Tuesday, January 14, 2014

2014 Plans...Er, Resolutions? Goals!

Melissa:
It's the new year. I'm planning on things going my way.

Ha ha ha!

Okay, now that I have that out of my system. Really. I am hoping for no big catastrophes this year. (Not that we ever plan them.) But as long as everyone keeps breathing and no major injuries along the way I think I can accomplish a few goals I want to in 2014. In writing anyway.

1.) Rough draft of Christmas Spirit. - I started this one in December 2013, but only got 7,300 or so words. I will get the first draft done early this year. I'm working on it now, and won't stop until I pass the final note card and type The End.

2.) Read and Re-write Jayda's 1st book. I had started re-writing it in 2013 when life got complicated with my dad and step-mom. But I need to start over in re-writing and add a whole leg to the story. Lots LOTS need fixed here. I want to get it to a ground zero I can work from. (have to a point where friends can tell me what I'm needing to fix up, add to, delete, etc.)

3.) Go back to Christmas Spirit and re-read/write it. I'd *like* to have this somewhere workable before end of 2014. Something I could share with a few friends and they can tell me what I'm doing wrong.

4.) It things go well, maybe I could start into The Steampunk novella series I started. I'd like that...maybe. Depends on the mood.

5.) As for NaNoWriMo 2014... well, I realized I don't do sequels too well so maybe I can start another idea? But I have to get lots of research done to move on with that one. As to when I can add research to the time schedule this year...I don't know.


To many these sound like easy tasks. For me, I know it's all going to be time consuming. I'm ready to put that time in, and I'll tell my family they need to work with me. But I'm slow about going through the processes, so it will take me a long while.

If I can get through the first three numbers here in 2014, I'll be ecstatic!

Although, I'd hate to skip out on NaNo as I love doing it...we'll see where I am by November. That is eleven months away, you know. ;)

Jackie:
I'm with Melissa: the word "resolution" has an air of fatality about it, most likely because of the number of failed resolutions I already have behind me from prior years. "Goals" is a much better way of putting things :)

For me, I fully intend to continue on with my studies, hoping to...someday...finish my Bachelor's degree in English and Creative Writing. I'm almost halfway there, which is great, and gives me a starting point for my list of goals for the year:

1) Finish enough classes to be able to apply to the Creative Writing program, adding that subject into my degree program.

2) Work on/ complete my book 2, the one I started during the month of November but had to set aside during exam time.

3) Re-read book 1 in its entirety and get the word count up to 80k. Re-read and edit again.

4) Try to organize life/school stuff to enable me a better chance of fully participating in NaNoWriMo this year.

That's where I'm going to draw the line. I think it might be a bit much to get it all accomplished in 2014, especially because I take courses through the summer months as well, but if I have these set out in print, for all the world to see, there's a slightly better chance they'll be check marked as done by the end of the year.




Well, Jackie, I think we have some great realistic goals ahead of us. Maybe next year we can take a step further and look for more words. But, we will see how life treats us this year before we get there.

Cheers, Jackie, and to all that visits us here. Here's to a year full of words and much more.

As Jackie has joked, lets break some lead.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Writing Update - December

Melissa:
And, I'm late with the post once again. I'm telling you, CRAZY TIME!!

This is a crazy time of year with holiday...stuff. I'll say "stuff" as it includes everything from shopping to cooking to visiting. I started a new story idea that I had dictated into my phone and ipod for a few weeks in November. This story has a completely new aspect for me in how I've handled it. See I was doing NaNoWriMo and couldn't stop that project so I did something different...

I dictated into my phone and ipod recorders to remember what I was thinking. Then when done with NaNoWriMo I started writing out note cards of all these notes. It almost felt as I had written the story already. Well, the details of the days weren't there but the main bones of what was to happen were. It took me about a week of evenings to write up the note cards. Then I started writing the story.

It actually came easier for me this way. But then the holiday's happened. I was pulled away from anything and everything that was not Christmas. So for the month of December I clocked out with only 7,351 words in the new story.

But, now that January is here, I signed on to keep going with writing. I am part of a group of authors on Facebook where we help and support each other. RaToNoWriMo. We are doing our own goals for January and supporting each other with a group word count page. I signed on for 25k. I think with life and reading and blogging, I can do 25k in one month. That will bring me heavily into the current story as well. Heck, maybe even after I get back into writing daily I'll even surpass that count. (don't tell anyone but that's what I'm hoping for)

Jackie:
Coming into December, I had big plans to get writing done, knowing that I'd have a lengthy break from school over the holidays. I think we started out well, both Melissa and I, as she transcribed her dictations onto note cards (an idea I will totally be stealing!) and I continued to work on what I had started towards the end of my NaNo efforts.

Sadly, the holidays came up faster than expected, as they always seem to do, so while the first week or two went swimmingly, that's where it totally fizzled for me. But, I did manage to get some writing done and I do have in mind a chunk of what will come next in my story, so that had to count for something. I haven't actually made my note cards yet, so here's hoping that I'm not struck down with a case of short term memory loss (possibly caused by banging my head repeatedly on the desk as a result of writer's block) in the mean time and I get those thoughts typed out and ready to move on...which is the plan for the upcoming month, anyway :)

I have a short story due next week for my Creative Writing course, which has been my big focus, mentally anyway, over the last week or two. Funny thing about the NaNo format versus writing a short story with a set parameter for word count etc., is that it feels that much harder to accomplish, I think. My ideas seem to stretch into something that will surpass my quota, which in this case, is a bad thing. I haven't written much in the line of short stories, so this will be a good exercise for me in 1) writing in a concise, limited length, and 2) editing the work to the point that I can share it with people, like my professor and ALL of my classmates. Wish me luck!

At least both Melissa and I are working on our projects, so hopefully updates will have much better word count results moving forward into the year. As we try to make writing a daily, or routinely scheduled habit, it should help us both become more diligent workers...and better writers ;)