Bimonthly Goals: July - August

Since it's the first of the month and the end of my other set of bimonthly goals, I thought it would be best to post my new goals for the months of July and August. The list will usually have about ten or so goals for me to try to complete.

So here they are:

• Write 70k of Hourglass or finish
• Keep up with critique partners
• Post on social media daily
• Blog twice a week
• Work on District Pluto series
• Save money
• Contact an editor
• Start up my newsletter
• Unpack Boxes
• Clean out car

These are my goals. I may add some later on, depending on how the months go. Let's see if I can get a little more than half finished this time around.

Writing Buddies

Writing buddies are exactly what they sound like. People who are your friends and they write too. I have several of them and they are wonderful. I've never actually met them in real life but they are my favorite people to talk.

What you can use writing buddies for:

• To talk to them. They are there for you to talk to. You're both going on some kind of journey with your writing, why not commiserate with each other? Share your ups and downs.
• Bounce ideas back and forth. When you get stuck, Writing Buddies are the best way to get over the bump you are stuck on. I love helping my writing buddies figure out their novels. It's always nice to be helpful when needed.
• To point out mistakes. Writing buddies help you with almost ever aspect of your writing. They can be a beta reader, a critique partner - anything. Your writing buddy could help you in many areas.
• To inspire. They can inspire you to continue writing or editing. Whatever task is daunting to you. Tell them and let them help you find the inspiration that you need.
• To be a friend. This kind of ties in with talking to them. This person isn't just going to know about your writing life. They are going to know about you too. You learn to connect with them and trust them. You become friends with them.
• They have your back. They are going to be a support system that is a bit different from the people who support you and aren't writers. They might be the only support you have when it comes to writing. They have the same goal and want you to succeed. If they warn you about a scam, you should probably heed that warning. They aren't being jealous. If they are, then you got yourself a shitty writing buddy. 

These are only the simple things that they can do for you. But you have to be willing to give as much as you receive. You have to be willing to put forth an effort for them as well. Also, don't get pissed off at them for giving you their opinion. When you ask someone for help, they are just telling you how they see it. They are allowed to have their own opinion. If you don't want to hear negative feedback, then don't ask.

Writing Update: Beta Readers

This week was pretty productive. I finished Survival Agreement. I'm actually pleased with the turn out and the changes I made to make it more logical. I have one person beta reading at the moment and giving me great feedback. I think I'm going to be looking for another beta reader or two before I schedule a time with my editor. Yay!

One of my goals it to have my brother illustrate parts of my novella. It would be a nice touch to the world and I know a few people who have read the novella would really like seeing parts of it. This is somethings I have to ask him about. He's a very busy man.

I'm currently working on some character development things for Hourglass. Which I plan on finishing the rewrite in July for Campnano. This is going to be a real pain in my ass when it's over and the edits will be awful but the novel will be where it needs to be for the most part. I won't have to do another overhaul. Just revisions and edits.

Well, that's all I have for my update. I'm hoping to have a very productive weekend...I probably won't.

Writing Update: Coming To An End

I've had a pretty productive week. I managed to fix the plot for Hourglass and I'm working on finishing up my edits for Survival Agreement. I'm actually pretty excited about this getting to the point where I need betas. Hopefully by Tuesday's post, I'll have it finished and I'll reveal the new cover I created for it as well as a link for becoming a beta reader. I'm pretty excited about getting this out there.

Another thing that has happened this week is that I contacted the people I want to edit my work. I'm going to send them Survival Agreement when I'm done with the beta process. The person I talked to was very friendly and I feel like I'm going to have a great time working with them.

I've also been in contact with the people who are going to create the cover for Hourglass and I'm excited to work with them as well. I'll be sure to leave a link to their website when I do my cover reveal for that.

Well, I'm going to continue on this these edits on Survival Agreement. So they will be finished by the end of tomorrow.

