Tag Archives: goals

Ready. Set. WRITE! {Week 4 Update}

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Hello! ThRSWCoffeeis is a post about my progress towards goals I am making in a summer writing initiative hosted by lovely writers Alison, Erin, Jaime, and Katy. We’re posting our goals publicly, cheering each other on, and reporting back via link party to let everyone know how we’re doing. Why not join us?

 

1.  How I did on last week’s goals

Word Count – 6, 090 to bring me up to speed. EPIC FAIL.

2,171. Despite my best efforts, 5,300 (or more!) words in a week is just more than I realistically can handle right now.

Draft a Query for my WiP – CHECK!

Read a few chapters in The Girls of Atomic City – CHECK!

Survive P90X3 – CHECK! 

Before anyone gets too impressed, I have to admit I’m taking it easy because I’m being gentle on my post-c-section abs and sometimes choosing to write over working out. But I did at least the majority of 3 out of 5 workouts with my husband. I’m happy with that! (And the whole he does the cooking thing is a sweet deal. Check out this breakfast he made for me … yum!)

2.  My goal(s) for this week

Word Count –  Back to 2,500 words again. Same as two weeks ago. It seems more doable.

Start an outline – It will be REALLY rough, but I need to start somewhere.

Raise the stakes – Per this tweet, my helpful husband suggests New York strip. Ahem.

Print out my Rip Current draft – I had set aside the first draft of this contemporary YA project when life got crazy (pregnancy and newborn); I think I’m ready to begin edits now. Fun fact: both of my current projects involve the ocean. I think I miss it.

3.  A favorite line from my story OR one word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised

Possibilities.

Most of which will probably be cut in revisions later, but I’m just hashing things out for now.

4.  The biggest challenge I faced this week

Still plot. *sigh*

5.  Something I love about my WiP

The exotic setting. My “Future” Pinterest inspiration board hints at it.

*** UPDATE: I made a last-minute decision to do Camp NaNoWriMo as part of my goal-reaching. Anyone want to join me in a private cabin? ***

Ready. Set. WRITE! {Week 3 Update}

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Ok, so just to recap, this is a post about my progress towards goals I am making in a summer writing initiative hosted by lovely writers Alison, Erin, Jaime, and Katy. We’re posting our goals publicly, cheering each other on, and reporting back via link party to let everyone know how we’re doing. Why not join us?

1.  How I did on last week’s goals

Write 2,500 words – Close, but not quite. After celebrating a great couple of days with this tweet, I did not add the remaining words needed. But still. SO much better than last week! (Side note: Oh, hi, critique partner Jenni! I see your smiling face here. 🙂 Thanks for the encouragement.)

Brainstorm three versions of the ending – CHECK! Whoohoo! The brainstorm session happened last night and went in directions I didn’t expect. I came up with one plot idea in particular that surprised me because it was a different approach than I’ve been taking so far … but I like it. I’ll make a decision soon.

2.  My goal(s) for this week

Word Count – I determined I’d need around 5,300 words per week to finish the first draft by the end of August, so since I missed last week’s goal by 790 words, I’m going to increase my goal this week to 6, 090 to bring me up to speed. Eep!

Draft a Query for my WiP – I find it helps me determine plot and overarching themes to write queries for projects still in the works.

Read a few chapters in The Girls of Atomic City – (fascinating historical research for this futuristic project!)

(From my Instagram feed.)

Survive P90X3 – My husband talked me into working out with him for 90 days. I’m scared. But this does come with a super bonus: he’s doing all the cooking (to loosely follow the eating plan) for three months.

3.  A favorite line from my story OR one word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised

“It wasn’t a business card, Mina realized. It was an access card. Eleanor had just given her a key to the most heavily secured building on the island.”

4.  The biggest challenge I faced this week

Exhaustion after a busy weekend. I had hoped to pump out those last 790 words over either Saturday or Sunday, but responsibilities took precedence. By the end of each day, I was too wiped out to do much other than collapse in bed.

5.  Something I love about my WiP

The research! It is So. Much. Fun. I get to daydream about future technologies and possibilities, while simultaneously looking to the past for inspiration and education. After all, according to George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” That’s kind of an unofficial theme to my research and plotting right now.

