New Year's Resolutions

Sooo... last year didn't go so well with the whole New Year's resolution thing. I was really only able to keep one of my four resolutions, and even that one only lasted about six months. But with a new year comes a new chance, so here's what I'm going for this year:

1. Publish Pack Supremacy - No, really! I know it's been on my list for the last two years, but this one will be it. Honest! Alright, so I know I'm starting to sound a little like the girl who cried wolf, but hey, it's got to go up eventually, right? K.S. Lewis has it for one last pass, and my other CP has already signed off on it. After that it's just line edits and formatting. I'd really love to have it up by March, so it'll be ready for the Liberty State Fiction Writers' Create Something Magical conference.
2. Consistent blogging... again - I know, I know. I'm starting to get really repetitive. But these are areas I really want to work on. I was able to maintain a consistent blogging schedule for six months last year, and I hope I can make it 10 or 11 this year (there's no way I'll be able to keep up with my blog during NaNoWriMo, so I'm trying to be realistic).
3. Finish writing CH3 - Of all my resolutions, I think this is the closest to a "sure thing" I could have. I wrote over 50,000 words of CH3 during NaNo a few months ago, so if I haven't finished it by November, that'll be my project again. I think this one will require a little less editing than Pack Supremacy did at least.
4. Publish a paperback version of Pack Mentality - This has been something I wanted to do for a few years now, but I put it on the backburner so I could finish Pack Supremacy. Now that that's almost done, it's time to revisit the paperback. I'd love to have a physical copy of my book.
5. Begin to take the business side of writing more seriously - This is the vaguest of my resolutions, and the one that will probably take more than a year to complete. I was told to wait until I had three books published before I really invest time or money into marketing myself. If the rest of my goals go according to plan, by the end of this year I'll have two books published and the first draft of the third finished. At this point, I think it'll be time for me to start making some decisions about it.

I know some people think making resolutions is silly because no one keeps them, and I can't exactly argue, with my track record. But I like taking some time--whether it be at the beginning of the year or at any point along the way--to assess where I want to be and what I need to do to get there.

Did anyone else make some New Year's resolutions?

New Year, New Resolutions

So 2014 passed by in a whirl of lights, color, sounds, and very little writing. I kept only one of last year's resolutions (I finally finished a nonfiction book), and I don't think I fared any better with my personal resolutions, though for the life of me I can't find where I wrote them down. I really hope being more organized wasn't one of them.

But it's a new year and a chance to reapply myself. And with that comes another attempt at becoming a regular blogger. Hopefully this will be the year when it sticks.

Aside from that, I've made a few other new year's resolutions:

1. Make writing a priority. Last year, writing often got shuffled to the side for other things. Sometimes they were important--family and work in particular. But sometimes they weren't. I'm a big television watcher, and while I do still hope to make a career out of it someday, there's nothing that can't be watched later so I can make some time for writing.
2. Make writing fun again. It goes hand in hand with #1, to be honest. It's not enough just to carve out the time; I need to make the time something I look forward to as well. For part of NaNoWriMo this year, I wrote some fanfiction to get the juices flowing, and it reminded me of when I used to write in middle and high school and how much fun it was. I want to recapture those feelings this year.
3. Publish Pack Supremacy, the second Capitoline Hill book. This is pretty self-explanatory, right? I was really disappointed that I didn't get it out last October like I'd planned. I'm working on a fresh round of edits that should be completed by the end of the month, so I'm optimistic that I can have it up in the first half of the year.
4. Submit more short stories to magazines and competitions. The only way to really get your name out there is to publish more, right? Plus, themed submissions allow me to try new genres and styles.

And that's about it. How about you guys? Any new year's resolutions you want to share?

2014 New Year's Resolutions

It's unusual for me to let half of January go by without writing down my new year's resolutions. I know a lot of people disregard this as a waste of time, or setting yourself up to fail, or any number of things, but I've always taking resolution writing pretty seriously. I think about it carefully, write them all down, go back sometime in the summer to see if I'm making any progress towards them, then evaluate at the end of the year. I like taking the time to be introspective. Plus, I always feel more grounded if I have goals.

