Ah the start of a new year. Adrenaline is pumping from the simple thought that "THIS YEAR WILL BE DIFFERENT", you can't wait to face the day and GET THINGS DONE. You've made a list of resolutions that are meant to better your life and you're telling yourself that you WILL stick to them this year.
Like some people that's the way I'm feeling right now. I'm excited, raring to go, and I can't wait to keep going. I've made a list (which I'll be sharing in a moment) of things I want to do and like others I've resolved to stick with that list. We'll see how that turns out.
Let's get this started though, shall we?
1) Milwordy: Because I'm crazy like that. I am resolving to write another million words from today until the end of the year. I'm actually aiming for November 31st as that's when my writing year ends since I take December off. My online tracker (writetrack.com) is ready, my back-up Notepad file to keep track of monthly successes is ready, and the first book of the year all ready has 3938 words in it.
2) Finish the Crime Fiction Series: It has 11 more books and no general title but dang it I will finish this thing this year so I can move onto other things. In total it'll have 13 books. I'm planning to do this by June because all Hell will likely break loose then. More on that later.
3) Write a query letter then send it out: also known as: TAKE THE FIRST STEPS TO BE TRADITIONALLY PUBLISHED. I keep putting this on my list but never do it. This year, I will. I don't have a choice anymore. I can't self-promote and I can't bend my brain to think like a marketer. It's just not possible. So, I'm going to focus on what I do best (writing) and let someone else worry about getting my books into other people's hands.
4) Lose Weight: See, not all my goals are writing based. I've had this one on my list every year for about ten years and it doesn't happen. I'm sticking to it this year because I'm damn well tired of being 40ish pounds overweight and being limited to what I can and cannot wear because of it. I'm also not too keen on having health issues associated with carrying too much weight and I'm not getting any younger. It's time to make the lifestyle change now, while it's easier, before things really get out of hand. Plus being at your ideal weight/exercising apparently gives you more energy and more energy is great when trying to reach a million words. You knew I'd link that back to writing, didn't you?
That's it. No really. I only have four goals. All four of which I've all ready broken up in my head of how to accomplish them. For example, this month I'll finish Dryer, book three of the crime fiction series before doing the final edits on Cara, the book I plan to query with. Once that final edit is done to the best of my ability I'll write the query letter. Then I'll start Witches, the fourth book in the crime fiction series. All that will hopefully be done this month. I know, I know, I'm crazy.
As for the losing weight thing I'm going to start eating properly: in moderation and adding more fruits/veggies. I'll be taking an hour long walk at a normal pace every day (even if it requires me to pace my house) and once my body gets used to moving, I'll shorten it to half hour with other exercises to help tone. I plan to lose only a pound a week and hopefully by November be at my ideal weight. This is the healthy way to do it people. Crash dieting will only cause you misery and make you gain it back one the diet is "done."
Hey look, it's later. If you look back at resolution 2 you'll see that I mentioned all Hell will break lose in June. More details here. Summation: I might be out of a job come June and may have to look for a new one. I'm not sure yet and I hate not knowing. This is also why I've resolved to try and traditionally publish this year. If I am out of a job I don't know how quickly I'll find a new one or if I'll even like the new one. That's why I'm hoping to take myself out of the "traditional" job market by becoming an author instead of a writer.
Now, you'll notice the title of the blog includes the word "revelations." I had a revelation of sorts on the 27th. The revelation was that I don't care what happens in June. If I'm still with the company I'm with now: awesome. If not: awesome. I know, right?
The reason both are awesome is because either way I'm going to try to make the leap from writer (one who writes) to author (one who gets paid for writing). I will not stop querying until I've given it my all. That's what this year is about (my epiphany so to speak): not giving up until I've given it everything I've got.
For the past, oh, decade or so, I've been coasting through life and letting things go as they please. This year I've resolved to make life bend to me the best I can. I won't coast. I will work. I will push. I will move forward in any way I can to reach my goals. Pretty words right now yes, so come back and talk to me next month to see how I'm doing. ;)
Until next time: Comments, questions, rants, rage and everything in between can be directed to the comments.