Writing Update: June Goals

May is gone and I managed to complete so many of my goals for May. I'm doing really well on my revisions for my novel, Hourglass. I'm hoping to call for beta readers by the end of next month. The one thing I'm struggling with is coming up with a back cover blurb. This might be due to the fact that I don't have everything figured out yet. I don't have an official outline (which I need to work on) and that's my goal for the weekend. I want to create a formal outline.

On top of the other things I need to work on, the formal outline will be key. I also realized that I was focusing on the wrong thing. Hourglass is my first character driven novel that I have ever written. Usually anything character driven is a subplot. This one is so heavily character focused. I overlooked that. This is all good to know for when create my outline and work on my blurb.

Another story I'll be working on is Survival Agreement. I'm giving the story an overhaul and hoping to polish it up a lot.

Well, I'd better mention my goals before I get a little bit ahead of myself. After this month, I'll only be posting goals bimonthly instead of every month.

June Goals

• Finish Editing Hourglass
• Finish Editing Survival Agreement
• Write the summary for Hourglass
• Look for Betas Readers for Survival Agreement
• Be more active on social media

Well, that looks like a good set of goals. I'll leave it at that for now.

Have a good month of June!

Writing Update: Write, Rewrite, Revise

This whole week has been filled with revisions and rewrites. My first three chapters are being rewritten and it's taking me a long time. I'm probably going to spend the weekend working on creating a new outline with index cards because that's how I work. Hourglass is coming along nicely though. It's a bit slow but I'm taking my time. Beginnings are usually really hard for me to write.

I'm starting on another project - not another novel - and I'm getting pretty far with it. I have a few things that I need to do first though. It's going to cost a bit of money but, it's going to happen.

This weekend, I'm going to be contacting the people who I want to do my cover art with. I already picked out the service and I've been stalking the hell out of their website. I'm so excited to be asking them to do my cover for me.

I'll be looking for Critique Partners and Beta Readers soon. Probably at the end of June. It's strange to be doing this. I've written so many novels but this is the first time I've tried to publish.

Writing Update: Getting Ahead

This has been a good week when it comes to my novel Hourglass. I'm ahead of schedule and want to remain that way. I'm debating over one plot twist at the moment and that it something I'm going to have to layout in front of me to see how the outline will come together. And in order to do that, I'm going to need a large open space to spread out my plot cards. Something to work on this weekend, I guess.

I'm going to be honest, I've been doing a lot of my revisions at work when I have the time and it's been working really well. It's helped me get ahead of schedule and that means I'll be doing the type-ups much sooner.

It's amazing that I'm actually managing to do anything this week. I've been sick but I've been working through it. For the first part of 2017, I've been slacking on these revisions but I'm making up for it. To hold myself accountable, I gave myself a deadline and have put everything in my planner.

The revisions for Hourglass will be done by the end of the summer (type-ups and all). I'm determined to finally finish this. 

Writing Update: Making Plans

Well, I'm back in the swing of things. I just printed out all of Hourglass because I discovered that I can't revise on my computer. I'm not sure why. I just have a really hard time focusing on revisions. So, I printed my manuscript...which took a lot of paper but it was worth it. I kind of like not having to stare at a screen all day and my foot really appreciates me not sitting at a desk all day.

The revisions are going along smoothly. I want to try to finish everything by the end of the month but considering that it's already the 11th of May...It might not happen. I'll keep working on it though. I've been doing some research into some cover artists and I think I found one I really like and could possibly be a good fit for my series. While I'll still be making the cover art for my Wattpad stories, I kind of want my published novels to be professionally done until I get used to the new program I got or until I get better in general...Improvement is always nice.

I've been looking into making my own publishing company and it looks relatively easy. I'm going to look into it more though. I still have to come up with a name for it and do some more digging to figure out if it's what I really want (it probably is). There is just a lot to do for that.

Once I'm about halfway through my revision process, I'll be looking for Critique Partners. I want to make sure that I have something that I can actually give my partner(s) so I want a good portion of Hourglass finished by then.

Since I'm off school for the summer, I'm really hoping that I can continue to work on my novel and start working on my stories for Wattpad (which I've been procrastinating on). I think I'm going to take down my story Spliced until I'm done with my edits for District Pluto: Morality Sentence. Which I want to publish on the site next. I've been thinking about it a lot lately and it's something that I've been really interested in working on.

