February Goals

This is a scarily short month. More so than usual since CWC meeting is on the22nd. Must get critiques done this week because I'm out of town one of the three weekends before the meeting.

What else can I get done this month?

--Finish reading MMG with plot questions in mind (98/300 pages)
--Look at all characters and determine if they stay or go (started)
--Fill out character surveys on remaining characters (started)
--Review each scene for what it adds (or doesn't) to the story
--Plot map entire manuscript
--Revise 1st third of manuscript
--Complete CWC critiques (0/2)

Hmmm, busy month, but doable. Will have to be since I only have 55 days to get MMG in shape to print out and give to CWC. You're not going to mention how many days it would have been had I really started back in October are you? Didn't think so.

You've Got To Be Carefully Taught

My sister is watching South Pacific in the other room as I work, can you tell?

Sometimes one does have to be carefully taught. Other times it's the casual lesson that works best.

As you all know, I've attended conferences and workshops on craft. I have dozens of writing books on my shelves. An embarrassing amount, really. And they've all helped shape my writing to a greater or lesser degree.

Then last Monday night, we critiqued Ali's full manuscript that had gone through a first revision. What a lesson there was in that. So many of the questions and comments struck home for me.

"What does this scene accomplish?"
"You need more tension here."
"Why is she doing this?"
and a biggie for me "Where is the emotion?"

Ali has done an amazing job with her story. The amount of improvement from first draft to this version is truly impressive, especially given that she accomplished it in less than two weeks. There is more for her to do (isn't there always?), but it's really really good.

I'm using what I've learned--both the more formal lessons and those important ones I've picked up giving and listening to critiques--as I read through MMG. I'm 98 pages into a 300 page manuscript. I should be done reading by mid-week. Then the dissecting begins.

Is it salvageable? Only a lot of work and a bit of time will tell.

Baby Steps

Using Ali's methodology, I've broken up my monthly goals into smaller, bite-size chunks. So instead of just a blanket "Work on revisions," I've got small, concrete steps. Each one looks a lot easier to tackle than just "Revise." And I'll get more tick marks.

Thanks, Ali.

And So It Begins - Again

Just got back from a lunch break at B&N. Instead of just browsing the racks (which I did, too), I wrote Morning Pages. It was the first time since November 24th. Pretty bad, huh? What's even worse is that the notebook was started June 16th. It is your basic spiral bound, single subject, generic notebook with 70 sheets of paper in it. And I'm only about halfway through it.

There isn't always a one-t0-one correlation between doing Morning Pages and being productive in my other "real" writing. But it's kinda close. I'm amazed I banged out anything in the last half of the year.

I took a bit of time off from any kind of writing, revision, or what have you from October through the end of the year. Since the New Year I've been playing. Watching DVDs (my favorite was Season One of Robin Hood), reading, going to the movies, working out, doing some organizing. Sort of a little bit of everything and not much of anything. It may have worked. I woke up this morning feeling renewed. Ready to tackle whatever I need to.

Hence, Morning Pages today. The netbook is charged up and ready to go. I have a new list of questions to keep in mind as I revise, revise, revise. And the thought of revising makes me smile. That hasn't happened since . . . maybe ever.

I think I'm gonna like this year.

Jenny Wins!

Nathan Bransford, super rock star agent, just announced the winner in his Secret Year journal contest. And it's Jenny! Nathan picked the top 5 finalists from over 650 entries. Huge accomplishment to be part of that select group. But then the blog readers voted, and they picked our Jenny.

How freakin' cool is that? I mean, we all knew she was good. Now it's been verified by a huge number of people.

Check out the rules, the winning entry and the also-rans at http://blog.nathanbransford.com/

Yay, Jenny! Update your bio, hon.

That Old End of Year Feeling - Looking Forward

The end of year reflections we indulge in tend to lead to some kind of plan for the future. What do I want to accomplish? How do I want to live my life differently? Better?

After a lot of thought, here are my writing goals for 2010:

--Revise MMG by end of March to submit to group. (Or Jenny may hurt me)
--Rewrite part of TNN not yet submitted by May CWC meeting to reflect changes that will be made to beginning .
--Query MMG (after any changes based on critiques from CWC) by end of July.
--Revise Vesta by end of September.
--Decide on next novel to start.
--Start it.

Looks like "revision" will be the word of the year. Whatever the new novel turns out to be should be a nice break.

That Old End of Year Feeling - Looking back

It's weird. This time of year always seems to make people reflect on their lives. Not just the past year, but the whole thing. Maybe that's why the older one gets, the more melancholy the season. More time to think about. More regrets to ponder. And more sweet memories to recall.

My writing goals for last year were ambitious. And I don't think I actually got all the way through any of them. But--and here's the thing that seems to happen every year--I did quite a few things I never imagined at the beginning of the year. Does it even out? No idea. But there it is.

So, what were my goals for last year?

--Finish revision of MMG in January (or be prepared to throw it in a drawer). Wow, was I harsh or what? It has changed, but needs more.
--Revise Vesta by end of April. She's still waiting until I get MMG done.
--Finish draft of TNN by end of February. I do have a draft done, but didn't make it by February.
--Revise TNN by end of summer. Still working its way through CWC.
--Write rough draft of some other novel that I haven't thought up yet by end of year. Yeah huh.
--Query Dan and other agents in March (only if MMG is submittable, otherwise wait for Vesta). See above.
--Write flash fiction piece for anthology by mid-January. DONE!! Although I ended up not submitting it to the anthology.

What did I do that I hadn't planned?

--Wrote a second flash fiction piece that I like better than the first one.
--Started a dance class that I love.
--Read a lot. A whole lot. See list at left. And that doesn't include the full manuscripts from CWC throughout the year.
--Took on new duties at work that left little time to write there.
--Visited my aunt in Florida for the first time in too many years.
--Several dog-sitting sessions.
--Learned much more about the craft of writing from all the reading I did and from the wonderful people in CWC. That would be (in alphabetical order) Ali, Fleur, Jenny, Mary and Shane.
--Finally redecorated the Writing Room. Yes, I've been planning to do that for a long time, but it happened this year.