Writing Update: Falling Behind

Well, I've fallen very far behind on everything. Having no power and no internet made it hard to get some work done. So, this weekend I'm working strictly on critiquing. I want to be able to get back to my critique partners.

I haven't been doing a great job with my writing either but I have the week off so I'll be focusing on writing for most of the week and building a schedule to help me be more productive. A lot of it has to deal with holding myself accountable for my actions. I do tend to get really lazy from time to time but I'm going to try to be more active. If I want to publish Survival Agreement before the end of the year, I'm going to have to step up my game. I need to hire an editor by the end of the month.

There is just so much to do. During the weekday, I'm going to be working on creating a more solid schedule that I can follow daily. Time management and balance are things I'm working on. I'm going to have to force myself to be productive so I can move forward with my goals.

Writing Update: It's Been Slow

Well, this week has been a bit slow. I didn't get a good start on Hourglass and this week has been crazy. My internet has been out and now I don't have power. It's just been hell. I'm actually behind on my critiquing. I'm hoping to get more done when I babysit tomorrow. If I babysit tomorrow.

It's just been and awful week for me.

So here is my small update.

Next week, my goal is to catch up on my critique. I can catch up on writing on my week off.

Writing Update: Life Gets in the Way

This week probably hasn't been my best week in terms of writing/editing. I've been trying to get used to a new schedule at work and I've fallen behind. And tomorrow is CampNaNo. I'm actually really excited about it, and I'll be finished up my novel Hourglass. My goal is to read 70k by the end of my month.

It's going to be hard to hit with my other obligations. I have work, of course, and then there are my critique partners. I have to edit their things. I will probably put my work on hold until the end so that way I can edit what I have so far. I really need to work on it.

Lately, I've been behind on my critiquing, and even emailing my critique partners back. Work has picked up and I'm trying to adjust to a new schedule...it isn't working. It will take time. I don't know what I'm going to do when I start school up again. That's just going to be a mess. I'm working on a schedule. It will sink in eventually.

Writing Update: Critique Partners

So this week has been interesting. I've been participating in a lot more Twitter chats and meeting other writers. Putting myself out there. It's strange, but I like being able to talk to other writers. They are fun to talk to and it interesting to see what everyone is writing. 

Earlier this week, I decided to post something on Goodreads about needing a critique partner. And I found two. I'm so excited to be able to do this. One of my CPs already sent back the chapters I sent him and gave me great advice. Admittedly, I was a bit nervous. I knew there were things that were lacking. I'm not a perfect writer, after all. I already see where I need to improve and I can't wait to get started on fixing my mistakes. Which I have a lot. 

Whenever I got back and edit a sentence, sometimes I forget to make sure it all fits right so my sentence ends up being a mess. Yeah. Well, that's something I need to be more aware of. Unfortunately, I can't go through and make my changes until after I finish with his work. It won't take me long but these last few days have been crazy. I need to get these to him by tomorrow. At least I started on them.

I did notice my use of filter words has increased. It's bad. Though, I do use them a lot in daily life, especially when working with kids. Small kids. I emphasis on certain things with the use of these filter words. I'm getting better - kind of. I'm making a conscious effort to not transfer it into my writing. That's easier said than done. Oh well, I'm working on it at least.

Next week, I'm hoping to have my first two chapters of Survival Agreement polished and ready. I'm planning on publishing one of them here on my website after I clean them up. 

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. 

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.