Happy New Year

Happy New Year from my daughter 

I had a restful holiday, sleeping in, reading books, watching movies, visiting all sorts of exciting places. Just what I need in a holiday.

And then yesterday was the last day. After my last lie in for a while, I sat down with a pen and large whiteboard and spent some quality time planning. I have to admit that I was a little lax over the holiday period. I didn’t follow my usual plans, hardly opened my planner, and didn’t do nearly as much writing as I thought I would.

My planning session looked at what I had achieved and what I needed to get done yesterday to meet my uni commitments and to catch up a little. I was child free, so that did help a little. I wrote down absolutely everything I wanted to do, what I needed to do and even some of the things I would rather leave off (like the vacuuming).

Everything scribbled down together.

Then I worked out roughly how long I thought each task would take and what needed to be done first. I always feel so much better (calmer) when I see things down as lists.

I had no illusions that I would get it all done in one day. Most of it was feasible but I would be working non-stop and I needed to eat, rest and some items on the list would probably take longer than anticipated. That was the reason for prioritising. The most important first and then I could work from there.

I also mapped out my next week and the week after that. This was a little easier as I was starting back at work and I knew I would have far less time during the day for writing and studying. Planned blocks of time, like appointments, are easier to work to. So I may only have an hour a day for working on my fantasy novel now, but it is a very productive hour (and it certainly was this morning).

It was a great day. I did work through most of what I wanted to and all of the most important tasks (or those with deadlines) were completed.

Of course everything is part of the bigger picture. It all leads to my big goals in life. And my weekly lists, and daily lists, all relate to my monthly goals. I know where I’m headed this year and so far it is looking great.

I hope you are starting this year with renewed vigour and eager to continue on your journey. If you’re not sure where you’re headed, take a little time and plan the way.

Happy Scribbling.

Happy New Year

Another year starts and my main concern is that it is going to disappear as quickly as the last one and there is so much that I want to get done. I am still happy with the writing goals I have set for this year. I am hoping that I haven’t set too much but I know where my priorities are so I can adjust if I need to. I have also taken into account my other goals and commitments.

The last few weeks have been productive, despite the holiday period. I have been trialling some writing software Scrivener. I came across this by accident and it is now available for Windows users. I am playing with it at the moment to see if will work for me, but so far so good. There are a lot of software programs for writers out there but I’m not going to go into them now.

My read through of my fantasy novel is done. There are definite holes and gaps but I'm sure that I can fix them, and I have developed the ending. But the main problem (and it is a first draft) is my lack of description. This is something that has been pointed out before and I’m not really aware of it until I reread my work. I think while pouring out the first draft I am just trying to get the story down. Although saying that some of it is not too bad at all. I even had a little cry in one scene so I’m hoping that means it will work for readers as well.

I have finally reworked my study, clearing out a lot of rubbish and finding alternative storage places for other bits. I have replaced the old table with two long desks and I have much more room. I just need to set up a note-board system and it’s done. Even the cat has her place on the desk.

It is finding the time to escape into it now that I need. Holiday mode means more relaxing time and my body is still repairing from a full year, there are also activities and outings with children and friends. I am still sleeping in a little too often but the drive is still there; that overwhelming urge to write.

Happy Scribbling

Merry Christmas

While I try to gather enough momentum to keep me travelling ‘til Christmas my mind has already wandered into next year. I started mapping out my writing goals for next year in October. Over the last week or so I have been reviewing how this year has gone, whether I can actually achieve anything further in the last little bit of this year and thinking about where I hope to be this time 2012.

I have found over the last few weeks that I have been getting progressively fatigued with every passing day. But then I haven’t had a proper holiday since Easter, so I think my body, and mind, are trying to tell me something. Then this past weekend my daughter was ill, really ill, vomit up the walls kind of ill, and before I knew it I had lost another two days (that does sound a little uncaring, but I wasn’t thinking of anything but her, until it was all over and I was washing vomit off everything).