2013 was a huge year for me. I wiped a couple big-ticket items off my bucket list, including publishing Pack Mentality, and because of that, I was floundering a bit when it came to deciding on this year's resolutions. But I've finally got some ideas--both personal and professional--and I thought, "What better place to write them down than the internet, where I can never lose them?" So here goes.

1. Publish CH2. I'm about halfway through my first round of edits on the second Capitoline Hill book, so I'm pretty optimistic about this. Right now, I'm planning for an early October release. You can keep up with the details by adding the book on Goodreads. Also, keep an eye out for a giveaway or two as it the release gets closer.
2. Write 1-2 more novels. Writing Bex and CH3 was one of my resolutions for 2013, but it never came to pass, so I'm taking another stab at it this year. I'm pretty sure Bex is a standalone, so I'd love to get that out into the world soon, and CH3 is basically entirely written in my head; I just need to put it on paper.
3. Read one nonfiction book. I'll admit I blatantly stole this from last year's resolutions, but it's still something I'd like to accomplish. Because seriously, it's just getting sad now.
4. Create and maintain a writing/blogging schedule. These go together. Basically, I just want to be more professional about my craft. Right now, I'm still doing a lot of the "write when the muse hits" thing, but I know if I want to start seeing more results, I have to be willing to put in the time... even when it's hard.
5. Dramatically reduce procrastination. This applies to both the personal and the professional. Not only do I occasionally get myself in trouble with my procrastination, but it causes me a lot of anxiety.

I think that's enough for now. Anyone else have some resolutions they'd like to share?

Teaser Tuesday - 1/7/14

Photo credit: Neal Shusterman's website

What's this? A Teaser Tuesday post?

One of my new year's resolutions is to establish a real blogging schedule (to go with my real writing schedule), and part of that schedule includes Teaser Tuesdays because... well, I think they're fun. Also, because it prompts me to read more, which I fell sadly behind on at the end of last year (I blame Joss Whedon for this, but that's a whole different story).

So without further ado, the first Teaser Tuesday book of the year is UnSouled, the third book in Neal Shusterman's fantastic Unwind series. WARNING: The blurb for this book may contain spoilers for the first two books in this series.

Connor and Lev are on the run after the destruction of the Graveyard, the last safe haven for AWOL Unwinds. But for the first time, they’re not just running away from something. This time, they’re running toward answers, in the form of a woman Proactive Citizenry has tried to erase from history itself. If they can find her, and learn why the shadowy figures behind unwinding are so afraid of her, they may discover the key to bringing down unwinding forever.

Cam, the rewound boy, is plotting to take down the organization that created him. Because he knows that if he can bring Proactive Citizenry to its knees, it will show Risa how he truly feels about her. And without Risa, Cam is having trouble remembering what it feels like to be human.

With the Juvenile Authority and vindictive parts pirates hunting them, the paths of Connor, Lev, Cam, and Risa will converge explosively—and everyone will be changed.

The rules for Teaser Tuesday are:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
• Then hit up Should Be Reading to add your link.

And the teaser:

Following Grace's plan, they pull into the supermarket parking lot and leave the squad car there, along with the keys and the deputy's gun--because a missing gun will beg too many questions. Leave the man his car and his gun, and he might just keep quiet to save himself from humiliation.

New Year's Resolutions

Happy new year, everyone! I hope all your holidays were wonderful and that the new year began with promise. I've returned from my spontaneous hibernation with enthusiasm (and new year's resolutions).

