December 2009 - Battle Plan!

True, there is still a day left of November, which means I could theoretically get more words. The problem is, I won't be able to write - Mondays are insanely busy days, and if I don't get certain things done, they won't get done for the rest of the week.

With that said, I have drawn up a Battle Plan for myself extending all the way through the end of May 2010. Why? Well, in June of 2010, I'm planning to go back to Seton Hill University to get my MFA! The Writing Popular Fiction Program is now offering a MFA instead of a MA. Since I already have the MA, I only need to take half the required credits to get the MFA. Am I crazy? Yes. Will this mean I barely have time to breathe? Yes. Am I worried about time and money? Always. But it's worth a shot, and I think it will encourage me to rev up my writing engines and keep them humming.

Once June hits, I won't have time for many other writing projects I need to finish. Hence The Battle Plan. Dead As Dreams needs to get finished before June! At least the rough draft.

Instead of posting the entire Battle Plan, I'm going to post it in monthly chunks. Future blog posts will track my progress (as well as Twitter posts - I have been enjoying Twittering during NaNo - remember if you wish to follow me on Twitter, my username is AlexaGrave).

December's goals:

- Study - clean, organize, file the papers away, put pictures up...finally make it usable for a writing hideaway!
- Dead as Dreams rough draft - write at least 3,000 words per week, ultimate goal of 14,750 words by the end of December.
- Revise/Edit "Ancient Ways," then subsequently submit it somewhere.
- Revise "Ode to Buses and Libraries," then find a few people to critique it. =)
- Continue critiquing - lots of critiquing!
- Update Blog and Website bi-weekly (likely opposite weeks).
- Keep my completed short stories in slush piles (I'm happy to say all are currently off my desk and waiting in aforementioned slush piles).
- Read 50 pages per week in the current novel I'm reading.
- Start to catchup with online Writing Groups and Newsletters that I am tremendously behind on.

That's it. Not too scary, right? If I take things one month at a time, I think it won't be so intimidating. Unfortunately, I have other non-writing things that need to get done before June as well. Sigh. Well. Bring it!

Wish me luck, and happy writing!

NaNoWriMo 2009

As promised, here is my post that will track my progress with NaNoWriMo for the month. I will try to update the Writertopia graph daily (there is also a Word Count meter on the left side under my Twitter updates). Once in a while, I'll post a note with the date under this meter, instead of starting a new post for every comment I have.

Also, if you can't tell, I am doing frequent updates with Twitter - so if you want to know how I'm progressing, just follow me on Twitter (AlexaGrave)!



11/1/09 - Day 1 down, only 29 more days to go! The weekdays will be the biggest challenge, since my husband was around to be driven nuts by the little one today. Hey, at least it didn't feel like I was writing total crap. ;)

11/6/09 - Weekdays = no way I'm getting anything written because the little one demands my attention and I refuse to live in squalor (dishes and cleaning bathrooms, etc.). By the time my husband gets home I can barely think! And this Sunday I won't be writing either since we'll have friends over most of the day installing the molding in the little one's room (this must be done, as it's been put off for over a year and a half already). Sigh. We'll see what I get done on Saturday, but right now reaching 15k by the end of the month would make me happy.

11/9/09 - I'm not sure what's wrong with the Writertopia counter. I'll still update the other meter at the end of each day. Perhaps I'll copy that meter here in the post as well.... Anyway, I may be far behind, but at least I haven't given up (even though last Tuesday I was very close to giving up in a bigger sense because trying to do everything I need to do has been straining me). Only got a couple pages today, but it's better than nothing.

11/10/09 - Yay, I'm 10% to 50,000! I know, I know, still way behind. I have to revel in the little accomplishments to keep me going at least.

11/22/09 - I was sick most of the week. =( And I gave up on the 50k goal a while ago. Just not going to happen with the little one and other things. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying to add to my word count. I'm hoping for 14-16k by the end of the month. We'll see!

11/29/09 - I was planning to hit 10k at least, but unforeseen circumstances meant I couldn't (trust me, it was a good excuse, as far as excuses go). I won't be writing on the 30th, so 9,003 is my total for NaNo this year!

Zombie Alexa Grave?

Yes, back from the dead after over two months of not posting a damn thing!

Life has been busy - ups and downs, money junk and ALWAYS baby stuff. My daughter is 19 months old now and she never listens when we say no. She understands what we're saying, she just thinks it's funny (she especially breaks out in laughter when we pull her away from digging in the cat litter - sigh).

She runs my life and doesn't allow much time for anything!

With that said, it is my goal for November to toss out any bit of sanity I have leftover (I'm not even sure if I have a scrap left). I will be attempting NaNoWriMo again. But I'm going to be a NaNo Rebel this year! I plan to continue the rough draft of Shepherd of Dreams (which by the way will hence forward be called by its new title, Dead As Dreams - I'm quite happy with that title). I may not reach 50,000 words, but I'm pretty sure I'll write more than I have between last NaNo and this NaNo. =/ But if I DO reach 50,000 words, Rebel or not, I'm validating! I am positive I have at least 50,000 left to go for the rough draft.

Unfortunately, my goal of finishing the chapter I'm currently in the middle of before NaNo didn't happen...so I will be starting the NaNo Count in the middle of a chapter - oops! I blame my mother coming over on Thursday this week (my designated writing day for the last month or so).

As far as other writing updates go, I just finished a read through of one of my critique partners' super long novels, so hopefully I'll also find the time in November to start my general and internal comments on that. I submitted a story to the Writers of the Future Contest. I have slacked on other submissions and queries. And yes, I know I missed my triannual update, but oh well. Have to focus on the present and the future 30 days.

I will add a new meter to the left side soon for NaNo (alongside a new one for Dead As Dreams - if I can find a decent meter). Plus, I plan to use the Writertopia one again in an actual blog post and change it every day (I love the moods on that one).

My NaNoWriMo username is the same as always: alexagrave. Please add me as a buddy if you'd like! Also, here's the link to information on NaNo Rebels.

I have to head out now, as it's Halloween, and my 8th wedding anniversary! Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain all - and of course, happy writing!