Showing posts with label new years resolutions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new years resolutions. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Friday, September 13, 2013
One Million Words 2013
So for those of you that don't know: I wrote a million words this year staring on January 1st and ending August 31st at 5:00PM EST. Why? Well mainly because I can. I've been writing long enough that I can produce decent first drafts quickly so I figured I'd par down my story list.
Sadly, it's not as pared down as I wanted it to be despite me writing nine novels this year. Four (or six) of them were new so I added to the list then took something away. Counter-productive: yes. Fun: HELL YES.
Anyway. This is the second year I've done a MilWordy successfully and the second year I finished before the year was up. This year's novel list:
The Bonehemmer Princess
The Harmonizer
Model
Dragon Knights
Lies
Troubles of True Love
Glory Hole
Testing Grounds
Seer
You can find more info on all nine by clicking the "Novel Series 2013" above (or there, whatever floats your boat). Adding to the nine above there were a baker's dozen of short stories, a novella and a few 500 word stories.
I was recently asked "where do you get the inspiration/ideas to keep going?"
My long answer is a blog post: Writing is Breathing.
My short (and nice) answer was: "I have a story list of about 60 ideas. I pick one, flesh it out and keep going. I get ideas from everything. This months' WIP came from a song lyric."
My REALLY short (and not so nice) answer is: "Fucked if I know."
No seriously: fucked if I know. I just keep going. And going. Kind of like a deformed energizer bunny on anti-depressant meds who cackles madly at torturing the voices in her head. That's a Hell of a mental image...
Regardless. I haven't written much since finishing MilWordy. I did plot out and make some character descriptions for novel number 10 and started it. I'm halfway through chapter two or so. For those who don't follow my twitter (shame on you): this novel is going to be exploring racial issues, society issues, and gender issues. It'll be one of those ones where you're like: "Okay, I KNOW something is creeping me out here but I can't figure out why...OMFG! WHAT?!" It'll be fun.
I figure I'll finish NaNo with 13 novels. So, 13 in 2013. Because I'm a bit of a freak for numbers like that.
Novels 11, 12 and 13 will be the beginning of my crime fiction series which I talked about like, two years ago or something crazy. I started fleshing it out when I was in Los Angels and trying to get Tale of the Twins made into a movie. Now it's got 13 books. Creepy, huh?
The characters are set. The plots are set. All I've got to do is read it all over and start writing. It'll be a crazy trip because there will be no magic. There will be no weird creatures. There won't even be a future aspect. It's all the world as it is now, nothing odd about it except the monsters who pretend to be human otherwise known as serial killers and psychopaths. Consequently I'm going to be totally mind-fucked when I'm reading up on why killers kill. It'll be fun, really.
Until next time: direct your comments, questions, rants, hate, love and other oddities to the comments. I'll get there eventually.
Sadly, it's not as pared down as I wanted it to be despite me writing nine novels this year. Four (or six) of them were new so I added to the list then took something away. Counter-productive: yes. Fun: HELL YES.
Anyway. This is the second year I've done a MilWordy successfully and the second year I finished before the year was up. This year's novel list:
The Bonehemmer Princess
The Harmonizer
Model
Dragon Knights
Lies
Troubles of True Love
Glory Hole
Testing Grounds
Seer
You can find more info on all nine by clicking the "Novel Series 2013" above (or there, whatever floats your boat). Adding to the nine above there were a baker's dozen of short stories, a novella and a few 500 word stories.
I was recently asked "where do you get the inspiration/ideas to keep going?"
My long answer is a blog post: Writing is Breathing.
My short (and nice) answer was: "I have a story list of about 60 ideas. I pick one, flesh it out and keep going. I get ideas from everything. This months' WIP came from a song lyric."
My REALLY short (and not so nice) answer is: "Fucked if I know."