1. Finish CH2. I'll tell you, I probably shouldn't have taken a month-long break from this after NaNoWriMo, since I've now forgotten any ideas I had for the ending. But that's okay, I'm sure whatever I come up with will be better (she says optimistically). I have about 25,000 words left, and I'm really, really planning to finish it by the end of the month so I can give it to K.S. Lewis and make her fix it.
2. Write two more novels. Or at least write one and start the other. Right now, I'm thinking Bex and CH3, but I often change plans unexpectedly.
3. Read one non-fiction book. I can't remember a non-fiction book I read all the way through that wasn't required for school. That's not to say I haven't enjoyed any--because I have--but I just can't seem to finish them for some reason. But I'm going to change that this year.
4. Read 52 books, averaging one per week. I exceeded this last year, so I don't think it's unreasonable.
5. Query 60 agents, averaging five per month, or until signed.
6. Submit 12 stories to magazines/contests, averaging one per month. I constantly toy with this, and occasionally send one or two things out, but I'd like to spend a little more time focusing on it. Plus, short stories are a good way to unstick myself when I get writer's block.
7. Blog twice a week. And this is where I owe you guys a small apology. Things got a little crazy here over the last few months, and I haven't kept up very well with my blog and others. But I really do love blogging and I love keeping in touch with all of you, so I'm going to shake off last year and really dive back into it.

Also, keep an eye out for a giveaway soon, since I've almost hit 200 followers on Twitter.

Did you make resolutions? Care to share? Also, how were your holidays?

September Wrap Up

*sigh*

It's been a pretty tough couple of months for me, writing-wise. As much as I'm finally moving forward on Capitoline Hill, I've been totally stalled on everything else. I made a half-hearted effort at Angels this month, but I hit a brick wall a week or so in.

I know what the problem is. I've reached a point in all my existing stories where the characters have to start moving towards the main goal. Which is the point where I realize the story doesn't have a main goal.

My pre-production--for lack of a better word--sucks. I don't outline. I don't even think past the opening chapters half the time. So it's no wonder that I get to the middle of the beginning of the story and crash and burn.

I've been making an effort at improving lately, but it's not going as well as I'd hoped. I wrote down everything I know for CH2, which I want to write during NaNo, and it turns out... there's only ten bullet points, most of which relate to the romantic subplot and not the main plot. So I'm trying not to panic that I'll be winging it during NaNo.

OK. Whining over now. I'm sure looking at my goals for September will make me (not) feel better.

September's goals:

• Write 10,000 words, mostly for Angels. Well. That didn't happen. I did write words for Angels. A few at least.
• Enter at least one bloghop and post at least one blog post (not including Teaser Tuesday). I did. I entered the Genre Blogfest (a little late, but better than never), and I posted about Kyra Lennon's novella cover.
• Be a better CP. I read one of them. Well, that's something.

Also, I started querying agents for CH, which I consider the biggest victory of all. Having accomplished that goal makes me feel better about the ones I missed.

And now, here are my goals for October:

• Outline CH2. This one is pretty important, seeing how I won't have another opportunity before NaNo.
• Query 14 more agents for CH. That will bring my total up to 25.
• Get through my CP pile. For real this time.
• Carve out a few hours a week that are solely devoted to writing. I think part of the reason I've been having trouble lately is because I'm unfocused, which comes from doing other things when I should be writing. Then I feel guilty about not writing, and a vicious circle begins. A lot of people talk about making writing part of your daily schedule. I need to be better about that.

Do you have any goals for October? Also, who's doing NaNo? Anyone want to set up a writers' group or message board or something to help motivate us?

August Wrap Up

I have to say, this was a really nice break. Taking a few weeks to decompress was a good idea. I think I'm ready to get back into things, but I'm still going to take it slow. Work promises to be crazy from now until Thanksgiving, so probably not piling up unnecessary deadlines is a good idea.

So here's last month's goal breakdown.

• Have a polished MS for CH, along with a complete query letter and synopsis. I mostly do. My betas have been sending feedback on the latest draft, and I think one more pass through ought to do it.
• Enter at least one bloghop. Er... oops.
• Visit K.S. Lewis. I did. And it was awesome! I so wasn't ready to come home.
• Relax, shake it off, and approach my writing with fresh eyes in September.

September's goals:

• Write 10,000 words, mostly for Angels. I've been in a very MG mood lately (as evidenced by my reading Animorphs for the past month). And I realized that I've been overestimating how long a MG book is. Based on some of the books I've looked up, Angels is really a third of the way done. So I'm going to try to spend the next two months working on it, so maybe I can have another finished book before NaNo starts in November.
• Enter at least one bloghop and post at least one blog post (not including Teaser Tuesday). I need to get back to being involved in the blogosphere.
• Be a better CP. I currently have three MS excerpts to read and critique for three people who have been fabulous at reading my stuff, and I owe them big time. Break time's over.

