September 2015 Motivational Thread

Thanks, @kmtolan!

My goals for the month are:
  • Outline 5 chapters for Halloween book 2
  • Start novella for the novella challenge
  • Write a query letter for Halloween book 1 and maybe the rest of the submission package
  • Finish reading a friend's book and get it back to them with my thoughts.
 
I am already doing better than last month! I'm at 580 words already today, compared to 314 for all last month, so - yay!

Still, I'm going to keep my goals realistic this month. I feel bad enough for basically flouncing off the whole summer, and September is my work's busiest month. So, my goal will be:

1) Finish Fine Balance.

2) Get to the end of any other draft.

I don't care if it's a 500 word flash. :P
 
I managed to squeak out a bit over 8,000 words last month. Not good, for me, but summer's over. Time to get back to work.

My goals:
  • 20k words on the MilSF novella
  • Re-read Strife draft, note changes and issues
  • Release the final episode of A&F's season one
  • Tighten up Strife plot/outline for rewrites
 
I have a first draft to edit, so my goal is to complete the first pass before the end of the month. It's 67,000 words, so I think I can manage that. I may also work on a short story, but the editing is my main focus.

Just seeing the beast on paper is going to be so exciting! :D
 
EJ Heijnis said:
I have a first draft to edit, so my goal is to complete the first pass before the end of the month. It's 67,000 words, so I think I can manage that. I may also work on a short story, but the editing is my main focus.

Just seeing the beast on paper is going to be so exciting! :D
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Hi, EJ! Nice to meet you and glad to have you with us! Congratulations on completing the draft, that's great! Also good luck with the editing (and good luck to everyone else as well)

FYI, I don't often use this many exclamation marks.
 
Hmm, what will I do this month?
  • Read about 20 short stories.
  • Edit about... 12? Maybe more, there are some good looking pieces at first glance.
  • Play the scene where I knock on eight people's front doors and ask if we could step inside, I have some difficult news, maybe you should sit down...
  • Lay the groundwork for a Kickstarter campaign, and decide whether to go through with it or not.
Anthology stuff will dominate, I think, though I'm looking forward to it. But then there's real life as well, which includes finding a way to pay the rent, prompting my local writers group regarding another anthology, self-publishing another mini-ebook, and (least plausible of all) finding a few spare seconds to do that other thing. Whatsit? Oh:
  • Some writing.
 
Teaching and lesson plans will probably eat up a lot of the time I would otherwise be spending on writing this month, so I'll keep my goals pretty modest:
  • Spire City, Season Two begins its release in early October, so as much as I can get ready beforehand--some later episodes need a final revision pass and polish; all episodes need to be formatted, etc.
  • Related to that, I'm releasing a stand-alone novella set in Spire City that will initially be an exclusive for subscribers to Season Two. So I need to get that fully polished and ready.
  • I can't do only Spire City things, though, so there was a short I was revising in July. It felt like it needed one more round of being set aside and then coming back with fresh eyes. So get that done and submitted.
  • I hate when I don't get to any new writing in any given month, so hopefully I can do something new. Poem? Flash? Micro? Not sure...
 
Really a disaster month. Did most of the work and chose not to submit to the Anthology. Seems like a very talented crowd anyway, so not much lost. Also did not do a short story, which was also a victim of the crisis of confidence that claimed the Anthology piece. Down it floats to the bottom of the story ocean.

On to a new month. Do the flash contest, ruminate on story contest, try and develop new idea into a novella entry.
 
VictorK said:
Really a disaster month. Did most of the work and chose not to submit to the Anthology. Seems like a very talented crowd anyway, so not much lost. Also did not do a short story, which was also a victim of the crisis of confidence that claimed the Anthology piece.
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I'm sorry you decided this way, Victor, but I have no doubt that there will be another anthology next year, and in years to follow. Whether it's me again, or Nila again, or someone else in charge, you (and everyone else, naturally) will always be welcomed to participate with open arms.

I've had some crap writing months this year, and prior too, I suspect we all have. It goes with the territory of artistic expression. No cure for the malady, only a remedy: write yourself better, it strengthens the immune system!
 
After the epic triumph that was August I'm scared to commit to too much in September as it's a very heavy work month.

But still, I'll try to write one flash for the competition and a short for the other competition.

Maybe try to revise and submit a few things too.

Considering looking at the novellas challenges but I think that needs more planning than I usually do...
 
Thanks, Matthew, great encouragement. And welcome to the forums! I've been enjoying your writing ever since I discovered some of your Guth Bandar stories in F & SF about a decade ago, and the Henghis Hapthorn books are great fun. I often try to recommend them when I find someone whose tastes match mine. Good to have you here!
 
danielausema said:
Thanks, Matthew, great encouragement. And welcome to the forums! I've been enjoying your writing ever since I discovered some of your Guth Bandar stories in F & SF about a decade ago,
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Thank you, Daniel. Did you know I collected all the Bandar stories into an ebook and POD paperback and self-published them last year? It's called The Compleat Guth Bandar.
 
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