Writing Resolutions

I have so many resolutions I couldn't make just one list--I had to break them into three categories to help manage/track them all, including: health and beauty (which is further broken into two sub-categories), career (the one currently bringing in money), and writing, with a list of at least 5 to 10 resolutions each.

Here are the ones related to writing:

1) Read at least 50 books over the course of the year

2) Keep subbing novel 1 (TPA)

3) Finish/start subbing a second (BC) and third novel (PoN)

4) Write1Sub1--Light Ray (which is kind of a 2-in-1 resolution: writing and submitting short stories. For this one in particular, I've resolved to write at least one short story per month, and submit that story to a market at some point in the year).

5. Participate in NaNoWriMo 2011 in November.

NaNoWriMo 2010- Update

So I made 50k right before 9pm on 11/30. I began the day with around 42k, so had to write over 8000 words to make it, but make it I did!

I just couldn't 'fail' two NNWM years back to back--I had to at least continue the pattern of succeed-fail-succeed-fail...so I succeeded. And if that pattern is to be broken, it will be by succeeding again and again, more often than 'failing.'

A pattern was broken however, in that this particular successful year, I not only didn't finish about a week early, but I, for the first time, was down to the last day, the last hours. But it made me put out my personal day best: over 8k in about 6 hours.

So that's my wrap-up! Finished NNWM with 50.5k (although the site word count validator counted it at about 500 words less but 50k nonetheless).

Yay!

NaNoWriMo 2010

So as usual, NaNoWriMo had begun somewhat successfully with me finishing day one with almost 300 more words than the daily requirement (1925 words).

I still don't have a strong sense of my main characters--no real sense of any of them at all, but I'm getting real, strong senses of a few side and (so I thought) inconsequential characters, minor characters. Characters that didn't even exist in my plotting and popped up only after I started writing yesterday.

I think I'll still be okay because this is the first time I've had a really strong sense of the story's plot and direction. I even know the very last sentence. But it feels weird not knowing who any of my four or so main characters are. Sure, I have notes on what I'd like them to be like in shallow ways and to starkly distinguish them from each other but none of them feel real to me yet.

Oh well, this is certainly not what I should be worrying about at this stage. The only thing that concerns me is that what I have is a false start but hey--I needed to get some words on the page. Even a false start will take you somewhere.

Anyway, time to start writing for day two.

Reading Goals- 2010

I realized in horror that I've only read 2 books so far this year and...I'll just copy it over from my facebook note (posted to help hold myself accountable. I mean--what? 2 books in 9 months??):

I tried to jump-start my reading habit in 2006 with a pledge to read 100 books for the year (which later dropped to 50) but only made it to 39--a number that should be a slow year for me; in fact, I'm only now closing in on having read 100 books since 01/01/2006, over 4 years later.

I have 7 more books to finish in order to finally reach that number, and less than 3 months to do it. Not to mention the holiday season is approaching and I'm planning to write a novel in November. But damn it, somewhere between the novel-planning this month, the novel-writing next month, holidays, working, looking for work etc., I'm getting those last 7 read by 12/31/2010 (which should also help prime me for my 2011 50-Book goal).

Luckily I've started a few books already and just need to finish them and add a few new books. The list is as follows:

(Started, need to complete)

1. The Little Giant of Aberdeen County- Tiffany Baker

2. Mrs. Dalloway- Virginia Woolf

3. The Handmaid's Tale- Margaret Atwood

4. Notes from the Underground- Fyodor Dostoyevsky

(New- to read)

5. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo- Stieg Larsson

6. Between Lovers- Eric Jerome Dickey

7. Erasure- Percival Everett

Goal: finish 1, 2 and 4 in October, read 6 & 7 in November, and 3 in December. 5 either in October or December since I'll be aiming for writing 2000 words/day in November. And that's that.

Progress Report- 2010

Oh wow--I have not been keeping this up well! And it's not that nothing was happening because things certainly were...anyway, now I get to make a neat, tidy wrap up of the writing year thus far (and before the influx of NaNoWriMo posts for the month of November. Of course I'm participating!).

So here's this year in writing:

Novels

I tidied up one WIP (TPA), added a chapter, cleaned up the last few chapters and made other revisions, then sent it to 3 beta readers. Within a few months, 5 beta readers had finished it and I'd gotten glowing reviews. I also started aggressively sending out the work to agents and to date, it's been sent to about 100 agents.

I've gotten 48 responses, including 4 full requests, and 5 partial requests. The agents who've requested the full have read it, and had positive things to say--outside of form--but don't feel they can sell it. I also got 3/5 responses (passes) on the requested partials.

I'm leaving this work alone in terms of sending it out again, until I go back in and fix an inconsistency I realized, and probably make a few more minor changes. Then I'll start sending it out again next year.