And that's it for now. How was everyone else's August? I know I've been a little absent from blogs and even Twitter, so I hope you all enjoyed your summer!

July Wrap Up

And fail.

Okay. I think the universe is trying to tell me something. I've had a string of unsuccessful started stories and about a gazillion new ideas, and nothing's catching. Nothing's lighting me up. And I think the reason is because I really need to finish editing Capitoline Hill. No more excuses. So for the month of August, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to edit and polish my query letter and synopsis, and when that's done, maybe I'll be able to write again.

So here's last month's goal breakdown.

• Write 11,000 words. I wrote about 7,000.
• Have a polished MS for CH, along with a complete query letter and synopsis. I have a complete query letter that I'm happy with and a complete synopsis that is... okay. I don't have a polished MS for CH.
• Get 150 followers on Twitter and 100 followers on my blog. 145 followers on Twitter, 86 on my blog.
• Enter at least two bloghops. Turns out the What If Blogfest is actually in August, but I did the Hookers and Hangers Bloghop. And it was two days, so that counts, right?
• Submit at least one short story for a contest/magazine submission. No.

August's goals:

• Have a polished MS for CH, along with a complete query letter and synopsis. Because I'm turning into the girl who cried edits.
• Enter at least one bloghop. Because, as I said, the What If Blogfest is actually in August.
• Visit K.S. Lewis. Plane ticket already purchased!
• Relax, shake it off, and approach my writing with fresh eyes in September.

Did anyone have a productive July? Please, share with the class.

June Wrap Up

Seriously, guys, where did 2012 go? How could it possibly be halfway over already?

On the bright note, June was a way better month for me than May. I think I managed to accomplish most of my goals. Here's the breakdown.

• Write 10,5000 words. I wrote 10,700.
• Have a polished MS for CH, along with a complete query letter and synopsis. I don't have a polished CH yet, but I do have a complete(ish) query letter and synopsis. Well, a complete first draft of each. And I'm halfway through another round of edits on CH.
• Get 125 followers on Twitter and 75 followers on my blog. I have 132 followers on Twitter and 77 followers on my blog. (and a happy dance)
• Enter at least two bloghops. I did the First Fight, First Kiss Blogfest and the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Bloghop.

Woo-hoo! Not too shabby! And now for July's goals:

• Write 11,000 words. The 500 words/day goal is pretty easy, but it worked out well last month because I was able to do a lot more editing. So I think I'll stick with it for another month.
• Have a polished MS for CH, along with a complete query letter and synopsis. If I keep making it a goal, someday I might actually achieve it.
• Get 150 followers on Twitter and 100 followers on my blog.
• Enter at least two bloghops. Right now I'm thinking about the Hookers and Hangers Bloghop and the What If Blogfest.
• Submit at least one short story for a contest/magazine submission. I finished a short story last month that I'd love to do something with, so I might try to send it out to a few places. It's MG fantasy (dragons and stuff), so if you know of any place that it might fit, please let me know.

I hope everyone else had a productive June. Here's to a great July!

May Wrap Up

Hear that explosion sound? That's my goal for the month of May.

I had a very, very unproductive month, at least when it came to writing. I wish I could say I had more important things to do, but the truth is I got discouraged early on by some things in my personal life, then K.S. Lewis was visiting (you just knew I was going to find a way to blame you for this ;-) ), and work was particularly crazy for a week or so. And I just sort of... stopped.

And, guys, I came up with yet another new plot for Defenders. I had this big revelation at the beginning of the month, and about the only thing I did right in May was edit the first 13 chapters to line up with it. And last night I decided to (possibly) change it all.

