January 2017: The Optimistic Year Plan

January

Prompt: 

What’s your Wriye Word Count goal and why did you choose it? What are you going to be focusing on this year? What are you doing differently this year compared to last year?

     My goal for this year is 75k- fairly modest for WriYe, but still more than I managed last year. I think I managed 73k by the end of 2016? I could check, but I'm being lazy this morning. Regardless, I was this close to winning WriYe for the first time ever and then all motivation went *poof.*

Last year I had had to change my goal from 100k to 75k due to "life in general compounded by lack of  desire to write." This year, I'm going to start with a goal I know I can make, and hopefully change it to a higher word count if I meet it. 

     I have experimented, and find it more motivating to start with attainable goals, rather than crazy high ones. If I start with something hard, I apparently loose interest as soon as I fall off the bandwagon. Which generally happens by March, if not even earlier.

     This year, I'm hoping to focus on- well, focusing. When I finally bully myself into writing, I am far to easily distracted. I would like to find a set up that will get me into writing mode, and the self discipline to actually sit and write for the twenty minutes to an hour before getting lost in the internet.

And there are so many ways to wander....

Bonus:

What are you most excited about for in 2017? Writing wise or not. Let us know!

Currently, I'm most excited about possible vacation ideas. Last year I went to England with my sister and a friend for two weeks- I'd love to do something like that again, though maybe a little closer to home. I've had half an idea to try a road trip up to Nova Scotia and possibly Cape Breton, but the  timing is tricky with the cold weather. Another idea is heading for a resort in the Dominican for a week as a family vacation, though we still need to figure out pet care while we're gone.

I recently started Rosetta Stone Japanese, as I am trying to be a bit more serious about learning the language. I would like to visit Japan, possibly during the Olympics in 2020. But languages take a long time, and though I've picked up a bit from anime and an informal group I attended for a few months, I would like to be able to make myself understood before getting lost in a foreign country. I figure if I can understand and speak a little, I might be able to get away with not being able to parse katakana/hiragana. Hopefully.

We've been cleaning out and reorganizing the craft "room" in the basement since the week after Christmas- finally bought cabinets and tearing apart a desk to have a setup with two tables that will work better for us. Having spent about four weekends working on it, we're at least 80% finished. I am hoping to be done by the end of February, and able to get back to working on projects. 

Maybe this year I'll finish a few!

2016 End of Year Review

Ten Days into December, and I seem to remember the Forums switching over sometime this 

month. I figure if I get this in now, it's no great loss if I don't get around to editing it before the
 forum locks. If I do, so much the better! Also, I've dropped form the 100,000 word bracket down into 75,000. Numbers have been changed to reflect that.

Goals for The year: End of Year Review Write at least 1,000 words a month to keep the ideas flowing Managed to do that all year- though not yet for this month, but I'm still in NaNo Recovery Write the dang plots down as they come to me, especially the ideas I get at work- store a notebook at my desk for those moments. Did that! And I'm very glad I did, as I actually needed it. Continue updating idea project in Scrivener.  So many new ideas this year- luckily, most of them were for Works already in Progress. Write something to post on AO3.  Hah, oh the ambition... Finish Kings Shadow - because I still haven't  Nope, started over. Again. Post on blog at least once every month - because I failed at it last year. Terribly. Mostly successful? I posted at least One or two months were "turned in" late. But the posts are all there! Mid-Year Progress Report 2016       January   8,737   6,250 February   1,756 6,250 March   3,238 6,250 April   5,382 6,250 May   3,022 6,250 June   1,128 6,250 July     10,256 10,000 August 1,046 6,250 September 2,185 6,250 October 2,457 6,250 November 30,715 50,000 December 6,250 As of Nov. 30th, I have a word count of 69,922. December total is not yet available. Works in Progress: Izakk 2,197 Alexi 299 Arashi 10,416 Jafar 35,139 KS '16 5,323 Works In Mind: Arashi- Started in July OuranxHP- Started in October King's Shadow 2016- Started in Mid-Nov. Mysterious Evans- Started Oct. 30th (Co-Write)

December 2016: 2017 and Beyond!

December

And that was our year in writing - both blogs and novels/short stories/plays/whathaveyou.

Prompt: Resolutions

After your year of writing, you've seen the good and the bad that happen as time goes on. You know your high months and you know your low months. You should know where you are lacking and where you're awesome. Take that all into account and give us five (5) resolutions for improving your writing next year.

Oh dear, New Year Resolutions are due already?!? I still feel like I just nearly killed myself trying to do NaNo...
It's a good thing I like lists. Okay, here goes:

1) Write at least 1000 words every month.

      This worked pretty well for me this year, and I think I'll keep it, especially for those months when I really don't want to write.

2) Jot down story ideas as they come to me.

      Did pretty well at this. I have some interesting lines, started two fan fictions and got at least... 5-10k out of new ideas (read, plot bunnies), as well as a good bit of plotting for Jafar and King's Shadow. :) I even have a specific notebook for my "Story Journal" now.

3) Post on this blog once every month- or at least have all the posts up by the end of the year.

     This, I am very bad at accomplishing for some reason. This year, I only got behind by a month or two, then caught up. Unlike 2015, which I am still catching up. I think there is one more post I missed, out of the eight I added to my "to do" pile in January of 2016?
     Ah well, third year's the charm, right?