Short Stories

1. I sent out one short story last fall/winter--an extract from a larger work (CS)--to eight markets with as many passes. I sent this story out again this past September to six markets and I'm awaiting six responses. This particular story might be a little tougher to place because it's very specific in a couple different ways.

2. I sent out another story--"The Representative"--to seven markets. My first response was an editor's interest in publishing with a request for edits. Since then I've received 2 passes from 2 other markets, but I have not yet sent in the edited work to the interested market. I need to do that asap because it's exciting to think I could be published sooner than later and would be very motivating. The only reason I haven't edited the work yet is because for the past year or so since 'finishing' it, I've known something was wrong and needed adjustment and hadn't been able to figure out what or how to do it. I finally just sent the piece out, kind of with my arms thrown up in surrender. And now the editor's edit requests pretty much get at the same thing that's stumped me since writing the piece. Anyway, I've got to work on it and send it back in before the editor's forgotten/changed his mind! Hopefully I can sell it to this market and move on, my faith in the process renewed.

3. I sent out a short short/flash for round 5 of NPR's 3 minute fiction contest. 600 words or less, given first and last line. Once NPR's first printing rights expire 12/31, I'll send it out to other markets. Yes I am, perhaps lamentably, assuming I won't win because I didn't dedicate enough editing time to it; I could've cleaned it up better.

Anyway, it's amazing what a contest deadline can do! Suddenly in a short period of time, I had a new story. I hadn't written a new story for about 2 years! And there's no real reason why I can't write a minimum of 1 or 2 short stories per month--all I need is a jump-start and some sort of kick in the butt (deadline) to do it. That's the problem--I'm addicted to contest-type motivations; I have trouble just doing the work I should--and used to--be able to do easily and with glee.

My next plan is to enter the Writers of the Future contest and I'm currently cooking up a story suitable for that market. And of course--NaNoWriMo! I finally have a new idea to work on too--I had exhausted all my ideas/execution of ideas within 3 NNWM years (by the end of November 2008). In November 2009 I had worked on one of the two stories I'd worked on in November 2007. Anyway, this year's idea is very commercial and most likely will sell faster than any of the other novel-length works I currently have going!

In conclusion, this month is a matter of planning for this year's NNWM story and carrying out my reading goals (which I'll put in another post), plus working on my Writers of the Future idea. Oh--and editing "The Representative" and sending it back in to that interested Editor.

NaNoWriMo 2009 Wrap-up & Other News

By 11:59 pm on November 30th, I had reached 46593 words- almost there but not quite. Could I have made it? Of course! I had many lazy days of under one thousand words, the amount that can be written in under half an hour. There was no reason for me not to have been able to make 50k- and early too- except that this particular story is difficult for me. I knew from the first time I started working on it in 2007 that it would be my biggest, most comprehensive work, that I probably wouldn't be able to write it properly for another ten years or so. It would be the most real, the most 'epic'. It takes place in my country and is 'close to home' in other ways, and I currently feel out of touch with my culture and country, and need some time there, some sensory reminders.
I did get something out of NaNo though of course, besides 46.6k more almost-but-not-quite-useless words. I got a clearer idea of where it would go, the kind of stories that would be told within, ideas regarding themes and form. Some real characters emerged. Events clamored for their voices to be heard, as raw as they happened.
Most of all, I learned to leave this particular project alone until I'm really feeling it! Inspiration will hit, I'm sure, but now is not the time to tell that story.
Perhaps it's because I have so many other projects that are making real progress and haven't been given a fair shot yet- I kind of felt that way going into NaNo: I didn't want to start a whole new project because there were several sitting around unfinished; I didn't want to get into the habit of not finishing my books again, hence why I decided to work on one of the older ones.

What this means is I hope to finish and have circulating among publishers/agents a minimum of two of these projects so that I don't feel like I keep starting and stopping before something is done only to move to another project to do the same. I have accepted that Project One (C) is probably a trunk novel, but Project Two (TPA) is almost ready but has been temporarily abandoned. Project Three (PoN) is still in its infancy stage, while Project Four (EoS) is the one I've been talking about all along. Project Five (BC) is being completed slowly but surely since I'm pulling out segments to submit as stand-alone short stories, speaking of which, the one I've submitted so far (CS) has received four rejections total. I am still waiting on three more responses, while currently revising it to be sent out again. I also have another story from that project almost ready (got bad reviews from beta reader regarding the ending), and yet another getting close to being ready. The novel is therefore being improved and revised, taking shape short story by short story.

