My 2016 Resolutions

Last year I tracked my resolutions for the first time and made a really good attempt to accomplish them. I met my weekly goals between 60% and 70% of the time, and met both of my large goals as well.

This year, I'm stepping it up a notch.

BIG RESOLUTIONS

Resolution #1: Finish the first draft of DSF.

I'm almost done outlining and plan on starting in January.

Resolution #2: Query TGITP

In order to do this, I need to meet some mini goals.

• May 31st: Send edited draft to beta readers
• Aug 31st: Make changes based on comments, send to new round of beta readers
• Nov 30th: Make changes based on comments
• Dec 31st: Send query

This is by far going to be the hardest goal to meet. 

Resolution #3: Read 70 Books

This seemed to be a good number for me last year. Challenging, but not too crazy. If it's easier this year then next year I'll bump it up.

DAILY RESOLUTIONS

Resolution #4: Write Once A Day

This includes editing and outlining/research as well, and there's no specified time limit. So as long as I sit down to work, even if just for 5 minutes, then that counts.

What does not count is reading articles or blogs about writing, or rewriting books and studying their structure. It must be something directly related to TGITP or DSF.

Resolution #5: Clean Up for 2 Minutes Every Evening

This is a resolution I've been thinking about for awhile. I know the difference that even a small amount of time can make, but I'm always so tired at night that I don't get it done. I'm going to anchor this resolution and the next one together to make sure they get done each evening. More about that below.

Resolution #6: Do 3 Pull Ups a Day

I felt like last year I didn't really accomplish what I wanted to with this resolution (to be stronger) and part of that was because 5 pull ups a week wasn't enough to really affect my muscles. I tried to bump it up to 25 a week, but that was an overwhelming number. So I'm going to start this year off with 3 a day.

As I was saying above, I plan on anchoring this habit to make sure it gets completed. The time this year that I was most successful at this habit was when I anchored it to getting ready in the morning, arriving home from work, and getting ready for bed. This year I'm going to anchor it to brushing my teeth.

How this will look: After I finish brushing my teeth at night (and washing my face, etc), I will immediately pull out my phone and set a timer for two minutes. During that two minutes I'll do anything that cleans up the apartment, from picking up and hanging clothes to sweeping the floor.

When the timer goes off, I'll immediately do 3 pull ups. And that's it! Hopefully anchoring these habits to an already established one will ensure they get done.

Resolution #7: Do One Good Deed A Day

I toyed with the wording on this resolution for awhile, because I want it to be very broad. I want it to cover everything from letting someone in front of me in traffic, to doing the dishes for my boyfriend even if it's his night, to asking someone about how things are going in their personal lives.

I think this will be a hard resolution to achieve, because it's not the same thing every day and it's not a habit I can anchor to something else. It's more of a mindset. I also think it will be one of my most interesting resolutions this year. I plan on tracking whether or not I complete this resolution on the same paper as the others, but I'm thinking that I'll also need to record what good deed I do every day. I might record this in a journal or maybe on the computer, I haven't decided yet.

And that's it! Here's a screenshot of the spreadsheet I plan on using to keep track of my daily goals.

I have each week of the year on the sheet, and for every week I have each day listed, as well as a space next to it for a check mark. At the end of each week I'll write in the bottom corner how many out of 7 days I met my goal.

Goal - Finish The Third Quarter

Summer break is here! And with it, a big push to finish the first draft of TGITP. I'm five scenes away from finishing the third quarter, so my goal is to do that by this Friday. Three days. I can do it! Much like my Spring Break goal I'm going to keep track of my progress on here to help keep me motivated (and give you all some insight into my writing process).

Wednesday, 1:38pm
Starting now! Today I'm going to plan the five scenes I need to write, and write one of them. I'm currently at a coffee shop with a writing group I joined. We meet a few times a week and chat and get settled for about thirty minutes, then Shut Up and Write for an hour. It's super helpful to be in a room with people who are all concentrating on their writing too.

Update: Wednesday, 2:30pm
Well, somehow I managed to add one, possibly two scenes to my to do list. However, I planned out about three and a half scenes. Not too bad for an hour's work.

