Goal Update 8/8

GOAL 1) PUBLISH SKOS

  • My Goal: Spend at least 10 mins, 3 days/week minimum
  • Where I planned to be: Spent at least 30 mins
  • Where I am: Feeling like I’m closing in
  • On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
I got through all the notes I left for myself based on Matt’s notes, either writing new stuff or tweaking old stuff. And I’ve started typing all the changes in! Once I’m done with that, I’m gonna do one last read through and before I send it off to a copyeditor. (I don’t know what happened to the guy on the forums who was going to read this. I assume he just got busy, but since he was doing it for free, I’m not bothered.)

Why a copyeditor? Because even though I’m fantastic at finding typos (I even found one while doing this edit lol), this is gonna be the first novel by me that people see. And even though I know it’ll never be perfect, I want it to be damn close. And another set of eyes on this thing that I’ve spent WAAAYY too long staring at will be good for spotting any lingering problems.

Also, fun fact: I’m an idiot I got curious and did some digging in my files. And, uh, I found the original idea for this that I submitted as part of my final project for my first creative writing class (including the incredibly descriptive and stolen title! Sorry, Dan Brown.) And I’ve been completely wrong about how long I’ve been working on this.

Ignore my organization methods…

Proof positive, I started this adventure over 7 and a half years ago. *side-eyes Past Me*

GOAL 2) REVISE SYCU

  • My Goal: 2 Lessons per month/ 1 Lesson every 2 weeks (except L17 and L21, which get 4 weeks min)
  • Where I planned to be: Lesson 17, 36 scenes in
  • Where I am: Lesson 17, 34 scenes in
  • On Target or Behind: Behind

How’s It Going:
Yes, I’m accounting for another week of this. Is work putting a damper on this? Kinda. I’m not a morning person, and most of the week I’m working the afternoon. It’s hard for me to wake up early to get stuff done before work, and if I want enough sleep, I can’t stay up until 2AM anymore either. Especially not Thursday night, since I work Friday morning.

But, I’m doing the best I can, the most I can, and I am hitting more easy scenes. There’s still one brand new scene, I think? And the rest will at least pull something from the existing draft. Not to mention the way the math works, the last week will leave me with a little wiggle room. So yeah, doing good so far.

GOAL 3) SURVIVAL

  • My Goal: 500 WPD, 1500 WPW
  • Where I planned to be: 28500 words
  • Where I am: 29003 words
  • On Target or Behind: On Target

How’s It Going:
I managed to push through my “where the hell am I going with this” and got some pretty good stuff, I think. I hesitate to call it “writer’s block” because true writer’s block is due to more dire circumstances and much harder to overcome, and true writers don’t fling the term around looking for pity.

The majority of writers who claim to have writer’s block are actually using it as a way of claiming to be writers without ever having to go in and sit down at their computers to work.

How To Beat Writer’s Block, Holly Lisle

I’m grateful that I haven’t needed to buy that course yet. You’ll notice also that I met my weekly word count. 😉 (And yes, I absolutely am calling out Past Me today for being such a lazy, insufferable, pretentious asshole who definitely tossed out more than my fair share of “writer’s block”s as excuses to party during my first three years of college when I should have just been writing. Salty does not even begin to cover it. Seven freaking years, you little shit…)

Also, I kinda have an idea for the ending now, maybe? I don’t know if it’s any good, but it’s better than “and then they all died, the end”. So we’re getting somewhere, it seems.