As for the short story I adapted from the short film I wrote (TR), I will start submitting it soon- to those that accept submissions electronically so I don't waste paper on a story I feel I could still do a little bit more with. I'm still sending it out now because it's just sitting there all 'complete!' But I will probably work it a little bit more, then submit it seriously to better journals/magazines.

All in all, I'm still being somewhat productive and hope to increase my productivity- time is flying.

NaNoWriMo 2009- Day 24

By this time, in my first and third NaNo years- 2006 and 2008- I was finished with my NaNoWriMo challenge, had passed 50k words.

Right now, I am more behind than I've ever been. The last time I was on track was on day nine at 15k words. I've fallen behind since; in fact, I am currently about a week behind- at a mere 30k. I'm pretty much out of ideas, my characters aren't moving, there is no real plot.
I have an idea of themes, things I want to address, lots of input from my personal life which is the problem and perhaps the solution. It began as a story of fiction- it's a novel-writing month after all. But with all my personal input, it's telling me it's a memoir and I have struggled against it, reluctantly accepting it.
I currently feel like I don't have enough to take me to 50k and am currently considering writing words for another work- pretty much repeating what I did in 2007 where I didn't make the 50k deadline, working on two different novels...or something. And now this year, I had decided to continue working on the one I hadn't done much work on then, and now, find myself in a similar position- on a losing track.

Of course I'm still at a point where I can save this year's NaNo- 6 more days after all, a little less than 20k more words. I would have to do something like 3300 words a day every day until 11:59pm, November 30th. I know that's not particularly difficult- can be done in under 3 hours. If I only knew what the hell to write! Every time I get a starting point now it dries up in under 300 words it seems.
Still, I won't say I'm doomed...yet.

NaNoWriMo 2009- Day 2

Ok so I managed to knock out some ideas last night, plotted some sections and overall have a better idea of where I'm going with this work.
Thankfully, I am currently right on schedule for the end of day 2 minimum with a little over 6 hours left in the day; in fact, I hope to make 5000 by the end of the day which would put me at a day ahead, and ten per cent done.
At this point, my goals are still quite do-able as the story comes together more bit by bit, piece by piece.
I want to maintain being ahead of the daily minimum, and that would entail being on top of outlining, brainstorming ideas- basically giving myself something to write about. Luckily, the magic that happens with writing still occurs- you start and a porthole opens and things you didn't even know were there crawl out. Your brain starts putting random shit together and makes sense of your bits and pieces.

NaNoWriMo 2009 and Other News

So today is day one of NaNoWriMo and I'm in the worst position I've ever been in. I have been unable to come up with a new idea, so I've been planning on working on two older ideas- the two stories I worked on for NNWM 2007. Then, I was advised to concentrate on one and accepted this advice as best considering how things turned out in 2007 when I wasn't focused on one idea. However, I still haven't managed to plot much for the one I've chosen- and for me, that is the worst place I can be.
My successful years have been based on a solid general idea and good outlines/planning. I have neither this time around. So today, I will be working on solidifying an idea of where I'm going, and plotting/outlining- basically something I should have already done. Not a great way to start! Especially considering I usually get a headstart on day one by beginning writing around midnight or so and getting a good amount of it in before going to bed so that when I get up and it's still day one, most of the remainder of what I write is gravy.
This is going to be an interesting year.

In other news, I have gotten back one response so far from the seven submissions I made for my short story. Yup, you've guessed it (otherwise there would have been a separate entry about it)- my first rejection! I kind of figured the story wouldn't fit that particular publication though.
I am expecting more rejections but I know someone will pick it up- perhaps not in the first round of folks I submitted it to, but I will find its market.

I also have two more stories just about ready to be submitted so I should have updates regarding those shortly.

Submitting!

Wow- it took a while yet it happened so quickly: I have submitted one short story that I think is ready to several publications (who are all okay with sim-subs of course) and I feel such relief to have gotten something out there. The story that ended up at the finish line first is the one taken from last year's NaNoWriMo project- the collection of short stories. It was the strongest of the collection to me because it had much more emotional resonance than the others. Now I think I have to find what's missing in the rest.

I still think I'll submit a short story version of the short film I wrote- it just needs more cleaning up according to beta1. It's currently not as sensory as the submitted one. In fact, it's exactly the kind of 'flighty' story some publications specifically say not to submit. I thought it would have a chance because it's kind of experimental anyway but I won't be lazy about it; I'll work on it some more and make it fit more 'traditional' tastes.'

In the meantime, I'm so excited about the first one making its rounds! I should hear back from the journals/magazines by X-mas lol. That wasn't even a joke.

Anyway, I have the strong feeling I will be published soon- within two years. Then I can have something to say in my novel query letter! But even without that in mind, it really excites me to think someone could soon be writing me a check for my writing- what a thrill, what a day that will be. One of the happiest days of my life I'm sure.