Update: Wednesday, 4:13pm
Home now after running a few errands and sitting down to write. I think I'll crank out today's scene(s) and finish planning later.

Update: Wednesday, 5:30pm
Did a whole lot of nothing for awhile and then finally started. I wrote 421 and the first half of a scene.

Update: Wednesday, 7:55pm
Sitting in the Starbucks at my local Target. My boyfriend is across the table from me studying for his physics GRE. I just bought a clipfolio (clipboard on the outside with a pocket and legal pad inside, in cute, coordinating colors of course) in anticipation for editing TGITP. I figure I'll take my notes on the legal pad and keep critiqued scenes from my writing group in the folder. Ahhh, one day. Now to write the rest of today's scene...

Update: Wednesday, 8:53pm
983 words and two short scenes later.....I'm feeling pretty good about my progress today.

Update: Thursday, 9:05am
I'm at my desk, delicious cup of coconut oil coffee at the ready. The sunlight streams through the window in front of me, and my dog is curled up in her bed at my feet. Mmm. So relaxed. Time to plan out the last scene of this quarter and then write one or two more.

Update: Thursday, 10:13am
Spent some time rewriting a great scene in a book I'm reading right now, to get in the "words are music" mindframe. Then I finished planning the last few scenes of this quarter. Now time for the actual writing! (while the Dallas String Quartet version of Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This plays on Pandora...)

Update: Thursday, 10:43am
490 more words written, and 1 more scene. Two more to go!

Update: Thursday, 8:00pm
Here we go, time to hammer out the last two scenes! Throw in a word sprint or two with my critique partner and I just might make it.

Update: Thursday, 8:48pm
FINISHED! A day early too!

My 2015 Resolutions

This year I've thought hard about making some resolutions that I think I can actually accomplish.

Resolution #1: Finish the first draft of TGITP

I will finish this year. I will.

Resolution #2: Read 70 books

Last year my resolution was 52, and I read 65, so this year I'm bumping it up to 70.

Resolution #3: Write at least 1,000 words a week

Yes, I understand that only 1,000 words a week will not create an entire book. However, 0 words a week is even less likely to create a book, so I'm holding myself to at least 1,000.

Resolution #4: Play an instrument once a week

Again, not a huge change, but doable. It's the little things in life.

Resolution #5: Do 5 pull-ups a week  

These will be assisted pull-ups at first, since I can't even do one at the moment. By the end of the year I want to be able to do 3 pull-ups without help.

I think that these resolutions are much more reasonable and easy to meet, (Except number 1. It's scaring me. But I will succeed.), so here's to the new year!

Revisiting My 2014 Resolutions

At the end of 2013 I made 5 resolutions for 2014.

Was I successful at meeting them? I'd say both yes and no. Here's why:

Resolution #1: Finish TGITP

I did not meet this resolution. However, at the beginning of last year I had only about half of the book written, and not very well. Throughout this year I've rewritten the first half (getting rid of a lot and writing a lot) and I've done a lot of research into story structure and character development that's helped me write.

Resolution #2: Query at least one agent

I really shouldn't have made this resolution, since it hinges on me completing the first one early, and perfecting a query letter.

Resolution #3: Attend a conference or workshop and give someone a business card

While I didn't meet this resolution, I did join/start a writing critique group in February. We started with 5 members and we're now down to 2, but we've met and critiqued a scene or chapter from each other's WIP almost every week since then. It's really helped to keep me writing and keep me accountable this year.

Resolution #4: Read 52 books. (Unless 5 are the GOT series, aka what happened to me in 2013)

Now here's a resolution I not only met, but exceeded! I read 65 books this year. Woo!

Resolution #5: (This is somewhat of a given) Graduate college.

Of course I did meet this resolution. Not only that, but I also got a full time job teaching 4th grade.

On a scale of 1-10, I'd rate my successfulness at about a 7. I really could have finished my WIP if I'd put my mind to it.

Oh Yeah! Camp NaNoWriMo Day 3

I forgot to post on here, but I've decided Camp NaNoWriMo is just the thing to get my butt in gear and help me finish my first draft before I start new teacher orientation in August. My goal is 1,500 words a day, or about 45,000 words for the entire month. If I keep the pace up through the middle of August I should finish just in time.

