog stories out for the first time but nine! On top of that I got three new stories out the door from late-May and June which don't really count as backlog, but brought my total for stories which went out the door for their first time for the month to TWELVE!
3. Write at least one story. - KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PART! Two stories (one flash, one about 2000 words) were written this month and also went out for their first submissions. I also completed two more stories (again, one flash and one about 2000 words) which will likely get submitted for the first time in July.
4. Read at least 30 short stories. - DONE! I count 41 short stories read this month.
5. Reply to all Kazka Press submissions by June 23rd. - NOT QUITE. I didn't get all my responses in to the publisher until a couple of days after that self-imposed deadline but as far as I know, everything got to him with plenty of time to be ready to roll with the July issue.

A very satisfying month. Now to see where I stand for the year as a whole and set some goals for July.

1. Submit 36 Short Stories for the First Time - With my incredible June, I actually ended up AHEAD of pace for this goal with 19 stories out the door for the first time in 2013. Unless I end up getting badly off track again, this should be an achievable goal.
2. Read 500 Short Stories - 156. Here, though, I'm well behind the pace. Even if I read 41 stories each month for the rest of the year, I'd only end up with about 400 stories. Which seems like a much more sensible goal to aim for at this point. I'll target 40 stories each of the remaining months of the year.
3. Submit Four New Novelettes and Novellas - This is one place where I haven't made any headway at all. The goal here was to encourage myself to stretch out into story lengths at which I am less comfortable. Since getting any writing at all done earlier this year was hard, trying to stretch felt like an even harder task. I'd still like to get at least one new novelette or novella out the door this year, but I'm not going to prioritize this ahead of the overall goal of 36 stories.
4. Attend Four Conventions - I went to Marcon in late March. I plan to go to Context and Philcon in the fall. I had been planning to go to a summer convention but that's looking rather unlikely now since the one in Pittsburgh I'd seriously been considering attending was canceled due to hotel issues. If I can fit a fourth convention in, I will. If not, three will be a decent number to hit.
5. Reformulate My Blog Strategy - Completed earlier this year.

Really, I feel good about where I stand for the year. I'm on track for my number one goal and have made a course correction to hit 80% of my secondary goal.

Now, let's get planning for July.

1. Have a draft of a story for the "Long Hidden" anthology call ready to send to critique partners by July 21st. - I've got a story idea I'm excited about working on for submission to this anthology and I've started researching and plotting. If I aim to have researching done by the 7th, that gives me two weeks to get a draft written to send to critique partners.
   
2. Make 30 non-reprint submissions of short stories. - With 43 stories out on submission, this shouldn't be hard unless I have an avalanche of sales or slow replies.
3. Submit three stories for the first time. - I think this should end up being rather achievable.
4. Write at least one new story other than the "Long Hidden" story. - This shouldn't be hard for me.
5. Read at least 40 short stories. - As described above.
6. Reply to all Kazka Press submissions by July 25th. - The vast majority of the stories end up coming in between the 18th and the 20th of the month. Trying to get through them all and make final decisions in three days just isn't enough time. The 25th gives a full week until the issue's target date of August 1st.