Sunday, April 1, 2012

A is for Accepting Challenges

Happy A-Z Challenge, everyone! I've been really enjoying some of the other posts.

I don't have a theme for my posts, but today's is about Accepting Challenges, a.k.a. setting goals and reaching them. This is the first year I've ever set writing goals for myself, the first year I've ever taken myself seriously enough as a writer to attempt it. At the end of February, I did a wrap up to see how I did with my goals, and I'm going to do that again for March. My February goals were:

  • Continue writing 1000 words/day. I didn't actually hit my 22,000 word goal, but I was on track to when I decided I was going to take the last week of March off of writing and focus solely on editing Capitoline Hill. So while this goal wasn't completed, I still consider it a success.
  • Edit 50 pages of Rosetta (now Capitoline Hill) per week. Well... I didn't do that. But I did edit over 250 pages during the month of March, completely my second draft/rewrite. So... I think that counts as a success too.
  • Get 50 followers on my blog and Twitter. So close. I currently have 63 followers on Twitter and 46 followers on my blog. Just a few more to go!
  • Continue to submit short stories and flash fiction. I didn't submit any short stories this month, but I have been writing flash fiction every week. I could have done better with this one, but I could have done worse.

And now, new goals for April:

  • Continue writing 1000 words/day, half of them for Defenders. I'm not going to lie, Defenders is being difficult. So was CH when I started it, but somehow it feels worse this time. If I don't force myself to write it, I'll never get through the tough patch. So I have a monthly goal of 21,000 words, and I want at least 10,000 of them to be for Defenders.
  • Send a mostly edited draft of CH to my beta readers and finish rough draft of query letter and synopsis. I'd really like to start querying CH in June, so I want to keep making forward progress on this.
  • Get 75 followers on Twitter and 60 followers on my blog.
  • Submit at least two short stories to magazines and/or contests. Continue writing flash fiction every week.
  • Complete A-Z Blogging Challenge.

I don't think any of these are out of the realm of possibility, though doing the A-Z Challenge and writing 10,000 words for Defenders may wind up being a bit challenging.

What are your goals for April?

14 comments:

  1. Challenges are definitely important to make sure you stay on track. You are doing really well with yours!

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  2. All very exciting. You can do it! ^_^

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    1. Haha, thanks! I expect you to keep me on track! :)

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  3. "Accepting Challenges" -- one of my favorite A's so far.

    And you're now one follower closer to 60. :)

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  4. Good luck on reaching your goals! You can do it!

    Happy A-Zing!

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  5. Goals are always good to have. Mine is to get some courage and start sending out my work. It's a lot easier to write when it's just you and the computer.

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    1. Oh, I totally agree. Capitoline Hill is the fourth novel/novella I've finished, and this is the first time I've had anywhere near the courage to think about editing and querying. Good luck with yours!

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  6. Good luck with your goals! It sounds like you are doing great at sticking with them.

    My April goals... finish my massive to do list, complete the A to Z challenge, and to read two books (pitiful, but necessary).

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    1. You know, I never think to put reading goals on my list. Maybe that would help, since I'm in the process of trying to read 6 books at once (including my own), and it would probably do me good to prioritize them.

      Thanks! :)

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  7. Good luck with your "challenges!" I'm helping you along to reaching 60 followers by adding you.

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