January writing goals.

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Off to a good start: 520 words yesterday and about to get my daily 500 for 2nd January done. Thinking about working towards completing a short fiction submission for March, 2018.
 
Ok, so I start 500 behind even if I get today sorted. Might need to work on averages.
 
Kids are still on summer holiday through the beginning of Feb so, like all good Kiwis, I don't take January too seriously.
But, I do have a few goals:
The Dragon Slayer's Daughter off to the copy editor.
Finish the three short stories I was supposed to have finished on the beach before Christmas (I tried, honest! It's just the snorkelling was so good, and the water so cool and inviting...)
 
Interesting to see others going for the 500 word minimum daily target. It revolutionised my writing life although I now have more than enough first drafts to knock into shape so that I now I have to finish off my WIP then move onto the real graft. But 500 words a day on a first draft is bloody good fun. Sometimes it flows, other times it stutters but the beauty of it is that I will be the only one reading it in that form so none of the usual rules matter. That is a real freedom.
 
Had upped my usual 2000 words a day to 3000 for the current project, but that target is not always being met (but nearly!). Was going great guns until about mid way through the second act, when I suddenly realised I wasn't certain how a large number of things came together, precisely. Gone back to the (literal) drawing board to plot thing out for a day or two, but will then soldier on!
 
Did 700 words yesterday and noticed that a subplot might overtake the main plot. First draft muddles! Woke up just before dawn and a shape began emerging, a tension between two characters. The narrator's still more wobble than voice, but the characters interest me. I have a plot and some idea what might happen at various points, but the relationships are what holds the story together so far. I do try to sleep on various possibilities and see what my Unconscious has come up with during the night.

And I am building a word glossary that helps me get tone and themes right: gesso, needlepoint, crewelwork, bitter disappointment, visceral, enlarge, snappish, sour old envy, unheimlich/uncanny, the man who hated shadows, palette knife, rubbed bare, vacant, illocality.

Read a 2018 list of top writing tips in the Guardian and saw this from Hemingway:

'Always stop while you are going good and don’t worry about it until you start to write the next day. That way your subconscious will work on it all the time.'
 
Write at least one quarter of my fifth novel, about 20,000 words, freeing myself of researching facts to simply get words down on the page. Also, decide which writing competitions to enter this year. Oh, and remember to file my online self-employed tax statement before the deadline at the end of January...as most of the figures I type are 0, this is surprisingly easy! :p
 
Here we are, last day of the month.

Hit the 500 words per day minimum. Been a struggle, writing in the cracks as I have heard to so eloquently described on here, but still managed it.

Also finished yet another proof reading of a previous novel, cringing as I did so on too many occasions for comfort. Now need to transcribe the changes but that can wait.

All in all, a positive month on all fronts really. No complaints. :)
 
End of January?
/me looks up, blinking.
When did that happen?
Damn it.

Anyway, got about 60k words done, so way off my goal. Got a bit lost in the mid-month torpor of realising that one of my plot threads was left rather dangling.
Anyway. Onward and upward...or something...
 
Managed to get my Tax return in my the skin of my teeth and completed three new short stories. :)
 
Howard said:
End of January?
/me looks up, blinking.
When did that happen?
Damn it.

Anyway, got about 60k words done, so way off my goal. Got a bit lost in the mid-month torpor of realising that one of my plot threads was left rather dangling.
Anyway. Onward and upward...or something...
Click to expand...


Ar, yes where did January go? I only wrote 12,000 words that month, although I should be doing some proof reading and editing on a couple of novels.
 
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AgentPete

The Timing of Seminars, Events and Pop-Up Submissions

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Paul Whybrow

Reading Tastes

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