This quote is so true and it's not just true for articles... it's true for fiction too.
Keep writing! And when you're ready to turn it in: stop, breath, give it a day to rest. Then you can start writing.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
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...
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!
Monday, October 3, 2011
2011 Goals... how they're coming
So, if anyone remembers, I had four major writing goals for 2011. I have three months left in the year and I still have a lot to do to get three out of four of these goals done.
Goal 1: Edit Shiloh's Children well enough to show my family and friends.
Umm... this goal is definitely not going well. I want to edit, don't get me wrong. I've just been lazy. And confused. And overwhelmed by the thought of editing a novel. Having a lot less school to do this semester might help me to get more done (maybe, hopefully!).
Goal 2: Enter at least 10 writing contests.
Ok, so, I expanded this goal a bit to include work I submit for publication. So far, I have submitted work to: 1) Bastiat Essay Contest (late entry so it didn't count), 2) Awaken the Sleeping Poet Festival (won Honorable Mention), 3) Optimist International Essay Contest (won first place at the District level but did not advance from there), 4) sent two poems to Starsongs Magazine for publication (they accepted one which will be published soon), 5) figment.com's Lyrics Contest (did not win). So, I'm halfway there. I still have five more contests to enter and/or publishers to submit to before I can count this goal as finished.
Goal 3: Win NaNoWriMo 2011 with at least 100 words over the 50,000 words required.
Complete! Actually, I made it with 400 words over the 50,000 words required. Woot!
Goal 4: Finish the first draft of Ten Plagues.
Gee, umm, And I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I seriously doubt that this goal is going to happen as I haven't touched Ten Plagues since January. I'd rather spend the time writing another first draft on the second draft of Shiloh's Children.
So, there it is. My honest assessment of my 2011 writing goals thus far in the year. I still have three months (and I hope to get a lot or all of this done in that time) but I'm not going to wear myself out over these goals. I made these goals in order to stretch and challenge myself to make writing a higher priority in my life and I think these goals have done that. No matter how much more I get done in the next three months, I'll be happy to have accomplished some of these tasks and learn from them so that my 2012 writing goals will be even more successful.
Goal 1: Edit Shiloh's Children well enough to show my family and friends.
Umm... this goal is definitely not going well. I want to edit, don't get me wrong. I've just been lazy. And confused. And overwhelmed by the thought of editing a novel. Having a lot less school to do this semester might help me to get more done (maybe, hopefully!).
Goal 2: Enter at least 10 writing contests.
Ok, so, I expanded this goal a bit to include work I submit for publication. So far, I have submitted work to: 1) Bastiat Essay Contest (late entry so it didn't count), 2) Awaken the Sleeping Poet Festival (won Honorable Mention), 3) Optimist International Essay Contest (won first place at the District level but did not advance from there), 4) sent two poems to Starsongs Magazine for publication (they accepted one which will be published soon), 5) figment.com's Lyrics Contest (did not win). So, I'm halfway there. I still have five more contests to enter and/or publishers to submit to before I can count this goal as finished.
Goal 3: Win NaNoWriMo 2011 with at least 100 words over the 50,000 words required.
Complete! Actually, I made it with 400 words over the 50,000 words required. Woot!
Goal 4: Finish the first draft of Ten Plagues.
Gee, umm, And I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I seriously doubt that this goal is going to happen as I haven't touched Ten Plagues since January. I'd rather spend the time writing another first draft on the second draft of Shiloh's Children.
So, there it is. My honest assessment of my 2011 writing goals thus far in the year. I still have three months (and I hope to get a lot or all of this done in that time) but I'm not going to wear myself out over these goals. I made these goals in order to stretch and challenge myself to make writing a higher priority in my life and I think these goals have done that. No matter how much more I get done in the next three months, I'll be happy to have accomplished some of these tasks and learn from them so that my 2012 writing goals will be even more successful.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
NaNoWriMo 2011 tabs
Some random facts about my NaNoWriMo 2011 experience:
Most amount of words written in one day: 10,026 words
Least amount of words written in one day: 0 words (this happened on several occasions)
Cups of coffee consumed during the month: Around 10
Cups of other caffeinated beverages consumed during the month: Too many to count!
People killed in novel: 0
People humiliated in novel: At least 2
Hours of music played while writing: At least 15
Number of times I cheated in word count: None! ...Ok, well, I guess twice. But after I deleted those words, I was still above the 50k line.