Another thing I started up again was reading. As much as I would love to go through and re-read the Tamora Pierce novels, I don't have them available for me right now. They are in my dad's basement waiting to be transferred to my apartment. I just need to clean it first. So, instead, I'm reading Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. I will get through this story...I will. This book has been sitting on my shelf for a year now and I still haven't read it.

I'll probably write a review and post it...just to prove I actually read it. 

WriYe Blogging Circle: Editing Isn't All That Bad

What’s your plan of attack for editing? Is it a chore for you? Do you enjoy it? What's the hardest thing for you in the editing process?

Bonus:

What's the best and/or worst editing advice you have ever received? 

Editing can be a very daunting task. I tend to get really frustrated once I actually dig into my manuscript and try to fix what needs to be fixed. I guess that would be more of revising. Revision is the biggest pain in my ass to date. I love it and I hate it. 

I love figuring out what needs to be fixed/removed/added in my story. Filling in plot holes and fixing characters are all things that I like...in theory. I guess. I usually read through the entire manuscript first and figure out what needs work. I then rework the outline, make notes on the side of what needs to happen.

After I'm done with that I get into gutting my novel. This is the painful part. Not because the novel is something I worked hard on (it usually is) but because this part is so time consuming and I feel like I'm rewriting everything (though I'm not). Though, in the end, this is where it all comes together and I have something decent to work with. This is where I'm struggling right now with Hourglass. The beginning of my stories are always my hardest and I have to rework them a few times before I'm pleased with it. 

The best editing advise I have ever received is: "Know what you wanted to write." Seems a bit silly right? You should know what you wanted out of the story you've written...but sometimes writers tend to veer off into a whole different kind of novel. That is when the writer needs to decide if the novel they wrote is even better than what they planned, or if the novel they planned is much better than the one they wrote. I tend to lean toward my planned novels. Though, that doesn't mean some good things haven't come out of my out of control novels. 

While they don't venture too far off the path, they do tend to change the mood a bit and sometimes that's okay. Sometimes I find good background information that will help with a plot hole or I find a good dialogue that can work well in a different scene. There are still some little treasures buried in the mess that was created.

Another good piece of advice that goes along with this: "Never delete your drafts." You'll be surprised at what you can pull from a discarded draft. It's also fun to look back from time to time to see that changes that were made and how much it improved over time. 

Writing Update: A Free Semester

I'm finally getting back into the swing of things. I'm typing up my outline and changes on my computer and I'm getting everything ready for when I actually start editing again (tomorrow). I fell behind a lot since the beginning of the year. I'm not even close to being finished. School and work kind of took over my life. I do work full time and I have to maintain my grades for the scholarship I got. I'm 27 and still in school...but I did switch my major. Now I'm working on my degree in Early Childhood Education rather than English (though, sometimes I miss it).

After a really terrible winter/spring semester, I decided to take the summer off of school. It will give me more time to work on my revisions and push toward my end goal. Since I fell behind, I decided to push my deadlines back to sometimes more reasonable. I want to be finished with the revisions by the end of the summer. That is the absolute latest.  I know when the Fall semester rolls around, I'm going to struggled with balancing my time again. Some of my classes are demanding and I have to give them priority.

So, other than that, I'm also going to be working on getting the next chapter of Spliced up and possibly work on the next installment of District Pluto. I don't plan on publishing these professionally. These are just stories that I wrote for a challenge or for experimental purposes. They are still stories I would want to share. Maybe one day I'll take them down and fix them up for publishing but not any time soon.

Update: Revising and About Hourglass

I'm pretty sure I said something about this before, but I put Call of the Piper on the back-burner for a bit so I can break it down a bit better and fix the plot holes and just the big mess I made with it. Instead, I'm writing a novel called Hourglass. Well, it's written, I'm just revising it now (because it's a mess).