I should explain. I've always felt that Defenders was a romance, even though it doesn't appear so at first. So when I revised it the first time, I brought the romantic aspects out earlier. Which led to... a love triangle. I hate love triangles. I mean, it's not a make-or-break thing when I'm reading a book, but it's usually something I groan about. Because I never agree with the main character's choice. NEVER. I like to root for the underdog, and it's always so obvious which guy the MC is going to choose that I find myself rooting for the other guy (who's always popular, cute and sweet, but she goes for the bad boy with the troubled past). And sometimes it's done well, and I don't mind as much. But sometimes it's done badly, and I find myself resenting the book because of it.

So, long story made not much shorter, I have a mental block against writing a love triangle, especially when it will be obvious fairly early which guy she's going to wind up with. So I thought, "Well, what if she's just with the one guy?" But the result was that the book lost a lot of its key tension (not the romantic tension, but the plot was tied in with Guy #2). So then I started tweaking the plot to make it fit. And now... there's a new plot.

I haven't decided whether I'm definitely going to go in this direction yet, but it doesn't seem like, "Because it will be a pain," is a good reason not to do it. Needless to say, this is part of the reason I didn't write so much this month.

So if there's anyone still reading this, let's do the monthly breakdown anyway. My May goals were:

• Write 23,000 words, keeping on track with 1000 words/weekday. Um. No. I wrote 8700. That's like 23,000, but... not.
• Have a polished MS for CH, along with a complete query letter and synopsis. Um. No. I have a partial query letter and feedback from three of my beta readers (and I'm waiting on feedback from two or three more). I have no synopsis. In fact, my Writer-brain cries when I even type the word "synopsis."
• Get 100 followers on Twitter (at which point I might have a giveaway) and 65 followers on my blog. YES! I have 108 followers on Twitter and 67 on my blog. And in light of that ('cause y'all are awesome), I'm going to have a giveaway next week. Stay tuned for more details.
• Submit at least one short story to a magazine or contest. Continue writing flash fiction every week. Um. No. I submitted... nothing. And I wrote maybe two flash fictions.
• Enter at least two bloghops. I actually entered three: the Dust It Off Bloghop, the First Loves Blogfest, and the Flash Fiction Blogfest. So, yay.

But it's okay. Everyone has a bad month sometimes. The important thing is to keep moving forward and not get discouraged. I can do that. So here are June's goals:

• Write 10,5000 words. I'm halving my writing goal this month because I really want to focus on editing CH and prepping it for querying, and I'm starting to realize I can't do that and write 1000 words/day. I have to choose.
• Have a polished MS for CH, along with a complete query letter and synopsis. For real this time. I've pushed back my goal to start submitting it to agents until later in the summer, but I really want to have something to show by the end of the month.
• Get 125 followers on Twitter and 75 followers on my blog.
• Enter at least two bloghops. Right now, I'm planning on doing the First Fight, First Kiss Blogfest and the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Bloghop.

And if you made it all the way to the end of this post, you're awesome. Here, have a cookie:

OK, seriously? How much do you want a chocolate chip cookie right now?

April Wrap Up

Happy "It's Not A-Z" Day, everyone! No, in all seriousness, I had a great time doing A-Z, but I'm ready for a more relaxing May. I'll still be around, but I definitely need to devote some more time to my personal writing. Over half my total words for April were blog posts. I'd like that to be a little smaller of a percentage for this month.

Looking at my April goals:

• Continue writing 1000 words/day, half of them for Defenders. I did write over 21,000 words (1000 words/weekday), which was good, but I only wrote 6235 of them for Defenders. This probably would have been higher if I hadn't just stopped writing Defenders with a week left to the month.
• Send a mostly edited draft of CH to my beta readers and finish rough draft of query letter and synopsis. Again, I did a little over half of this. I sent my edited draft to my beta readers (and got a shiny reward and my first feedback from one of them. And I have a (very) rough draft of my query letter (which I wrote today), but not my synopsis.
• Get 75 followers on Twitter and 60 followers on my blog. Right now I have 83 followers on Twitter (*happy squeal*) and 54 followers on my blog.
• Submit at least two short stories to magazines and/or contests. Continue writing flash fiction every week. No. Well, I wrote the flash fiction.
• Complete A-Z Blogging Challenge. Yes.