So in the calm and quiet of my study this morning I really looked at my list for this year and thought about what wasn’t quite there yet and what I could do over the next two weeks. I can finish the novel I had hoped to read this month. My Masters work is actually travelling along well, and I’m not where I wanted to be with my fantasy draft but it’s not too far off.

I have ticked off some things this year which has been very rewarding and satisfying, not just for the tick (I love ticking things off lists) but because I have completed these huge tasks. Among them was completing a novel writing course, completing a novel (that should probably be first), and submitted to a publisher and been rejected (as every good writer should be on the first attempt; not sure I’m good but it gives me hope).

Now I am refining what I want to do next year and what I need to do to meet my long term goals. The list doesn’t look that long really, but they are big tasks and I’m still working full time so I want to be realistic but challenge myself a little at the same time.

In no particular order here are my writing goals for 2012:

·         Journal/blog twice a week (once a week has been going reasonably well; time to push it up a bit).

·         Prepare my current fantasy work for publication.

·         Continue the attempt to get novel number 1 published.

·         Write first draft of next manuscript – probably first in the trilogy; other ideas haunting me but trying to ignore them for the present.

·         Write every day (essential).

·         Read at least 12 novels (still a huge pile beside the bed; still avoiding bookshops in fear of buying more).

·         Create a folio of writing – this is a maybe, wouldn’t it be lovely goal; but if I don’t get the time it will drop off the list.

So I’m excited and keen; after I’ve had a little break. I am having holidays from my day job over January. This will mean some more me time, and some quality time with my daughter. I am also continuing my study over the holiday period. There are other non-writing goals I have for the coming year and others I have managed to tick off this list for this year and some not quite there; but I think 2011 has been one of my most productive years yet.

The main reason for this is that I finally decided that writing is what I want to do, no matter what else is happening in my life or what others say. And that I have made that dedication to it, that I write (almost) every day and even when it is hard I know it is what I love. Sitting and losing myself in a story for an hour or so a day is what makes me complete. I hope that one day I can do that more and more; to the point I can spend the day writing and not have to worry about the day job because the two will become one.

I am taking a little break from blogging over the Christmas period – I’ll be back the week after (twice if all goes well).

Have a joyous and safe Christmas and New Year. I hope your New Year resolutions are already well thought out and written down.

Happy Scribbling

Another bad week

My writing journey hasn’t been moving along all that well lately. I have been blocked, sleeping through my usual writing time or part of it and then unable to write anything when I’m at the computer. Even blogging has been a painful process. I actually feel physically sick trying to think about writing a post.

I think I understand why I am blocked. And I had thought that with that realisation the problem may just slip away. Not yet. The problem is, I think, that I have taken on too much. Pushed my goals to unreachable and it has killed my creative thinking.

Firstly, I was so keen after my workshop with Fiona McIntosh that I pushed my first draft word count up by 50,000 words. The problem being that I didn’t extend my draft deadline. The process nearly doubling my daily word goal.

Secondly, I am plagued with images and ideas for another story, which is pulling me away from where I need to be. And it I would like it to be a big story (over three books) and that worries me too.

I have just started my Masters in Arts (Writing) which is amazing and great, but more work and I am struggling with getting back into study and a different type of writing.

And lastly, to top it all off, I have been knocked about by the flu, again, draining all energy.

Over the last week with my study, I have been looking at the duality of the writerly self and the inner critic. I think the inner critic has taken over pushing the negativity and preventing my creative voice any air time at all.

I am trying some tactics to try and resolve the problem. I have revised my first draft deadline out and giving me an achievable daily word goal. I am allowing myself some down time to ensure I am well and truly over the bug. And I have negotiated with my daughter for some time on the weekends alone in the study.

A good night’s sleep and then a good hour writing in the morning and hopefully I will be back on track.

Happy Scribbling.

