I went into this month without much of a plan. That’s unusual for me. I like to set goals month by month that reflect my goals for the year. But as March began, I could not decide which projects I wanted to pick up. I decided to let my moods and thoughts carry the burden of the decisions.  

Lion: After completing one short story last month that had been languishing in the unfinished pile, I found that I had an itch to revisit that collection of half-done tales. My biggest task was a story that I really liked the core idea for but could not get it to work. I went back into research mode and did a deeper dive. I was able to pull inspiration from a poem from 1898! This poem told a different version of the myth that inspired my story, which is based upon a local legend involving a drowned Native American woman and a cursed lake. The poem – aptly titled “Ronkonkoma” – was written by J. Hooker Hamersley and included in his book The Seven Voices. Not only did it give me some different details to absorb, but it also inspired me to finish my story my own way. Thus I was able to get through a first draft of my short story tentatively titled No Greater Distance. 

Lion: I also took some time to re-write an old short story of mine, one that had been gathering a thick blanket of dust. How old? Oh, around 30 years old! Honestly, it is one of the first stories I’ve written that I was truly proud of, and it has one of my favorite titles. A story about revenge and how it becomes something more, Throwing an Elephant is named after a story by George Orwell. The draft is a mess – I did a lot of tense-shifting and it got muddled in the middle – but it is still a story I love. 

Lamb: All this short story work kept book 2 of the YA series simmering on the back burner for the month. I did spend a little time working on the dialogue for the first climactic chapter. The second half of the climax, a more character-driven and challenging piece with virtually no dialogue, had already been sketched out and started as well. I have a ways to go in the run-up to the climax, but I remain ahead with the dialogue despite getting little done in March. 

Lamb: Likewise, I did little editing this month. I piggybacked onto my research binge and got some additional ideas for books 3 and 4, but it was mostly just isolated fragments and nuggets of ideas and dialogue that I added to the files and moved on. 

Queries: What? I did say I keep my goals for the year in mind. On St. Patrick’s Day, sitting at my desk on my lunch break, I decided to just go ahead and look for help with my query letters. It was only slightly impulsive (I’ve been meaning to do this for a while) and my finger hesitated a moment over the submit button before I pushed it at last. But my first choice for advice, only because of their work with a specific publisher, was unavailable. That just fueled my determination, and on my second request I was able to get two talented people to help me. The process has just begun, but it will be over quickly so I’ll be writing more about this next month. 

Monthly goal review time, complete with updates! 

1 – I want finish editing book one of my YA series to the point that I consider it good enough for publication (it probably won’t be, but I want to get it as far as I can take it). I am close on this one. I want to make one more complete pass through this starting soon. 

2 – I want to begin querying agents to see if I can publish that book, and its sequels, traditionally. I am getting help with my query letters and I have compiled a long list of potential agents. Trepidatious progress at last! 

3 – I want to finish the first draft of book 2 in that series and go through at least 1 round of edits. I slowed down a little, but I will still get this done this year. 

4 – I want to have a completed outline for book 3 with an aim at starting the writing process this year as well. I already have the basic idea for this story and a theme to work with. I also have a few notes and ideas for pieces I want to include, but like any series some things will be contingent upon what came before (and what I know comes after) so finishing book 2 must happen first. 

5 – I want to have at least 2 short stories accepted for publication. I haven’t found any open calls that excite me yet, but I continue to look. I do have some drafted stories that I think are good enough, so now it is just about finding them a home. 

6 – I want to extend my visibility as far as social interactions and publicity goes. I need to post more. I know this. I am drafting posts so I can get ahead and then release them slowly, giving me time to craft more without pressure.