There isn't a synopsis right now. I'll be working writing one soon. I'm currently focusing on revising the first few chapters before sending it to my critique partner...but I'm finding a hard time fitting it in. I need to revamp my schedule because classes started up again and the professors this semester aren't messing around. I can't slack off like I usually do. I'm currently working on fitting everything in.

For my WriYe challenges, I decided to jump in on one (like I didn't want to do) and participate in the Genre Challenge. It's Origin Story. It's such a good pick for the month. I couldn't pass it up. I decided to write an origin story for someone in the novel I'm currently working on. It's really good to know the backstory of this character, though I can't tell you without giving some kind of spoiler.

Other than that, I have to say, revising is probably one of my least favorite steps in the process. It's long but it's worth it.

WriYe Blogging Circle: More and more goals

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

Bonus:

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

The Blogging Circle for 2017 is up and thought I've already written a post about my goals, I'll be a little more specific on my writing goals and there are things that I didn't talk about. 

My WriYe word count goal this year is 250,000 words. I might raise it later but I'm uncertain at this point how much writing I'm going to complete but 250,000 words sounds like a manageable  goal to me. 

This year, my focus is on publishing. I after many changes, I've decided to nix the Call of the Piper as the novel to publish and just start working on Hourglass. I have a lot to work on for that and I've already figured out my plot and start working on my new outline. Hopefully, I'll be able to start revising by this weekend. 

The biggest thing I'm doing differently this year is having a critique partner or two.  I'm actually part of a critique group in one of the writing groups I'm a part of...but I haven't sent anything to them yet. Maybe this will be a good chance to send them something. I also have a few beta readers and a deadline. Some of the other things that I've done differently is join a writing contest. I might join more or try to write for an anthology. Just trying to get my writing out there is important.

I'm most excited for publishing. This is a goal I've been working toward for some time. After lots and lots of research, I finally feel like I have everything ready to publish this year. It's probably not going to go smoothly, but it will be a good experience.

2017 Goals

Writing Goals

• Finish Editing Novel with HTRYN
• Publish Novel
• Publish Dowsers on Wattpad
• Edit Hourglass
• Be more active in writing communities.

These are some really big goals that I need to hit, and this is just for my writing, not anything else. Yikes. I'd better get my life organized and break it down a bit.

I want to publish this year. That is my biggest goals. It's scary and exciting to think that I'm pushing myself to get to this stage, but that is just the general goal. It's a pretty big process that I have broken down into parts that I'll be doing as I edit. There are some things that I won't be able to do until after I finish editing but for the most part, I have everything broken down. I have tasks that I need to do.

First and foremost, I need to edit.I have a novel that needs to be published in June. I need to edit everything. I'm almost done with the editing process so, it's all about finishing, come January.  I want to edit my novel Hourglass because it's going to be my next novel I publish. This also coincides with my finished editing with HTRYN

Publishing Dowsers...yeah. It might be a little later but I have another story I can start posting in January called Spliced. It's a Sci-fi retelling of Beauty and the Beast. This will be available on Wattpad.

I have several writing communities that I'm a part of. I would like to be more active in them this coming year. Actually participate in assignments/challenges.

That is basically my goals for next year in a broad term.

Spliced [A Retelling]

My novella Spliced is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I wrote it back in February for Tell a Fairy Tale day. It currently stands at 27k but that is before the edits. As much as I wanted to start the year off with Dowsers, I don't think that's going to happen. Dowsers has a lot of editing to go and it's generally, really long. I can at least post this while working on Dowsers.

I'm hoping to do a new retelling this year. I haven't decided what though. I was either going to do a Cyberpunk version of Alice in Wonderland or The Wizard King. I guess I'll have to figure it out later.

Wattpad & How I Use It

Wattpad is a website I had heard about a few years ago, and even have an account through them. I wasn't sure about it for a long time and never really explored until a few months ago. I wanted to read something but couldn't afford to buy any new books at the time. I had the Wattpad app on my Kindle and decided to give it a try.

I discovered a lot of good reads on there and thought I would look into it more on my computer. There is a rather large writing community on there, and with further exploration, I realized that I could use it to my advantage.