No seriously: fucked if I know. I just keep going. And going. Kind of like a deformed energizer bunny on anti-depressant meds who cackles madly at torturing the voices in her head. That's a Hell of a mental image...
Regardless. I haven't written much since finishing MilWordy. I did plot out and make some character descriptions for novel number 10 and started it. I'm halfway through chapter two or so. For those who don't follow my twitter (shame on you): this novel is going to be exploring racial issues, society issues, and gender issues. It'll be one of those ones where you're like: "Okay, I KNOW something is creeping me out here but I can't figure out why...OMFG! WHAT?!" It'll be fun.
I figure I'll finish NaNo with 13 novels. So, 13 in 2013. Because I'm a bit of a freak for numbers like that.
Novels 11, 12 and 13 will be the beginning of my crime fiction series which I talked about like, two years ago or something crazy. I started fleshing it out when I was in Los Angels and trying to get Tale of the Twins made into a movie. Now it's got 13 books. Creepy, huh?
The characters are set. The plots are set. All I've got to do is read it all over and start writing. It'll be a crazy trip because there will be no magic. There will be no weird creatures. There won't even be a future aspect. It's all the world as it is now, nothing odd about it except the monsters who pretend to be human otherwise known as serial killers and psychopaths. Consequently I'm going to be totally mind-fucked when I'm reading up on why killers kill. It'll be fun, really.
Until next time: direct your comments, questions, rants, hate, love and other oddities to the comments. I'll get there eventually.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Is it 2013 all ready?
I'm just as shocked as everyone else that it's 2013. It seems like a few days ago it was still November and I was hacking away at NaNo.
Speaking of, I never did put up a NaNo Week 4 blog, did I? Sorry time got away from me again and I failed to catch it until recently.
Anyway, I accomplished my NaNo2012 goal of 200,000 words on the 26th of November. Chosen Ones of the Forbidden Object clocked in at about 152,000 words so I had to finish the novel I started in October to get my final goal. I was supposed to take last month off to edit all eight (yeah EIGHT. I'm shocked about it too) novels that I wrote last year but that didn't go as planned.
I did re-read every novel I wrote last year as well as the two NaNo novels from 2010 and 2011. I also spell-checked, grammar checked and made a few little adjustments to plot and consistency. It wasn't the major editing I was planning but at least I know where they all stand.
Onto new things since this is a new year and all. I'm making a list of goals this year. No, not resolutions. I forget about resolutions within a week of making them. If I call the following my goals then I'm more likely to get them done. My goals for this year:
1) Write 1 million words from Jan 1 to Nov 30: Otherwise known as Milwordy except I'm doing it in 11 months instead of a year. I'm also using a nifty online tracker called Write Track and keeping a running month tally through Notepad (because I'm special). The Notepad file will also have the stories I'm working on and goal reminders that I can't keep in the tracker. Going along with this goal is the goal of finishing about nine (9) novels this year. Why nine? Well, I figure that's how many it'll take to get to a million words.
2) Write 225,000 words for NaNo13: I have to beat the 200,000 from 2012. I made it my goal when I first started NaNo in 2010 that every year after I'd beat my goal by at least 25K. Why? Because I'm freaking nuts like that.
3) Finish Tale of the Twins: URG! Book one was finished in 2009. Book two finished in 2010. Book three? It's still stuck on chapter 6 or something. This was also my goal for last year (September more specifically) but I wasn't feeling it. I know I'll have to read right from the beginning to understand what's going on. I know the basics but there are details I'll probably have to remember at some point.
4) Promote (Blogging, twitter, etc): I need to but I'm not entirely sure where to start. Posting more is obvious but I tend to lack a memory when it comes to logging into things and posting random bits of information. Plus my life is relatively boring (besides writing) so I don't have much to talk about. Unless of course people want to hear about my random musings which may or may not include unicorns.
5) Get into shape, preferably something other than round. I don't mind being round really but I'd like to have the energy I used to when I wasn't so round. Plus I'd like to be able to fit into all my old summer clothes from the year before last.