Number of different places I wrote: At least 5
Now, I have to get at least one novel edited before I am allowed to do NaNoWriMo again... I better get to work on that if I want to compete in NaNoWriMo 2012. It's a reasonable requirement but I know it won't be easy.
Thanks again!
Most amount of words written in one day: 10,026 words
Least amount of words written in one day: 0 words (this happened on several occasions)
Cups of coffee consumed during the month: Around 10
Cups of other caffeinated beverages consumed during the month: Too many to count!
People killed in novel: 0
People humiliated in novel: At least 2
Hours of music played while writing: At least 15
Number of times I cheated in word count: None! ...Ok, well, I guess twice. But after I deleted those words, I was still above the 50k line.
Number of different places I wrote: At least 5
Now, I have to get at least one novel edited before I am allowed to do NaNoWriMo again... I better get to work on that if I want to compete in NaNoWriMo 2012. It's a reasonable requirement but I know it won't be easy.
Thanks again!
Saturday, August 6, 2011
NaNoWriMo - The Final Days
After passing the finish line on July 31 (and then exceeding it by 400 words) I remembered why I love NaNoWriMo so much. The joy of having written so much in such a short time is extremely satisfying. I mean, I wrote a whole novel in one month, for goodness sake. I think I deserve a little satisfaction.
On day 29 I was rather lazy. I wrote a mere 600 words on that day. Day 30 picked up a little. I wrote about 1,000 words (yeah, I know, still not that much). And finally on day 31, I wrote 4,000 words which brought my novel's word count to a total of 50,400 words exactly. In my 2011 goals I said that I wanted to compete in and win NaNoWriMo 2011 with at least 100 words over the 50k goal -- and I did it!
So, you want a synopsis of Neighborhood Watch? You want to know what in the world I've been writing about for the past 31 days? Whether you want one or not... here it is (long over due - sorry!):
Military brat, Adriana Rodriguez, is moving once again just a couple of weeks before she begins her senior year of high school. Her dad's lack of consideration about moving infuriates Adriana... but there is nothing she can do about it. Her father has already accepted the position in a new place and they must move. At first, things are rough. Adriana has trouble making friends, she is still angry with her father, and then to make matters worse, she starts hallucinating... or is she? When an unlikely adventure picks up in her new home, Adriana is caught between her two neighbors. One neighbor is a young, attractive, mysterious guy who talks to Adriana but won't give her the answers she's looking for. The other neighbor, an old, creepy criminal, might be a murderer. But despite all the dangers and surprises, Adriana involves herself in all these mysteries and might actually be happy she moved after all.
Thanks for all the support I was given during July! My parents, my sisters, my friends, and especially my Savior were all a huge help in getting this book's first draft written. Speaking of my first draft... here is a pic of me proudly holding said draft:
On day 29 I was rather lazy. I wrote a mere 600 words on that day. Day 30 picked up a little. I wrote about 1,000 words (yeah, I know, still not that much). And finally on day 31, I wrote 4,000 words which brought my novel's word count to a total of 50,400 words exactly. In my 2011 goals I said that I wanted to compete in and win NaNoWriMo 2011 with at least 100 words over the 50k goal -- and I did it!
So, you want a synopsis of Neighborhood Watch? You want to know what in the world I've been writing about for the past 31 days? Whether you want one or not... here it is (long over due - sorry!):
Military brat, Adriana Rodriguez, is moving once again just a couple of weeks before she begins her senior year of high school. Her dad's lack of consideration about moving infuriates Adriana... but there is nothing she can do about it. Her father has already accepted the position in a new place and they must move. At first, things are rough. Adriana has trouble making friends, she is still angry with her father, and then to make matters worse, she starts hallucinating... or is she? When an unlikely adventure picks up in her new home, Adriana is caught between her two neighbors. One neighbor is a young, attractive, mysterious guy who talks to Adriana but won't give her the answers she's looking for. The other neighbor, an old, creepy criminal, might be a murderer. But despite all the dangers and surprises, Adriana involves herself in all these mysteries and might actually be happy she moved after all.
Thanks for all the support I was given during July! My parents, my sisters, my friends, and especially my Savior were all a huge help in getting this book's first draft written. Speaking of my first draft... here is a pic of me proudly holding said draft:
50,400 words. 147 pages. 31 days. NaNoWriMo 2011 winner.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)