Writing 2013 - A Manifesto!

Posted by Jennifer Baylor at The Writing Cocoon.  
Filed under "The Writer's Desk"

Taj Mahal: What's your passion?

Happy New Year and welcome to 2013!

Time to post my 2013 writing goals. First off, I'd like to thank Lisa Walker England for her blog post 6 Reasons to Trash Your Creative Resolutions.

What a great post - hit all of my goal-setting issues right on the proverbial head. I highly recommend you read her post before finalizing your own goals for the year. My favorite part was the idea of a writing manifesto. Sounds so grand to say, "My Writing Manifesto." She has great links to creative manifestos to inspire you, too.

So, without further ado, here is my 2013 Writing Manifesto:

I believe that writing is one of the highest callings, and that we, as writers, have the power to help people to laugh, cry, think, or escape. We can make our readers feel empathy, anger, love, hate, wonder and joy. In short, we can shape reality with our words.

In 2013, I will embrace my writing with joy and a sense of responsibility, both to myself and to others. I will respect my projects and finish the stories I begin, then send them promptly out into the world. I will honor my writing time and space by setting and meeting challenging, yet realistic goals, and I will take steps every day to meet those goals. I will take pride in my work, approach it as a professional and share it with others.

Now, keeping in mind my manifesto and all the helpful advice I've received from my fellow writers on the web, I give you my 2013 Writing Goals:

Writing:

• I will write what I enjoy and send it out into the world, either by submitting to contests or publications or posting on my blog.
• Write1/Submit1 - Write two short stories per month and submit to contests and publications. 24 short stories submitted by end of year.
• Critique Group - find a critique group to join by the end of March.
• WiP1(First Novel) - I will rewrite my first novel (WIP1) by June 1. Then I will send it to beta readers. By the end of 2013, it will be ready to query or self-publish (or both).
• Skills development:
• Free-write, every work day.
• Read at least two books on writing. 
• Take a writing class (signed up for one class) or attend a workshop.
• Read a book or attend a workshop on editing/proofreading.
• Read blogs and books on self-publishing.

General:

• I will write a minimum of 100,000 words in 2012. 
• I will attend at least one writer's conference. (Possibly WFC in Oct.)
• I will read 52 books. 
• I will follow Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "Freelancer's Survival Guide" and develop my professional writing career (it is not a hobby).
• I will review these goals at least once per month and re-evaluate and revise as necessary.

  There it is - my high level plan-of-attack for 2013. Anyone else have their goals written down? Anyone looking to finish, self-publish or submit a novel in 2013?

Plan of Attack: 2012 Writing Plan

Posted by Jennifer Baylor at The Writing Cocoon.  
Filed under "Write1Sub1"

 I've been staring at a blank screen for some time, trying to write this post. The goals for 2012 are not the problem; I know exactly what I would like to accomplish. It is the plan itself that is holding me back. You see, in 2011 I had plenty of writing goals, but I accomplished much less than I had hoped for. Still, I wrote more in 2011 than I have in years, so that is progress. But, how do I make 2012 more productive?



Here are the main goals (and the goals specifically for this challenge):

1. Finish WIP#1 TLCS
2. Finish 1st Draft of WIP#2 DR
3. Participate in W1/S1: 2 times per month

The plan:

Create and Maintain a consistent writing routine. Now, this has been a struggle for me this year. I started with a simple goal to sit at my writing desk once per day, then tried detailed daily schedules. But the detailed daily schedule was too much. Next I tried a more general weekly goal lists with no daily schedule.That worked a little better, but I'm still failing at consistency.

I'm going to experiment with starting my day a little earlier and with some guided meditation, followed by yoga practice. I'm not a morning person, and my logic is that the meditation and yoga will help me focus and wake up, basically get the blood flowing. Then, I want to get in one hour of writing before noon, then two hours of writing later in the afternoon.

Each week, I will make a list of the writing I want to accomplish. I'm not going to put in a word count goal just yet. I'm a fast writer; if I can just get into the routine of writing every day, the word count will come. The goal is to write 5 days per week, Monday through Friday. I'd like to add a sixth day, but I feel I need to work on building the habit, first.

Practice writing skills daily. My writing skills are rusty, and I've been reading whatever I can find on building up my store of writing tools. I've come across much useful material, but about a month ago I found the book I've been looking for: How to Be a Writer: Building Your Creative Skills through Practice and Play by Barbara Baig. I'm really enjoying the exercises, tools and tips. This will be my "manual" for building my daily "practice" sessions (writing that won't be included in my daily word count).

Join a writing group and/or find a crit partner. I've toyed with this idea, looked online for local writing groups, but I just haven't found one that inspired me to leave my solitary writing cave and give it a go. It is time to get out there and give them a try. There are two or three in my area. I think it is important that I start getting some of my writing "out there" and receive feedback. I'm just not sure about these local groups - if they will be a good fit for me. I think I'd prefer a crit partner, someone I could exchange writing with on a regular basis. We'll see.

In 2012, if I can create and maintain the above plan, regardless of exact word count produced, I will consider the year successful. However, I don't see any reason why I can't accomplish the specific writing goals if I stick to the plan.

Absolute Write Novel Writing Challenge Blog Chain: 

For more information about the challenge, click here.
For more information about the blog chain, click here.