6) Get my finances in order. This may require finding a new job. As much as I love my job it's not enough anymore and I hate having to choose between paying a bill or buying things I need.
So those are my goals for this year. I know 1 and 2 I can complete without issue so long as I don't break both arms or something crazy. The other four will be challenging for different reasons. Now I know someone out there is wondering why 'Get published' isn't on there. Technically I am published. Self-published yes, but published.
I know I'm not famous but I'm not really aiming to be. It's enough that I get the stories out of my brain. I know, I know, I'm weird for writing without thinking of publishing. Writing is my main interest. Just because it's something I do in my spare time doesn't mean that I want to be famous for it. I'll always write because it's something I do.
I'm going to stop right there simply because I'll get onto a long ramble if I keep going and this blog post will take up fifty pages. Well, not literally but it would be close enough. This is good-bye for now. I'm sure I'll be back eventually so long as time stays where I last put it. It's a tricky thing, time. It tends to wander off when you least expect it or hide when you really want it. Good night and don't let any nasty critters wander off with anything important.
Speaking of, I never did put up a NaNo Week 4 blog, did I? Sorry time got away from me again and I failed to catch it until recently.
Anyway, I accomplished my NaNo2012 goal of 200,000 words on the 26th of November. Chosen Ones of the Forbidden Object clocked in at about 152,000 words so I had to finish the novel I started in October to get my final goal. I was supposed to take last month off to edit all eight (yeah EIGHT. I'm shocked about it too) novels that I wrote last year but that didn't go as planned.
I did re-read every novel I wrote last year as well as the two NaNo novels from 2010 and 2011. I also spell-checked, grammar checked and made a few little adjustments to plot and consistency. It wasn't the major editing I was planning but at least I know where they all stand.
Onto new things since this is a new year and all. I'm making a list of goals this year. No, not resolutions. I forget about resolutions within a week of making them. If I call the following my goals then I'm more likely to get them done. My goals for this year:
1) Write 1 million words from Jan 1 to Nov 30: Otherwise known as Milwordy except I'm doing it in 11 months instead of a year. I'm also using a nifty online tracker called Write Track and keeping a running month tally through Notepad (because I'm special). The Notepad file will also have the stories I'm working on and goal reminders that I can't keep in the tracker. Going along with this goal is the goal of finishing about nine (9) novels this year. Why nine? Well, I figure that's how many it'll take to get to a million words.
2) Write 225,000 words for NaNo13: I have to beat the 200,000 from 2012. I made it my goal when I first started NaNo in 2010 that every year after I'd beat my goal by at least 25K. Why? Because I'm freaking nuts like that.
3) Finish Tale of the Twins: URG! Book one was finished in 2009. Book two finished in 2010. Book three? It's still stuck on chapter 6 or something. This was also my goal for last year (September more specifically) but I wasn't feeling it. I know I'll have to read right from the beginning to understand what's going on. I know the basics but there are details I'll probably have to remember at some point.
4) Promote (Blogging, twitter, etc): I need to but I'm not entirely sure where to start. Posting more is obvious but I tend to lack a memory when it comes to logging into things and posting random bits of information. Plus my life is relatively boring (besides writing) so I don't have much to talk about. Unless of course people want to hear about my random musings which may or may not include unicorns.
5) Get into shape, preferably something other than round. I don't mind being round really but I'd like to have the energy I used to when I wasn't so round. Plus I'd like to be able to fit into all my old summer clothes from the year before last.
6) Get my finances in order. This may require finding a new job. As much as I love my job it's not enough anymore and I hate having to choose between paying a bill or buying things I need.
So those are my goals for this year. I know 1 and 2 I can complete without issue so long as I don't break both arms or something crazy. The other four will be challenging for different reasons. Now I know someone out there is wondering why 'Get published' isn't on there. Technically I am published. Self-published yes, but published.