And now I need some new goals for May:

• Write 23,000 words. Keeping on track with 1000 words/weekday. I think I'm going to take a temporary hiatus with Defenders and focus my attention on Bex's novel because, frankly, it's a lot more fun. It'd be nice to write something that doesn't make me feel like I'm clawing my way through quicksand for a change.
• Have a polished MS for CH, along with a complete query letter and synopsis. I will be (read: want to be) querying agents for CH in June, so I need to finish all the prep work by the end of the month. Perhaps I'll even come up with a title for the first book at some point.
• Get 100 followers on Twitter (at which point I might have a giveaway) and 65 followers on my blog.
• Submit at least one short story to a magazine or contest. Continue writing flash fiction every week. I'm lowering my expectations for this one. If push comes to shove, I'd rather fall short of this goal than my daily writing or my goals for CH.
• Enter at least two bloghops. Right now I'm planning to do the Dust It Off Bloghop and the First Loves Blogfest.

I've been more productive in four months of this year than in 20+ years before this, so I'm trying to stay optimistic about keeping it up.

Anybody got any goals they're trying to stick with? Good luck with all of them!

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?

February Wrap Up

I figure the end of the month is a good time to take a look at how I'm doing towards my writing resolutions and see what I can do to improve, both as a writer and as a chronic procrastinator.

Just as a note: according to Blogger I had 400 page views for the month of February. From when this blog began in October 2011 through January 2012, I had 114. I also went from having only one follower (thank you, Kim!) to have over 30. So thank you to everyone who's been following my blog and tweets! I really appreciate each and every one of you.

Goals:

1. Write 1000 words per day, Monday through Friday. As of this morning, I had 970 words left to hit my monthly goal of 21,000 words (which is akin to that 1000 words/day goal). Barring some unforeseen circumstance, I expect to write that by tonight, thus accomplishing this goal. (Hey, it's nice to start on a high note.)
2. Begin Defenders. Yesterday I hit the 10,000 word mark for Defenders, so I'm well into it now. I also started/continued a story I'd originally intended to use for NaNoWriMo called Angels, but I'm only about two chapters into that and seem to be using it more for when I get writer's block, so we'll see what happens with that.
3. Finishing editing Rosetta. The wheels fall off the wagon here. Not only have I not finished my edits, but I've barely worked on them all month. I started out with about 70 pages edited, and now I'm up to about 90. Not good enough.
4. Submit short stories. This morning I submitted a short story to Penumbra eZine. I've also been submitting flash fiction stories to blog contests (and I must admit I'm getting kind of addicted to them). This is a fun way to hit my word count without agonizing over one novel the whole time, especially when that novel is as ornery as Defenders.

Three out of four isn't too bad, though I definitely wish I'd done better with Rosetta. If I ever want to start querying, I need to be, you know, complete. SO, with that in mind, here are my goals for March (I really like lists).

• Continue writing 1000 words/day. This seems to be a pretty good amount, enough that I don't feel like I'm not doing anything, but not so much that I can't handle that with my day job. This makes my March word count goal 22,000 words.
• Edit 50 pages of Rosetta per week. I honestly have no idea if this is feasible, but I need a stricter deadline for myself than, "Be done by the end of the month." I'm rewriting substantial parts of the book, but I'm still using quite a bit of the first draft, so hopefully this won't be completely unattainable.
• Get 50 followers on my blog and Twitter. I'm at about 30 for both, so I don't think this is out of reach.
• Continue to submit short stories and flash fiction.

I've discovered that I truly work better (read: I only work) when I have hard deadlines for myself with as little wiggle room as possible. If I can possibly find a way to put off doing the work, I will, even if I regret it later. I'm never going to be the kind of writer who only writes when they're inspired because I'll have nothing but a drawer of half-started manuscripts to show for it.

What about you guys? Does this kind of scheduling work for you, or do you work better with more flexibility?