How I use Wattpad:

• To get over my fear of showcasing my work. This is a big one. I plan on publishing a novel soon and if I can't share my work, then I don't think I'll be able to handle it as a writer.

• To get feedback. Feedback is important. I'm not the best writer and I know I have room for improvement so why not get feedback from readers to help me improve my writing.

• To find Beta Readers. This one is a little iffy. I noticed a lot of people on Wattpad flake after a certain point in time. It's annoying, but there are a few people who really stick with you.

• To make writing buddies. There are a ton of people who will gladly be your friend. Frankly, I find that the ones I find randomly are the ones that stick with me the longest. 

• To explore the writing community. In general. There is a massive writing community. As there should be, considering it's a writing website. It's a good place to get tips and ideas from other people. There will always be an occasional asshole but there are some really nice people on there.

• To post stories that I want to share but not publish. This one might sound a bit weird. I have a huge stack of novels that need to be edited and another stack of stories that I won't consider publishing. I know that sounds weird but these are just novels and stories that I don't want to publish. Why? I don't know. I don't think I got really excited about these novels in particular. One was a challenge from the WriYe forums while my District Pluto Novellas were just for fun. I wanted to try something new. They were stories out of my comfort zone. While I don't want to publish them, it doesn't mean  that I don't want to share them.  

There are various other ways you can use Wattpad to benefit you as a writer. It's good to take advantage of what you can especially if you are like me and have certain stories that you have no intention of publishing. Maybe one day, I'll consider taking them off Wattpad and get them professionally edited for self-publishing, but that's not on my to do list.

The Editing Process: Breakthrough

I finally had a breakthrough with my writing. I managed to finally get passed the second lesson and I'm onto the 3rd. This one should take me too long but when I finally have the time to finish them up I will.

So far, I have a few scenes that will probably need to be deleted, reworked, or merged with another scene. There are currently 72-ish scenes for this novel, making is a monster but I'm going to work on fixing it.

This will be my last editing update post for awhile since NaNoWriMo starts. I'll be doing writing update posts until I finish. If I manage to finish all of my projects, then I'll continue to edit and hopefully finish by the end of December.

Editing Process: No Longer Procrastinating

So, last week was a bit of an eye opener for me. I was so busy that I wasn't able to complete everything I needed to complete. My work schedule was ridiculously busy and I just couldn't find time for everything . So, I decided to pick up the pace a bit.

I've edited my short story and I'm currently sending it to my critique partner/beta reader who will look over it for me. If you're a writer and you don't have a critique partner or a writing buddy willing to pick apart your story, then you need one. I really appreciate mine.

I've started working on Dowsers again because it needs to be finished by the end of the year and I won't have a lot of time in November to do it. There is that.

My Western for my writing assignment is coming along pretty well. I still have a lot to work on with that. I'm going to be cutting a lot of it and fixing it that's for sure.

Hopefully, I finish Dowsers soon. I know the more I continue with these lessons, the fast I'll get through it. That's what I need to do right now.

NaNoWriMo 2016: Mirror Magic Series

What inspired the idea for your novel, and how long have you had the idea?
I was going through my Talecraft cards last year when I came up with this idea. It was just a small idea then but when I finally sat down to plan it, it became a huge idea that turned into a douology. I plan on writing both of them for NaNoWriMo. They are called Mirror Magic and Mirror Mage.

Describe what your novel is about! 
The whole series is about a girl who has to figure out her magic, why it's different from the other magics, and she has to find out how to use it.

What is your book’s aesthetic? Use words or photos or whatever you like! (First Novel)
Whenever I think of this book, other than mirrors, I think of a forest in the winter. The dead trees everywhere, snow coating the ground and it just over all makes it hard for people to hide. It's kind of bleak and bare.

Introduce us to each of your characters! (First Novel)
Luca Moran - Named after her father because they thought they were having a boy. The MC who has to figure out her magic, deal with discrimination due to the mark on her forehead, and stay hidden from the army that has been trying to capture her.