A Revised Life

It seems a little ironic that my last post was all about how well I was writing and how it was all coming together and then I haven’t done much of anything since. I don’t want to start with poor excuses. I was knocked over by a bug (the viral type) and really I didn’t feel too sick, just the sniffles and a cough. But it also drained all energy.

So very little was done other than what absolutely had to be to keep life ticking over, such as clothe, feed and bathe child, dropping and picking up said child from school and the day job. At the end of two weeks everything was a mess and I hadn’t even thought about writing, let alone done any. I didn’t even manage to pick up a book to read.

It then took another week for me to really feel human again. And then of course I started to feel guilty about not writing and stressed about the amount I wanted to get done. I find the more stressed I get about my writing, the less I do. So I have made some decisions to reduce this stress and thus increase the writing.

The first is to focus mainly on one writing task. The most important one at the moment is the editing of my first manuscript. This is because it is the longest project I have been working on and I can no longer justify to myself spending a further 12 months working on it. It needs to be finished and I have set myself an absolute deadline, in chalk, and now on the web...16 July 2011.

I know that this is achievable so my main focus is to achieve it.

I will continue to blog because I have found that useful and interesting and some small part of my ego hopes that I am reaching other writers and helping them...But I am going to reduce it to one blog post a week. Reduce you laugh, as I haven’t posted anything in weeks. My initial aim was three a week, so I think one for a while will keep me on track and means more time for my editing. I can always increase it as things change.

This year is slipping away quickly. How are your plans and goals going? Are they on track or needing reviewing?  I am hoping that by the end of July I will be ready for a big swing in my goal setting.

Happy Scribbling

Goal Update

My goal setting went really well, and I have been trying to keep up with them as well as I can. One thing I have learnt is not to beat myself up when I can’t get what I want done. The past week has been another example of that.

My internet was down for most of the week, which made it difficult to post blogs. Although that doesn’t stop me writing for when it is back on line. Very busy days at work where I longed for a quiet moment but couldn’t get one. Now I have a peaceful day at home, alone, I could get so much done, I am finding the quiet distracting. Arrgh.

OK, I can actually work around all of these things, and easily. No internet is no excuse, actually it means less distraction. When it is back up and running I already have the posts ready to go.

When I first started writing I used to sit in corner of our old but comfy sofa with a pen and paper and scribble for hours, the telly always on. I have said before that I can find the telly a bit of a distraction, but if I put on a movie I know well, enjoy and have watched about a hundred times then it helps block out the deafening roar of the silence and I can write quite happily for hours. It was only recently that I read of a very well known authoress who did the same, but with musicals. I think that would tip me over the edge but if it helps, then use it.

My day job focuses on very different things, when I need to focus there I tune out the world by plugging in music, depends on the day and the task as to what I listen to but it does work. I know other writers that have a writing soundtrack to help with creativity and focus.

I am also more aware of my procrastination and what I use to procrastinate. I really want to write. I want to be able to tell people I am a writer. To be able to do that I have to write. So, a day at home, I don’t make eye contact with the bath and it’s ok that there are dishes piled up beside the sink. They are only little things. The house is clean and generally tidy (if you don’t mind stepping over Barbie, and all her friends, or the shoes and school bags that you could swear you asked her to put away yesterday). It is not essential that the bath be cleaned right now, or the kitchen floor be scrubbed.

Back to the Butt-in-Chair theory, Pride and Prejudice on the telly and write, write, write. I am actually excited about what I can achieve today.

Happy Scribbling.

My Goal Setting

I do regularly set goals and revisit them, but I usually set more that what I can reasonably achieve. I tend to go for the top range of what I want to do rather than what I can. This may not be a bad thing. It is important to set goals that stretch you a little, you have to aim that little bit higher.

I would love to be able to work from home on my writing full time. It is my ultimate long term writing goal. But in the meantime I have a daughter (and her life), animals to feed, a mortgage to pay, housework to do, vegies to grow, fish to clean, friends and family and a full time and busy day job.