4) Start a Travel Journal/ blog.

     Why, you ask? Because they sound amazing, and I actually leave on trips now! I got the idea/inspiration when I went to England this year, and what with planned trips and conventions, I thought it would be a fun way to keep track of where I've been, people I met and possibly share my experiences and photos with friends and family- well,, maybe family. ;)

5) FINISH SOMETHING!

     I don't even care what anymore. Instead of finishing King's Shadow this year, I've overhauled it and started practically from scratch. I then started co writing two new fan fictions, am currently talking to another writing buddy about picking up several story threads we took a break from, started another two fan fictions by myself, and started Jafar. So I have five to nine WIPs that I am currently attempting to work on, and still nothing done. 

Good grief, no wonder I find writing tiring... 😒

Bonus: Tell us how you plan on completing each one!

November 2016- The War of the Words

November 2014

We're going to do this blogging month a bit differently... Because it is NaNoWriMo, for crying out loud!


Progress
Every week, at the least, post a blog of your weekly word count (total and week-only) and an excerpt from your novel. We'll cheer you on.

Week One (11/7): 7338/11668  = I wrote 7338 words this week. I also completed my first successful 5k weekend. Still behind, but not too badly- yet.

Week Two (11/14): 17393/23333  = I wrote 10055 words during the week. First ever 5k day on Sunday! Still way behind, and coming down with a bad head cold. If only I didn't have to work like an adult...

Random Update (11/19): So... the cold knocked me out for pretty much the entire week, but as of this afternoon I have finally gotten back to the keyboard- started at 17395, ended at 19073. almost to 20k!

Week Three (11/21): 

October 2016: Sure I Have Plans- Many Plans

October 2016

Just one month left before NaNoWriMo! So our next topic is pretty obvious...


October
If you are a planner, what part of planning is your favorite? If you’re a pantser, what is your favorite part of pantsing?      I am totally a planner. I don't really enjoy planning, per say, but if I neglect to plan before writing, I get somewhere between 200 and 5,000 words into a story and stall out completely because I don't know where I'm going. Not that there is no end goal, but in the sense that I have no idea how to bet from Point A to Point T, from which I would be able to finish the story.
      Really, Planning is a necessary evil.
      I suppose my favorite part of planning is world building. Most of my stories fall into the fantasy genre, and planning gives me time to jot down all those interesting cultural quirks- naming conventions, why countries don't get along, family history of the main character, legends, etc.
      These tidbits make the story much more interesting to write, and knowing that the main character's mother came from a well off trading family in a foreign city but disappeared when her betrothal fell through eighteen years earlier and has not contacted them since adds a lot of depth to "Jafar joins a caravan and travels to Lore (a large city in another country) to avoid pursuit." Now he gets to meet his extended family, which he was unaware he had.

      When writing with a buddy, the planning takes a back seat. Plan, who needs a Plan- all I need to know is what we want to do for the next scene, and I rarely get stuck when I have someone to work off of. The creative energy doesn't even have to be there. I learn so much more about my characters much more quickly and easily when I don't have to control the entire cast, and the goal of writing isn't getting to the end of an arc so much as enjoying the journey there.

Bonus: Show us your NaNo planning - handwritten or computer screen!

September 2016- Just Let Me Finish This First

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September 2014

School days... Starting up again. So let’s get in as much writing as we can before the books hit!

Procrastination
What is your worst time waster?

Reading. Always has been.

I would get so much more done if I could stop reading for even a week, but generally I read just about every spare minute- books, fan fiction, blog posts... My page counts are probably higher than my word counts.

How long do you allow yourself to procrastinate?

 I- never stop? Generally, I manage not to procrastinate about four days per month. The rest of the time, I'm lucky if I get to writing or chores eventually.

Do you regret it, or do you think it’s worth it?

Totally worth it. I love reading, it is my one true hobby. Everything else is secondary. Well, except work, but that is mandatory.

Bonus: Try to forego one of your time wasters this month and see how much higher your WC is! But not that school, work, necessary stuff. We need you happy, healthy and not in trouble for truancy.

So, I managed to go without reading for the three day Labor Day weekend holiday. I did get a lot of things I had been putting off done- and then I found stupid games on my phone through Google Play. At least I got something done before I found a new way to procrastinate?

August 2016- Saying more with Less?

August 2014

Let’s talk a bit about...

Writing Short Stories
What do you like about writing short stories? 
      I don't write short stories; I just don't finish them.
What don’t you like about writing short stories?
      How you have to move the plot so quickly that there isn't enough time to develop the characters- at least I feel that way. I might be able to get around it if I were doing a fan fiction piece, because I would already have a good understanding of the character; most likely, my audience would as well. As I usually don't "know" my characters until I've been writing them for a while, I find it nrealy impossible to write short stories that I am happy with.
How do you think short stories differ from novels?
     The pacing needs to be completely different, the writer needs to pay a lot more attention to "suggesting" the setting and character to the reader, rather than describing everything in detail unless the setting is the focus of the piece, and the character either tends to be focused on one major decision point or not develop much at all.

Bonus: What is your favorite short story anthology?
 J.R.R. Tolkien's Silmarillion- All the backstory you ever wondered about for the Lord of the Rings.