I'll keep it at my main character. Anyone else will really spoil the plot.

How do you prepare to write? (Outline, research, stocking up on chocolate, howling, etc.?)
I love outlining, researching, and world building. Those are my favorite things to do when I'm planning out my novels. I used to just write without guidelines but I found myself writing a lot of filler. So my outlines are scene-by-scene but they are loose enough to allow me creative freedom.

What are you most looking forward to about this novel?
I'm looking forward to actually writing it. It's not what I usually write because it's very character driven rather than plot driven. I don't write many character driven novels or stories.
List 3 things about your novel’s setting.(First Novel)

• Cold, winter
• Lots of Forests
• Tense air due to the Kingdom's main problem. 

What’s your character’s goal and who (or what) stands in the way? (First Novel)
Her main goal is to learn how to use her magic and how she can use it to protect herself and others that she cares about. There are many things that stand in her way, the army, the Kingdom's rebellion, and herself.

How does your protagonist change by the end of the novel? (First Novel)
She will have better understanding about herself and her magic.

What are your book’s themes? How do you want readers to feel when the story is over? (First novel)
Don't be afraid of doing things alone. That basically covers the first novel. 



If you'd like to fill this out, click the image below and be sure to check out the other blogs as well.

The Editing Process: Slacking

So, this last week kind of sucked when it came to editing. I didn't work on Dowsers at all. I instead worked on The Survival Agreement because it needed some work. I'm going to have to get started on editing my short story for that contest. I really need to get things done.

Basically I'm slacking. I did finish planning my two novels and created the cover art for it already. I'm actually pretty happy about it. I put aside my editing to do this so I really need to get back on track.

How To Handle Constructive Criticism

Constructive criticism can be a scary thing when you've written or made something for others to see. While you'd love for people to just tell you how awesome you are, it's not very realistic that someone would do that. People are more than likely going to point out what you could do better, and while it will feel like you are being stabbed, you'll find that you can actually learn from it.

Things to know about constructive criticism:

•  It can be painful to hear. It really can be painful to hear but you will learn to handle it better the more it happens and you'll be able to distinguish the good from the bad. 

• It can help you improve. There is a point where you are going to need help from an outside source, especially if you aren't planning publishing through traditional means. Constructive criticism is a way to help your story and your writing improve.

• You can learn from it. It kind of falls in with the previous point but I'm going with it anyway. Constructive criticism can help you find your weaknesses and places that need help. Learn from it so you don't make the same mistake twice.

 Things you SHOULDN'T do about constructive criticism

• Ignore them. Do NOT ignore the constructive criticism, especially if you asked for someone to review your story. That's just rude and you might end up losing readers. I guess this is for people who post online more than published authors.

• Laugh at them or play it off as a joke. Again, that's rude. That is disrespecting them and their opinion. If you don't like it then maybe you shouldn't be posting your work for people to see. 

• Reject everything. Just don't. Some things are okay. When it's consistent, maybe you should look into that. If they just tell you that you suck, then you can forget everything I said and ignore them. That's not being constructive. 

• Take everything too personally. There are people who are going to have biased opinions and aren't going to like what you wrote. That's fine. You can't please everyone. Just remember that there are going to be people who loved your story. Not everyone liked Harry Potter or Twilight or Hunger Games. It's going to be the same for everything.

• Ask for critiques if you aren't going to like it. I feel like this one is rather obvious but people tend to do this a lot. I'm not sure why you would ask someone to critique your work if you didn't want to accept it but just don't do it if you don't want to hear what they have to say. 

• Belittle the person giving you a critique. This is also rude. They took the time out to try to help you and you go and try to make them feel bad about it. That's not okay. Respect them. If you don't like what they said then just say "Thank you for reading my story," or "I'm sorry this story wasn't to your liking." etc. Be polite even if you want to reach through your computer and strangle them.

This might not have been the best guide ever to how to handle constructive criticism but I have a hard time wrapping my head around why people react to it badly. I get my fair share of constructive criticism and I welcome it. It helps me become a better writer and improvement is something all writers should strive for.