2013 Goals

I can't believe it's February 1st and I am just now posting my 2013 goals! Oh, well. It's never too late to get started (:

1) Edit "California Mermaid" by March 15 and submit to WWC for their Starbright Novel Writing Contest. This is a huge goal and would be a big accomplishment. I am mostly trying to submit a novel not so much to win, but to receive 3 judges comments back. How awesome would that be?

2) Spend March 16-March 31 in preparation for Script Frenzy. You know that NaNoWriMo thing I do every year? Well, this is the script version. The goal is to write a 100 page script or screenplay in April. I tried it (for about a day) back in 2009. This will be my first year to really be committed and give it a go.

3) Participate in and win Script Frenzy 2013. This is going to be fun!

4) Submit 6 works (or more) to publications and/or contests this year. This is a few less than my goal last year (which I think was 12) but it's reasonable and still productive. You can't win if you don't play! 

5) Participate in and win NaNoWriMo 2013. This will be year number 5. *So excited!*

These are huge goals and accomplishing them all would be incredible! 

Thank you, family and friends, for all the support and love y'all  continue to give me. I hope all of you reach your 2013 goals as well! 

2012 Goals

I did this last year and, although I did not even complete half of my 2011 goals, they were helpful in keeping me on track when I decided to do something writing-related. Here are a few things I would like to get done this coming year...

2012 Writing Goals:

1. Edit Shiloh's Children well enough to show family and friends. Hmm... deja vue, anyone? Maybe that's because this was my goal last year too. And guess what? I didn't do it. This year, however, I have more incentive. I promised my parents that I would not do NaNoWriMo 2012 unless I edited a novel first. So, I must get this goal done, and soon, if I want to do NaNoWriMo for my fourth year in a row.

2. Enter at least 11 pieces into contests or to publishers. Last year, my goals was to enter 10 writing contests. I later expanded that goal to include works submitted for publication. I only entered 6 (and I didn't even blog about the sixth entry). This year I'm going for 11. One a month (minus NaNoWriMo month) is doable. I just have to, you know... do it.

3. Enter and win NaNoWriMo2012. I can not tell you how much I want to accomplish this goal! I love NaNoWriMo. But to enter and win, I have to accomplish my first goal. So, I guess I should get started on that, yes? Yes, I think so...

Happy New Year, everyone! Happy writing wishes to all of my writing friends and reading wishes to everyone else!

Aim High

I am almost done with Chapter 3. I could cut it off where it is but I'm going to try and add a bit to make it a little longer. Right now it's about 1,400 words. The whole book is past 5k now :) Chapter 3 is about gnats - so gross! And Chapter 4 is flies...not a whole lot better. Actually, not better at all. But all ten plagues are awful so, you can't really compare them. I asked my mom which one she would hate the most...she couldn't decide. She finally decided the tenth plague (which involves a lot of death) but all are sad and miserable.

Ahh, vacation coming up! The holidays aren't over yet! And I'm taking my computer to work on Ten Plagues and to work on an essay for a competition. The essay is due by January 15th. After I turn that in I'll have one of ten writing competitions on my goals list complete! I heard on the radio the other day that in order to ensure that you achieve your New Year's Resolutions, you should "aim low". You know what I say to that?

"Lame." 

I would like to achieve all four goals I listed on this blog  but even if I only achieve half of them, at least I did that much. Aim for the moon and if you miss at least you land in the stars, right? Aim high! Dream big! But keep everything in perspective.

Again, happy new year! I'm glad it's January.

A Bit Behind

*cough cough*

Ok. So. The 750 words a day thing didn't exactly work out. I am now at a word count of 4,375. I wish it were more. Not to mention that I am in chapter 3 of... 10. At this rate, I won't finish the first draft until October 2011. I cannot let this happen! Even if I don't finish the challenge on time I can't be eight or nine months past the proper deadline! Oh dear. I have only just begun chapter 3 but I am going to try and finish it today.

On the flip side, my New Year's celebration was so fun! We went camping from December 31-January 1 at a camp site about two hours away. Some friends from Austin met us there. We just visited mostly and had some s'mores and cider. I was so cold that night in our tent that I didn't get much sleep. But all-in-all, a great way to start 2011.

I'm going to go write now.

2011 Goals

Here are my writing goals for the coming year:

1. Edit Shiloh's Children well enough to show my family and friends
2. Enter at least 10 writing contests
3. Win NaNoWriMo 2011 with at least 100 words over the 50,000 words required
4. Finish the first draft of Ten Plagues

I chose number 1 as a goal because my family and friends have supported me for over a year and I have yet to show them any of my novels. I want them to see what I've been working on and what they have been supporting.

I chose number 2 as a goal because I want to have plenty of  writing experience to put on query letters I will be writing in the future. A query letter is a letter that prospective authors send to publishers. It gives the publisher info about the book and the author's writing experience. Contest wins and past publications are part of the letter.

I chose number 3 as a goal because I have won NaNoWriMo for the past two years and it is loads of fun so I definitely want to do it again. But, I have always just barely crossed the finish line. In '09, I was 54 words over. In '10, I was only 4 words over. I want to win by a little more than that this coming year, even if it's just 3 digits over instead of 1 or 2.

I chose number 4 as a goal because I would hate to leave this novel unfinished due to my lack of dedication to it these past two months. I love the story and my main character. Even though the going is slow on this book, I want to finish it. 

Happy New Year!