I know I'm not famous but I'm not really aiming to be. It's enough that I get the stories out of my brain. I know, I know, I'm weird for writing without thinking of publishing. Writing is my main interest. Just because it's something I do in my spare time doesn't mean that I want to be famous for it. I'll always write because it's something I do.
I'm going to stop right there simply because I'll get onto a long ramble if I keep going and this blog post will take up fifty pages. Well, not literally but it would be close enough. This is good-bye for now. I'm sure I'll be back eventually so long as time stays where I last put it. It's a tricky thing, time. It tends to wander off when you least expect it or hide when you really want it. Good night and don't let any nasty critters wander off with anything important.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
One Million Words
For those of you that don't know I've been participating in a 12in12 Challenge. Basically this means I was to write 12 novellas (20,000-40,000) words a month for 12 months. I started in December of 2011 and will finish November 30th, 2012. This is the second reason why NaNo is so big for me this year. The first reason is because hey, it's National Novel Writing Month and that in itself is important.
Anyway, the third reason NaNo2012 is so important is that half-way through the year I took it upon myself to take on another challenge: 1 million words in a year. Yes, I decided I was going to write 1 million words between December 2011 and November 2012.
The forth reason has two parts: 1) I want to hit 200,000 words and 2) I've been sitting on this idea for a full year. That's right. I've had the idea for this year's NaNo since last year's NaNo. More on that in some other post.
But let's get back to reason number three: Writing 1 million words in a year. A lot of people (authors and non-authors) have said that it takes a writer 1 million words to become worthy of the title of 'writer'. Well, here are my stats for the year:
December: 22,000
January: 20,000
Februrary: 48,615
March: 147,543
April: 63,380
May: 96,948
June: 80,019
July: 134,023
August: 183,562
September:117,782
October:84,964
Total so far:998,836
This leaves me with 1,164 to write in order to hit 1,000,000 words this year. I will have completed my goal by the time this blog has been posted. Will finishing my million early stop me from writing 200,000 for NaNo2012? Nope. I'm still going to go for 200,000 words in November. Why? Well, I'm crazy. I think we've established that, right?
It's been one heck of a journey, I'll tell you that. Those million words took up six books, multiple shorts stories and a few novellas. If you're so inclined, you can buy the novella through Smashwords, Nook or Kobo. The others aren't done yet and the novel edits take time.
I'll probably talk about the six novels in a seperate blog post because hey, they're part of the journey to 1 million. I do want to mention that this has been the first time I've counted my words. This just proves I'm crazy but I'm okay with that. Until next time: Good bye, good night and don't let any demons steal your soul.
Anyway, the third reason NaNo2012 is so important is that half-way through the year I took it upon myself to take on another challenge: 1 million words in a year. Yes, I decided I was going to write 1 million words between December 2011 and November 2012.
The forth reason has two parts: 1) I want to hit 200,000 words and 2) I've been sitting on this idea for a full year. That's right. I've had the idea for this year's NaNo since last year's NaNo. More on that in some other post.
But let's get back to reason number three: Writing 1 million words in a year. A lot of people (authors and non-authors) have said that it takes a writer 1 million words to become worthy of the title of 'writer'. Well, here are my stats for the year:
December: 22,000
January: 20,000
Februrary: 48,615
March: 147,543
April: 63,380
May: 96,948
June: 80,019
July: 134,023
August: 183,562
September:117,782
October:84,964
Total so far:998,836
This leaves me with 1,164 to write in order to hit 1,000,000 words this year. I will have completed my goal by the time this blog has been posted. Will finishing my million early stop me from writing 200,000 for NaNo2012? Nope. I'm still going to go for 200,000 words in November. Why? Well, I'm crazy. I think we've established that, right?
It's been one heck of a journey, I'll tell you that. Those million words took up six books, multiple shorts stories and a few novellas. If you're so inclined, you can buy the novella through Smashwords, Nook or Kobo. The others aren't done yet and the novel edits take time.