Ready. Set. WRITE! Week 2

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Aack! Is it already Monday? Confession: I did terribly at last week’s goals, but I will be faithful and report in the chosen Ready. Set. WRITE! format, regardless.

1. How I did on last week’s goals

Not so well. 🙁 I did write for several days, including on my birthday when I got two hours of “uninterrupted writing time” in a coffee shop as my birthday present. However, that “writing” was a lot of screen-staring and thought-turning-over and plot wishy-washing. Not exactly über productive, but unfortunately necessary. I’ll get there.

2. My goal(s) for this week

I’m going to keep it simple this week. My grand overarching goal is the same: finish the first draft by September. This week’s portion? Write 2,500 words. And brainstorm three versions of the ending from which to pick.

3. A favorite line from my story OR one word/phrase that sums up what I wrote/revised

Decision paralysis!

4. The biggest challenge I faced this week

Finding time to write. It was a welcome challenge, however. Man Cub has as been extra clingy as he goes through a growth spurt, so he’s needed extra attention. Then it was my birthday. And THEN my brother came to visit and I only get to seem him a couple of times a year, so that took priority.

5. Something I love about my WiP

The main character, Mina, is a girl who is talented in a STEM field. This really pushes me as a writer, since I was a word nerd, not a science geek, so I have to really be careful with my research so I can portray her interests acurately, even in a sci-fi book. But I love that about her.

Summer Motivation – Ready. Set. WRITE!

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ready set write

I am a writer, but I’m first and foremost the stay-at-home mom of a five-month-old boy. We’re heading into a new phase of babyhood and parenthood at this juncture: one strewn about with flashing toys (that I swore I’d never buy, but then ate my words when those toys made my son laugh with glee), giant plastic activity center monstrosities (more big grins), schedule changes, and a magically overnight rolling and scooting little man who loves nothing better than to MOVE! It’s like a break dance show, sometimes. PAR-TAY in the CRIB, y’all!

For the past six months, my work-in-progress (WIP) has been lingering in my mind, but I wasn’t able to do much with it. As soon as the chaos of having a newborn settled into a comfortable (if ever-changing) new rhythm of life, though, I began to feel the urge to finish the book idea that had taken hold of me before I was pregnant. I longed for my old uninterrupted mornings of writing, accompanied by an endless supply of coffee. I don’t regret that those days are no more (how could I? I have the most adorable little boy in my life now!), but I have been in a quandary as to how to keep writing, without sacrificing family time with my son and husband. Or sleep. I love sleep. I will never take sleep for granted again. I swear, in some alternate universe somewhere, there probably is a world in which the currency is sleep, it is that precious. That’ll be two hours and twenty-eight minutes for the burger and fries, please.

I’ve come to terms with the fact that writing, for now, will only be done in small chunks of concentrated time. But I have this crazy goal: I want to finish my first draft by September. And I’m not sure how I’ll keep working toward that goal, even with the the occasional coffeehouse writing sessions my wonderful husband occasionally shushes me out of the house to enjoy.

Enter, Ready. Set. WRITE! I just discovered it through a tweet by author Erin Bowman. Four writers, Alison Miller, Katy Upperman, Erin Funk, and Jaime Morrow are hosting this summer intensive to help fellow writers meet their goals by staying accountable and cheering each other on. I’ve decided that this is the push I need to commit to my goal. I’m supposed to check in weekly to list my goals and how I’ve done. So here are my first goals, a couple days late:

WEEK 1 GOALS:

  • Write at least 200 words per day (about what I can sneak in during a nap) for five days
  • Figure out the BIG BAD ENDING to my new YA Sci-Fi WIP (Code Name: The Echelon Project)
  • Plot the grand scheme out, so I can fill in the particulars later.

Alrighty then! Let’s do this! Let me know if you jump on board the Ready. Set. WRITE! train, too. I’m looking forward to cheering my fellow writers on as the summer progresses. Thanks, Alison, Katy, Erin, and Jaime for hosting this, and Erin Bowman for bringing it to my attention.

See you Monday, for my first progress report!