On the Edge of 2009

Here's hoping the astrological stuff going on tonight bodes well for 2009. It better...maybe. =/

Anyhow, it's of course that time of year where I post my goals for the year and hope I don't fall flat on my face like every other year. I know my problem is that I set too high of a bar for myself, but I just can't help it. One of these years I'm going to force myself to only have one goal - that would be a feat!

Well, out of my two pages of 2009 goals, here are my writing ones:

- Write 4k words (about 16 pages) each week of rough draft material, continuing and finishing started novels and short stories first
- Critique one thing per week, 30 pages or less worth of material - if I have nothing to critique, spend the extra time either writing or revising
- Spend 3-5 hours each week on a combination of revising, story submissions, query submissions, and newsletter/listserv/magazine reading
- In accordance with the above listed goals, spend 10-15 hours per week doing writing related tasks
- Finish rough draft of Shepherd of Dreams by April 30
- Finish rough draft of Daina’s Dance by December 31
- Track Word Count/Productivity
- Revise 12 short stories that have been in the revision pile for ages - then possibly get them critiqued and revise again (hopefully submitting half before the end of the year)
[Ancient Ways, Cold...Oh So Cold, Dreams in Shadow, Hell Hath No Fury, Ode to Buses and Libraries, Path of One, Petals and Blood, Sunset Street, The Awakening, The Game, This is Where I Stand, Trophies]
- Complete rough drafts, get critiques, and revise 8 short stories/novella
[Blood and Souls (novella), Flaws of the Fin, Grinka 3, Love (Fate - Two of Cups), Slavery, Sorrow (Fate - Three of Swords), Tala, Unlikely Hero]
- Once above two goals are completed, work on 1 to 6 more Fate stories
- Keep all completed short stories in circulation
- Continue submitting queries for The Mind Behind the Mind
- Keep up with reading Broad Universe newsletters, F&SF, and Realms of Fantasy
- Start reading/interacting and keep up with WPF and Broad Universe listserves
- Blog every other week
- Update website every other week - maintain MySpace page once a month
- Back-up files once a week, flash drive after each writing/revising session
- Read one novel every other month at least
- Clean and organize my study by January 31 (so I have somewhere to hide when I need to write!)
- Hope I have enough money to at least attend the WPF alumni writer’s retreat this year

That's the scary list. Here's hoping tomorrow I start off running and can keep the momentum going all year! I hope everyone else has decided to make a more realistic list of goals, unlike this crazy writer. =) Happy writing!

No More NaNo (obviously - heh)

This post is GREATLY delayed. About 13 days into NaNoWriMo, I realized there was just no way I was going to be able to hit 50k in a month unless I sacrificed my health - as in if I didn't get any sleep and wrote when the baby was asleep at night, I was going to get myself sick, and I couldn't get sick because I have to take care of her all day and she's still breastfeeding.

So, at the end of the 13 days, I at least felt successful in greasing up the wheels and having written almost 15k, the most I've ever written for a NaNoWriMo attempt. I also knew what I could likely handle writing amount wise in a week.

This is what I decided: when in rough draft novel mode, I should write about 4k per week, which equals about 16 pages - the pace I was going when I wrote for NaNo, on a good streak I can write almost 1k in an hour; one critique per week of about 30 pages or less; and about 4-5 hours worth of either submitting stories, sending out queries, and revising the endless pile of to be revised stories.

This was my plan.

I wanted to implement it starting on the 17th.

The baby did NOT want me to implement it.

She was extremely fussy the week of the 17th - I think that was the week tooth number five finally emerged. And we went to Madison for a family trip and baby toy Yule shopping that Saturday, and I finished a 50 page critique by the following Monday afternoon at least.

Sadly, no one has given me anything else to critique right now!

But that's not the bad part. Remember the thing I didn't want to happen because of lack of sleep with NaNo? Well, that Monday night I started to get a sore throat and got sick! I blame the Madison trip. Thanksgiving I was brainless, and the following three days, all friggin' weekend, I had a fever come and go. Miserable.

This week I have been recovering, and so I now finally get around to posting my plan, only two weeks after I originally planned to post!

Monday, I will attempt to implement my plan, but not the whole thing. My husband will be away for work until late on Thursday, so I will be on full-time baby duty with no husband to take her when I want to get some writing done. Most likely it will be fully implemented after the crazy holidays, but I hope I can at least get some writing done. I have to continue Shepherd. =)

As long as I don't get sick again - humph.

That's the deal right now, and one year I'll finish NaNo, but first I need to finish all the other novels I started. *insert maniacal laughter*

Happy writing!