I'll probably talk about the six novels in a seperate blog post because hey, they're part of the journey to 1 million. I do want to mention that this has been the first time I've counted my words. This just proves I'm crazy but I'm okay with that. Until next time: Good bye, good night and don't let any demons steal your soul.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Obsession with words
They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. I've always wondered who "they" were and what made them think that a photograph was worth 1,000 words. Regardless, I've written 100 photographs worth of words this month. Yes I have written 100,000 words. That's two NaNoWriMo challenges in one month. I'm not trying to brag, honest. I'm just flabbergasted.
As I've said it before, I am a bit crazy. I'm a bit obsessed once I get onto something I really like. For example, the other day I downloaded a new game on my phone and because it's so awesome, I've been playing it all day. Oh, and I've spent money on it, something I swore I'd never do with a phone game.
This obsession translates into my writing. Once I get into a story that I really adore, I just hack away at it until I either collapse from exhaustion or its done. The current work is 14 chapters long in 168 pages. This isn't including the little side-scene I wrote for it which may or may not make it into the main body.
I know someone out there is going to ask "how did you manage that?" I have no idea. Besides lacking a social life, working better under stress and having an insane obsession with things, I have no clue. I wouldn't suggest the first two though. One makes you somewhat anit-social and the other makes you want to jump off a cliff one moment and laugh giddily the next.
Besides that, I did want to mention that because of this insanity I have decided to modify one of my goals for this year. Instead of trying to write 500,000 words, I'm going to 600,000. I know, not much of an increase and technically I'm just over one sixth of the way there.
But who's to say I'll have another 100,000 word month before NaNoWriMo 2012? I might completely die once I finish this story. I kind of hope not, I've still got seven more months of the 12in12 challenge to complete before my final month in November.
Either way, I've written more then I could imagine this month. I want to thank everyone who has given me wonderful comments (even if they didn't know they were) and everyone who's actually reading this blog. Now I'm off to torture my poor (but loyal) fingers and write more.
Maybe one day I will sate this word obsession but the forecast is cloudy with a chance of "ha, yeah right." Until then, I'll amuse myself with writing about bi-polar mages, cowardly dragons, not-for-children fairy tales and whatever else strikes my fancy. Ciao.
As I've said it before, I am a bit crazy. I'm a bit obsessed once I get onto something I really like. For example, the other day I downloaded a new game on my phone and because it's so awesome, I've been playing it all day. Oh, and I've spent money on it, something I swore I'd never do with a phone game.
This obsession translates into my writing. Once I get into a story that I really adore, I just hack away at it until I either collapse from exhaustion or its done. The current work is 14 chapters long in 168 pages. This isn't including the little side-scene I wrote for it which may or may not make it into the main body.
I know someone out there is going to ask "how did you manage that?" I have no idea. Besides lacking a social life, working better under stress and having an insane obsession with things, I have no clue. I wouldn't suggest the first two though. One makes you somewhat anit-social and the other makes you want to jump off a cliff one moment and laugh giddily the next.
Besides that, I did want to mention that because of this insanity I have decided to modify one of my goals for this year. Instead of trying to write 500,000 words, I'm going to 600,000. I know, not much of an increase and technically I'm just over one sixth of the way there.
But who's to say I'll have another 100,000 word month before NaNoWriMo 2012? I might completely die once I finish this story. I kind of hope not, I've still got seven more months of the 12in12 challenge to complete before my final month in November.
Either way, I've written more then I could imagine this month. I want to thank everyone who has given me wonderful comments (even if they didn't know they were) and everyone who's actually reading this blog. Now I'm off to torture my poor (but loyal) fingers and write more.
Maybe one day I will sate this word obsession but the forecast is cloudy with a chance of "ha, yeah right." Until then, I'll amuse myself with writing about bi-polar mages, cowardly dragons, not-for-children fairy tales and whatever else strikes my fancy. Ciao.
