It's that time of year again - time to look back on the goals I set last year, and re-examine what I can do in the coming year.
First we'll take a look at what goals I set myself last year and how well I accomplished them. Below is my actual list from last year's blog (linked here if you're interested https://www.iveyink.com/blog/2017/12/30/2017-summary-2018-aims ):
1. Prep and submit my latest short story, "The Cause of the Disturbance." This will actually require some research as it is a decidedly different genre and style than my three other published stories, and may need to be submitted to different places than I have been submitting to.
2. Make measurable progress on The Wolf and the Sheath. Don't ask me what "measurable" means right now - this may end up being the amount of new material written, amount of editing/rewriting, etc.
3. Attend my writing critique group semi-regularly.
4. Manage my time better in the evenings.
So, how did I do?
1. I have submitted "The Cause of the Disturbance" to several contests and publications. No luck to date, though one of my "rejections" noted that I made it to the final round of considerations in their contest.
2. For The Wolf and the Sheath I have:
Finalized all place and character names.
Neatened up and edited some scenes.
Started work on a map and costume research (both really for myself - I doubt that either a map or costume illustrations will make it into the final version).
Written 31 pages of new material in November. Not all of this will go straight into the book as is. Some of it is to replace really clunky introductory scenes, some of it still needs to be fleshed out, and some of it is for a character and pronunciation guide, as opposed to actually being part of the story.
3. Ha. Oops. I think I went three times this year - and one of those times was to a guest speaker, not a critique meeting.
4. This one is kind of up in the air as to whether it was successful.
In February, Jason and I adopted a new dog and she took a lot of hands-on time those first couple months that ate into writing time. But Jason and I also realized that since he works from home on Wednesday and Friday that it makes more sense for me to use those nights for writing (I had been using Tuesday and Thursday) - he can start dinner on those nights so that it can be ready when I get home or slightly thereafter so that I can start writing earlier. I also discovered recently that I am not giving writing the same priority that we currently give to other things - scheduled gaming time, groceries, or even preparing my lunch for the next day. This needs to change. If I'm ever going to "do something" with my writing (and by do something, I mean something other than publish a couple stories every 2 years), I need to stop treating it as a hobby.
So my goals for the coming year are:
1. Better commit to my writing time on my writing evenings.
My new schedule will be:
Monday - writing business. Submissions, looking into paid writing opportunities, articles and research not related to my current project, etc. Also some writing social media (currently I post my "writerly quote of the week" on Mondays).
Wednesday and Friday - work on current project (whatever novel or story I'm working on) and just that - no writing social media, no articles, just pure writing, editing, or research for that project.
Sometime over the weekend - write and post my weekly blog.
If we do something on a Friday (or on one of my other writing nights, but Friday is the most frequent offender), I need to make sure that I set aside time on some other evening to make up for the time lost. If I'm not done making lunch, putting laundry away, etc. by the time I'm supposed to start writing, it doesn't get done. (I've been trying to eat healthier, which means not buying lunch or just throwing a frozen lunch in a bag, but we'll see.)
2. Finish the story line of Wolf and Sheath.
I say this with hesitation. I usually get to a point after working on something for a few months where I just don't want to do it anymore. But in November I made big progress with adding new scenes that needed to be done - filling in backstory, exposition, transitions, etc. I still have a lot of transitions that need to be written, in addition to a climactic battle, but I think I could get at least the bones of those laid out in the next year, even if I don't work on W and S the full year. That won't mean the book will be publishing-ready at the end of the year. I mean, it potentially could be, but I don't want to back myself into that corner just yet.
3. Prepare some nearly-finished short stories for submission.
These stories (working titles) are "Olivia's Luck," "Certain," and possibly "The New Inventory." (I say "possibly" on the 3rd because it's something I wrote a few years ago and it's not as good as the others.) I will also work on submitting "24 December 1944," but that won't be 'til summer - it's a Christmas piece and no one will be looking for those now.
4. My 4th goal is a little more vague, a little more dependent on luck and whether the right things present themselves at the right time - receive payment for my work.
This could be winning a paid competition, successful submission to a paid publication, or finding something like a little side free-lance job. I need to look into these possibilities more, but like I said above, I need to stop treating my writing as a hobby.
OK, well this post is a lot longer than I thought it would be when I sat down to write it - if you're still with me, I appreciate it!