The first month of the year. A time of transition and renewal for those who live by the Gregorian calendar. Spring is a more natural season of rebirth, but for us a new year means resolutions, determination, and a renewed sense of purpose. Of course, so many of those promises are abandoned before the thirty-first day of the year.
Even though I do ascribe to a philosophy that change when it is time, not when the calendar deems it so, I do use the year to create personal deadlines and goals, especially when it comes to my writing. It keeps me honest and keeps me motivated to share them here with the few who actually stop by and read these posts.
I am happy to report that the first month of my new (and re-used in some cases) goals went well. I had a strong burst of creativity that meshed well with some extra free time, so I was able to accomplish a great deal.
Amid my own storm of productivity, a storm of the more typical nature came and went. We had a large snowfall on Long Island, the biggest storm in four years, and it has brought with it some small-digit temperatures. Mornings have been especially crisp and sharp, the chill slicing through everything. The weather, if nothing else, has given me the excuse I needed to spend more time at the keyboard. That’s only half the battle, of course. The rest is up to me.
I’m still waiting for permission to share the upcoming publication of 2 short stories. Hopefully I will have more to share sometime soon. Until then, the news will have to wait on the horizon like an approaching front. A deadline for a third passed by yesterday, so I will be sure to keep you posted about that as well.
One of the hurdles I must try to leap is a lack of rhythm in my free time. I get some writing done when the time is there. Sometimes that means only a few minutes to scribble down some dialogue or tinker with a problematic scene. Other times I am presented with a block of free time I did not expect and I do my best to take advantage of it. Such was the case in mid-January when I found myself not only with some extra time, but a great deal of focus and productivity. The words came in a whirlwind, the story flowed, and I got a lot accomplished in a short, intense burst.
I finished the first draft of the second book in my YA series during that unexpected but very welcome combination of time and focus. It was amazing. I can account for some of the ease at which I was able to finish. I have been living with this book, knowing very well how it would end and what would lead to those climactic moments, for a couple of years. I have been looking forward to that section because I felt like I had a firm grasp on the events and a powerful, effective ending to the story. Structurally it is a little different from what we are taught as writers – after the climax there is supposed to be a short resolution and return to the status quo, but in this book there is a longer and more involved piece after the action-filled resolution – but breaking the rules is part of the fun! So with 30 chapters and 133k words (that number will go down in editing) I can breathe a little easier knowing it is completed. I will print it out – I prefer to edit on hard copy – and shelve that story for a few weeks, work on a few side projects, and then return for the edits.
While I did tinker with the outline for book 3, my focus for the next few weeks will be on a batch of other stories that are waiting for my attention. I have an old novella I want to spend some time on, a sort-of Valentine’s Day piece I have already started, and I want to try my hand at a story about a witch for an anthology I found. I have plenty to keep me busy. I am hoping to have 2 short stories drafted by the end of February.
My monthly writing group meeting was a lot of fun. We had a 2-month gap in the meetings because of the holiday season, so it felt great to be together with everyone. With the theme of “winter’ and two frigid months to think, we all came back with a variety of takes on the season. My story, titled On a Winter’s Night, was liked by all. It’s about rejection and moving forward in one sense, but also about expectations and the grandiose aspirations of many authors. There’s a little leap of faith at the end. I wrote less than two thousand words (just barely), which was my target for this one. I could have gotten it a bit shorter, but an amusing bit about negative reviews was so much fun I had to leave it in.
Now that the stormy month of January is over, I can look back for the first time at the goals I set for this year. There is a long way to go, but it was a very promising beginning.
1 – Finish writing book 2 with at least two full rounds of edits. I got the chance to type those two exhilarating and elusive words: The End. Now that book will be put aside for several weeks so I can attack it with fresh eyes and a red pen. It sits at 133k words; I am hoping to whittle it down to 120k.
2 – Be at least halfway through writing book 3. I started work on the formal outline, identified some issues and questions I have with it, especially in act 3, and came up with some tentative ideas.
3 – Have at least two short stories accepted for publication. I found one anthology with a theme I think I can handle. It’s a character type I have never attempted before, so I’m excited to see what I can come up with.
4 – Expand my search for someone to publish these YA stories. I am researching and compiling a new list of agents and publishers. I am hopeful that I can begin the process in February.
5 – Average two additional blog posts a month outside of monthly updates and publication announcements. Okay, slow start with this. But it does say “average two additional blog posts a month.” I did that intentionally to give myself a little runway.
6 – Read 36 books. January reads: “Sooley” by John Grisham, “A Farewell to Arms” by Ernest Hemmingway, and “Tales of H.P. Lovecraft” edited by Joyce Carol Oates. I will try to post a brief review of each sometime soon.