I Love the Smell of a New Month in the Morning

So today begins a new month in what I'm affectionately calling "The Year of Get Off Your Butt and Do More Than Talk About Writing" (or TYOGOYBADMTTAW, for short). With this new month begins a new project, a new goal, and a new deadline. February's goals are as follows:

• Write 1000 words per day, Monday through Friday. This adds up to a monthly goal of 21,000 words.
• Begin Defenders. This is my paranormal YA project, the first book in a five-book series. It centers on a city called Rafcate, which was attacked and nearly destroyed 150 years ago. To make sure that never happens again, every citizen is drafted into military service at the age of sixteen. The main character is a 16-year-old girl named Laurie, who is looking forward to serving, until the body of a teenage girl shows up on her doorstep with a message about treason and revolution.
• Finishing editing Rosetta. I'm about 70 pages into my edits, and I'm rewriting significant portions of the first draft, but my hope is that I can finish the first round of edits by the end of the month, after which I'll finally be able to allow other people to read it and offer critiques.
• Submit short stories. I'm also looking to write and submit some short stories to magazines and contests. I'm on Duotrope, but if anyone knows of any other websites like it, please let me know.

My writing goals for the year are fairly ambitious, but I'm slowly starting to learn that big goals and hard deadlines will keep me writing and moving forward better than anything else. How do you keep yourself motivated to write and edit?

Resolutions

OK, so it's a new month and a new year, which means new goals for myself when it comes to my writing. So here are my 2012 Writing Resolutions:

1. Write 1000 words per day. I'm setting a goal each month that is equivalent to 1000 words/day. If I meet this goal before the end of the month, I can take a few days off before starting the next month's goal.
2. Finish the first draft of Rosetta by January 31. I don't think I have another 31,000 words left to it, so hopefully I'll meet this goal before the end of the month.
3. Finish editing Rosetta by June 1.
4. Be actively searching for agents by December 31. Ideally I'd like to have an agent by December 31, but I'm trying to restrict my resolutions to things I can control.

So with these new resolutions comes a new word meter. I didn't quite hit my 31,000 word goal for December due to the holidays and my general inability to write when I'm on vacation, but hope springs eternal for January.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Rosetta Update

So... odds are good that I won't be finishing Rosetta this month. Last night I sat down and, in a fit of writer's block about chapter 22, wrote a scene from the final battle. It really was just a small scene, but it lasted 1000 words. At the 1000-word per day rate I'm going, I have just over 10,000 words to go until I hit my target for the month. That's ten of those small scenes. I think I have more to say than that.

I'm okay with this though. I've set a new goal (end of January), a new writing challenge (1000 words/day for the month of January), and I'll keep trudging along. I don't think it'll take me all of January to finish, because I do think I'm starting to circle in for a landing.

Sort of.

This story has taken some seriously weird twists in the last month. Peppered throughout my chapters now are notes for me to go back and fix. Some of them are specific notes, like, "The Author will think of something clever for me to say here." But some are incredibly vague, like, "Make Alec a more likable character," or, "There will be more unrest in the Pack." Which means my editing process is going to rock.

I'm actually really looking forward to starting my edits. I like the direction the story's gone, and I like the things I've come up with to explain the anomalies I created in the beginning. I know there are several chapters that will need to be completely rewritten, as well as many things that will need to be cut or added, but it actually sounds nice not to have to create anything new. I just get to play in the world I've already created.

I've never edited any of my novels before. This is usually where the wheels fall off the wagon. I made some half-hearted attempts with my first novel, but none of them could wipe the undercurrent of, "I wrote this when I was in elementary school," from it, so I ultimately stuck it in a metaphorical drawer.

I've also never written a query letter for a novel or a synopsis, but those are both included in my new year's writing resolutions (I'll put up the list later). I'd like to have Rosetta edited by the beginning of summer, maybe May or June, of 2012, and I want to begin sending letters to agents soon after that. Ideally, I'd love to have an agent by the end of next year, but I'm going to attempt to dream somewhere in reality's neighborhood. I can't control whether someone picks up my book, but I can control whether I have feelers out, so I'll do as much as I can and hope the rest falls into place.