Monday, January 2, 2012
12 in 12 Challenge
It's the first week of January and the week of New Year's Resolutions. We all plan them. Some of us complete the list and some say screw it. Generally, I'm one of those people who says screw it. Mostly because I have a really bad memory and can't remember what I resolved to do that year by the time March rolls around.
This year will be different. I will complete my resolutions. Why? Well, first let me tell you my main goal: I intend to complete the 12 in 12 writing challenge. What's that you ask? Well, the 12 in 12 challenge is to write 12 novella sized works in 12 months. A novella is defined as a work of fiction between 20,000 and 40,000 words in length for those of you who are curious.
Technically I started last year (in December, I've been wanting to say "last year" for two days now) and completed my first month with 22,000 words. Yes, I barely squeaked by. But I did it and that's what counts.
Back to why this year will be different. Well, I'm not the only one doing 12 in 12. There's a whole bunch of writers from National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) who decided to do the challenge as well. So I've got a support system of sorts to remind me to actually keep on track. There's even a Facebook group.
Since we're on the topic of resolutions, here are a few more writing goals I have for this year:
1) Promoting currently self-pubbed titles
2) Read a few craft books and promoting books
3) Put out my fifth anthology in March
4) Release my second novella in February
5) Write 200,000 words for NaNoWriMo 2012
6) Finish Book 3 in The Tale of the Twins trilogy
7) Write my fantasy spoof novel
8) Start working on my 10-13 book crime fiction series, as well as coming up with books 11,12 and 13 if it does get that far. This begins with Face Snatcher which you can read about here. You can also read about the two main detectives in a short piece in my recently released forth anthology called Hodgepodge.
9) Finish fleshing out the belief system, maps, event time lines and other important things for the world of Ambrosia. This is the world for my second trilogy and it's all in my head right now. It's a massive undertaking as I've been working on this thing ACTIVELY for at least a decade. You can meet some characters from Ambrosia in my Apocalyptic.
I'm also loosely hoping to hit 500,000 words in total for this year, most of which will be written during November. I know, I know, I'm insane. Lock me in a padded white room wearing a white un-fashionable jacket. Actually, no. I'm not insane. I'm a writer.
This year will be different. I will complete my resolutions. Why? Well, first let me tell you my main goal: I intend to complete the 12 in 12 writing challenge. What's that you ask? Well, the 12 in 12 challenge is to write 12 novella sized works in 12 months. A novella is defined as a work of fiction between 20,000 and 40,000 words in length for those of you who are curious.
Technically I started last year (in December, I've been wanting to say "last year" for two days now) and completed my first month with 22,000 words. Yes, I barely squeaked by. But I did it and that's what counts.
Back to why this year will be different. Well, I'm not the only one doing 12 in 12. There's a whole bunch of writers from National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) who decided to do the challenge as well. So I've got a support system of sorts to remind me to actually keep on track. There's even a Facebook group.
Since we're on the topic of resolutions, here are a few more writing goals I have for this year:
1) Promoting currently self-pubbed titles
2) Read a few craft books and promoting books
3) Put out my fifth anthology in March
4) Release my second novella in February
5) Write 200,000 words for NaNoWriMo 2012
6) Finish Book 3 in The Tale of the Twins trilogy
7) Write my fantasy spoof novel
8) Start working on my 10-13 book crime fiction series, as well as coming up with books 11,12 and 13 if it does get that far. This begins with Face Snatcher which you can read about here. You can also read about the two main detectives in a short piece in my recently released forth anthology called Hodgepodge.
9) Finish fleshing out the belief system, maps, event time lines and other important things for the world of Ambrosia. This is the world for my second trilogy and it's all in my head right now. It's a massive undertaking as I've been working on this thing ACTIVELY for at least a decade. You can meet some characters from Ambrosia in my Apocalyptic.
I'm also loosely hoping to hit 500,000 words in total for this year, most of which will be written during November. I know, I know, I'm insane. Lock me in a padded white room wearing a white un-fashionable jacket. Actually, no. I'm not insane. I'm a writer.
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