So for the moment I need to fit writing around the other parts of my life, or some other parts around my writing. Some of this is very easy to do, for example the vacuuming can wait while I draft a blog entry, the bathroom can wait while a write another 1000 words of a first draft. The one thing that cannot wait or be pushed aside is my daughter. And if she has had a bad day, or is having one of those evenings when she won’t go to bed, feeling unwell or just needs Mama, then my writing plans for the evening are shot. I just have to make the most of the time I do get.

I have refocused my current writing goals to the three most important ones. Refocusing does not mean simplifying or reducing the amount of work still to be done but focusing on fewer projects.

Blogging – to post three entries a week - ongoing.

·         To share where my writing is at, advertising, improving skills and helping other writers with tips, hints and my learnings.

·         With photos of the kitchen door.

·         Spend half an hour each day drafting blog entries, and then edit and post three times a week.

Novel 1 (HTDTN) - to complete and submit for publication this year.

·         Complete by December 2011

·         Edit for one hour every day – I need to do this properly so I’m not setting a page goal to reach each day, just a good hour and to work appropriately within that hour.

·         Complete course – using novel for course so as it gets better assignments can be sent off.

Novel 2 (Snow) – complete first draft this year. Complete by December 2011

·         Write 500-1000 words a day, aiming for 3000 words a week.

·         If I maintain that pace I could be finished by September.

This would total 2-3 hours of writing a day. I think that sounds reasonable for most days. I just need to work out how to allocate that time. The first thing is that some things are going to be sacrificed and at the moment the main sucker of my evening time is the TV.

At one point I was checking what I really, really wanted to watch and then mark it at the beginning of the week. If it wasn’t my show then the TV was off and I was doing something far more productive. I think I need to get back to that. And then when I am watching I can use that time for the mundane tasks, like ironing, and folding and packing of school bags.

I am now feeling better focused on what I want to achieve and how I can. I will need to revisit these goals again to assess how well they are going and whether time frames need to be moved or more time needs to be dedicated to writing.

Happy Scribbling.

The butt-in-chair worked.

1100 words.

Why is it that with things we love, we fight it.

My daughter is the same with the bath, always. If given the option she won’t get in. If I run it and then tell her to she is reluctant. But once she is in, and wet, and maybe a doll or two join her, I can’t get her out. I am the same with writing. I love it. I battle to start and if given the option I will opt for not. But once I am sitting and a few lines are started I can go for hours without thinking about it.

Good effort for an evening after far too long. Only 50 words the following day and that was with my daughter standing beside me trying very hard to get my attention, which in the end won out.

Just that little bit of writing has me thinking about the story again, which is great. My lunch time on the treadmill at the gym I was setting scenes, reforming problem characters and thinking of possible twists, or excitement for the plot. It may be the first draft but so far it isn’t very exciting. Yet. There is too much tea drinking and thinking time for the main character. I need to get a bit tougher with her.

Part of my little breakthrough the other night really helped with that. I put her into a very different situation and literally let her feel her way around. I am hoping that something good has, or will, come out of it.

So that is one story coming back to life. Now I need to get back to the hard work one. It is only hard work because I am at the stage where I really need to concentrate on what I have and what I want it to be and how to get there. There is a lot more freedom in a first draft. But the joy of finishing that initial first draft is still with me, I am hoping that the joy of finishing this (please God let it be the last) draft will be even better. Although if I manage to get it accepted by a publisher I’m sure there is even more work to do, but by then I will be focused on seeing it on the shelves and so will do anything required.

Some revised goal setting is needed I think. Once I have them set out, I then need to ensure I am following through with them. My main problem with goal setting is I set far more than I can do in the timeframe. I need to be a little more realistic.

Here are some of my 2011 goals set in December last year. Obviously I haven't quite got there, or close.  

I will start with my three main writing projects and go from there. And one of them has changed already from the list to the left.

In the meantime it is focus, focus, focus on final drafts.

Happy Scribbling