So far I've done okay.

Day 1: 756 words. Only half way, but I did spend a few HOURS plotting haha. It will be much easier to keep up this pace if I have a plan to follow.

Day 2: 2256 words (total). Hit exactly 1500 words yesterday, and stopped in the middle of a sentence so it was much easier to pick back up today!

Day 3: 3792 words (total). It was hard to finish today since I'm staying with family, but I'm proud to say I did it! 3 days down, 28 days to go.

My New Writer's Critique Group

I joined/co-founded a critique group, and this past Saturday we had our first real critiquing session! The group is made of me and four other girls, all between 17 and 22 years old. This is extremely exciting (and nerve wracking) for me because it was the first time I let anyone read any part of TGITP. Seriously, neither my mother, my sisters, nor my boyfriend have read any of it yet.

I think part of the reason for that is because I haven't written the full draft yet, and there's a possibility that things in that first chapter will change. I want my family to be able to read the story in it's entirety and experience it like they would experience a published book. However, I don't necessarily need my group to read the book in it's entirety. I need their help working on my writing now, and motivating me to have something ready for them to read each week.

Anyway, the comments were pretty good! But it was the first week after all ;). I expect (and hope) (and fear) that the comments will get a little more critical, and therefore more helpful, as time goes on.

Update: Giving Myself Permission To Write

Okay...so it didn't go as planned. I guess I'm not quite ready to take up this advice. I started looking at my draft, and it's a mess.

There are scenes still written in third person pov/past tense, current scenes written in first person pov/present tense, scenes that have been planned but are unwritten, and gaping plot holes. Not to mention I still have no idea how this will end (okay, I have have some ideas - too many - that's the problem).

I've decided that the best way to clean this up is to move through the draft scene by scene from the beginning until all the scenes are written and updated, this time without looking back at scenes once I complete them.

Then I can read the first draft completely and figure out what issues need to be fixed.

The article still did some good though: it pushed me to start working on my draft again, something I haven't done in about a week.

Well, off to write!

I Liked My Wisdom Teeth Better When They Were Inside My Mouth

Just an update on why I haven't posted in awhile: I got my wisdom teeth removed on the 3rd. Since then it's been difficult to write at all, whether that be TGITP or this blog, but I'm slowly feeling better!

My 2014 Resolutions

Unsurprisingly, 4 of my 5 resolutions this year relate to writing.

Resolution #1: Finish TGITP

Resolution #2: Query at least one agent

Resolution #3: Attend a conference or workshop and give someone a business card

Resolution #4: Read 52 books. (Unless 5 are the GOT series, aka what happened to me in 2013)

Resolution #5: (This is somewhat of a given) Graduate college.

Writing A Query=Fun

Is it strange that I'm having more fun writing my query letter than finishing my first draft? Ever since I found this website, I can't seem to stop writing and revising. I wonder how I can infuse this passion into my manuscript...it's a lot harder to write 300 cohesive pages than it is to write one.

Murder Your Darlings

I first heard this phrase when I was reading On Writing by Stephen King.

"Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler's heart, kill your darlings."
-Stephen King, On Writing 

At first the advice didn't make much sense to me. Why would I want to kill the best parts of my story? But I think I finally understand.

Last month I was about 30,000 words into my first draft of TGITP (aka the book I'm currently working on), when I realized that about 20,000 words in the middle didn't need to be there. Now, don't get me wrong, I needed to write them. They showed me where my main character needed to end up, and they taught me a lot about the world she's living in. However, they didn't add to the overall story. It was tough, but I ended up cutting them and finding a much better, much quicker way to get her from the inciting incident to where the story really begins.

And now I think I understand what it means to murder your darlings. I certainly had darlings in those 20,000 words. In fact, I had two very real darlings who were characters that I axed, as well as a few plot points I was excited about. To me, murdering your darlings doesn't mean killing off the best parts of your story, it means killing off the parts that, although you may love, don't add to the story you really need to be telling at that moment.