Participants:
Izz: Post up! Make with teh clickety!
alexshvarstman: http://www.alexshvartsman.com
Aggy B.: http://agcarpenter.blogspot.com/
mhaynes: http://michael-haynes.blogspot.com/
katsincommand: www.dmbonanno.com
Opinionated Ant: http://worddabbler.blogspot.com/

NaNoWriMo - Day 21

I wish I could say I'm wearing super Wrist Bands of Power, but, I'm not. I took a week off the computer - I had to. There was one day where I wrote nine-hundred words, but I couldn't sleep that night because of the resulting wrist pain. I couldn't even stand to use the keyboard long enough to check email, which gave me an unscheduled Internet holiday.  There was actual heat rising from my wrists.

What did I do instead of writing last week? I've done completed some longhand writing. I've read a couple of books. There's even been some research accomplished.

But, the sad truth, for NaNoWriMo anyway, is that I'm very behind in word count. I'm not too down about it. Really. In fact, the time off of the computer, sat on the sofa with a notebook and pen, has given me some time to think through the project. I've been playing with mind-mapping in my notebook - which I think I like.

I've also been thinking about writing more short stories. Several times on this blog I've mentioned wanting to participate in a little something called Write 1/Submit 1, and I'm almost sorry I didn't concentrate more on that as a first challenge rather than a second novel. Which led me to thinking about making a novella out of this year's NaNoWriMo. There are a few contests that take novella length fiction, and I can always make it into a novel later. I know novellas aren't the most popular of formats in modern publishing, but modern publishing is changing every day it seems. A novella just seems like an easier beast to wrangle while working on my first novel and other short story projects.

We'll see.

I'm grappling with whether or not to attempt a NaNo comeback this year. Do I try to accomplish an obscene number of words in the next nine days? Will my wrists fall off? Are these wrist bands actually magical? Will I, won't I?

How about you guys? Anyone having a NaNo meltdown? I know some of you are probably already finished - you bastards (I kid, I kid!). I read somewhere that only 1 in 5 people "win" NaNo. Don't know if that is true, but if you're one of those people, then congrats. It's a great feeling, isn't it? What about the rest of you who are still typing for NaNoWriMo glory? Anyone planning some epic all-nighters?

The Write 1/ Submit 1 Novel Challenge

Posted by Jennifer B. at The Writing Cocoon.   
 
There's been so much going on today, I almost forgot about another challenge that I'm joining on November 1: The Write 1/Sub 1 Novel Challenge over at the AW Water Cooler forum.

The challenge coincides with the start of NaNoWriMo (to give those participating an opportunity to include their NaNo novel in the challenge), but writers at any stage in the novel writing process are welcome to join. Just reply to the thread with your timeline and goal and you will be part of the crew. That's it, it's that easy. Your timeline can be whatever you need: six months or sixteen months or more. Same with the goal: choose to write one new novel, finish an old novel or complete multiple novels.

The basic idea grew out of the support writers found in the Write 1/Submit 1 Challenge (forum and blog), where writers are challenged to write one short story and submit one short story, every week for a year. There have been some very inspiring results, and I've been toying with joining the challenge for some time. So, check out the Write1/Sub1 forum for an idea of the kind of support and check-ins you can expect with the Novel Challenge.

For my personal 12 month Novel Challenge, I've set the following goals:

1. November: Write 70k word first draft of new novel for NaNoWriMo (WIP2)
2. December: Finish rewrite(2nd draft) of WIP1
3. January/February: Work on 3rd draft of WIP1
4. March: Send out WIP1 to readers
5. May/June: Complete final draft of WIP1
6. July: Submit WIP1; Begin revision of WIP2
7. October: Have WIP2 submission-ready. 
8. November: NaNoWriMo 2012!

These goals are fluid, as I don't really know how long I will need to take a novel through each draft (or how many drafts the novel may require). I'm expecting WIP1 to be rewrite intensive (it has been so far), because it was my first novel, and I wrote it for last year's NaNoWriMO with no preparation.

The bottom line: 2 novels to submission-ready status in 12 months. I think this is ambitious, but doable.

I'm going to post updates here, as well as in the forum. Anyone else joining in at the AW Novel Challenge?

I'm Back...

Posted by Jennifer B. at The Writing Cocoon. 

I finally made it home last night, a little before nine o'clock.  It was an exhausting trip home, but it is over. Now I just have to reset my body to GMT and get myself back into my routine.

I'd like to say that I got a lot of writing done over the last ten days, but it didn't happen. A few times I wrote down some notes and ideas, but I wasn't in the mood to really write. Well, that's not entirely true. I didn't have the down time, the space, and the time alone I needed to get in the flow of writing. I didn't make it happen.

Despite getting to bed at the normal (for England) hour last night, I woke up with a fuzzy head and the will to do very little. Hoping to clear my mind, I took a walk around the park. It didn't help. Now I'm fighting off sleepiness, and it isn't even dinner time. 

So, I'm a little disappointed that I didn't manage to prioritize my writing time while I was away, and now I'm faced with the task of rebuilding my routine once again. Maybe I'm making a mountain of a mole hill, but a whole week off feels like a set-back. The routine is important to me, and life keeps getting in the way.

I think I went wrong when I didn't set myself specific writing tasks for my travel time. Perhaps I knew this trip would be too difficult. The jet-lag will steal some time, too, now that I'm back.  My goal was to have the first draft of this novel finished before July 7, and with that in mind, tomorrow's goal is to write at least five hundred words.

Something else I'm contemplating - joining this writing challenge here. Do I have the nerve? I was thinking about starting to submit next January, but why wait? This challenge might give me the extra support/push I need.

I'm also trying to finish a novel for The Women of Fantasy book club. Yes, it's true, I couldn't even finish reading a novel. I managed to sleep on the planes and trains, and very little reading took place. We'll see how many pages I get through tonight before my eyes start to cross. Two days left to read this month's book!