Hitting goals

Friday, August 30, 2013
I have several goals that I set for myself. To give an example, by the time this year is up I want to have my novel 'truth seeker' on its second draft and ten short stories written.

As far as these go, truth seeker is on editing session 13 of 21, and I have seven short stories written, three of which are published. One of my other goals is to write at least 350,000 words of fiction this year. Yesterday I hit 200,000. I'm a little behind where I should be, but I'm carrying on.

Now I might not hit everyone of my goals, some are a little more lofty like my goal to write 100 stories (92 to go), but if you aim for the moon and miss, at least you land in the stars. I think that it is difficult to know where our limitations lie, so the only way to find out is to try and do things we think we can't.

Maybe I'll make a goal to have those 100 stories written by the end of next year, maybe I won't make it, but I'll get a heck of a lot further than if I didn't try.

Adjusting to a new schedule

So three days ago I switched to working nights. Just two days before that I worked my last early shift, which is a seven o'clock start and means getting up anywhere between five and six in the morning.

Now I sleep from about 8/9am to about 2/3pm, with a nap between 6 and 8 pm. It's a very different schedule, and it'll take a lot of getting used to. On the days I'm working I find myself with very little time, taking out sleeping and travelling I have about three hours left over for writing, eating, and everything else.

So far I like it a lot better than working days. I still need to get used to the sleep schedule. I'm only drifting during the naps, and I don't think I have the energy I did have, but I'm confident that it will get there.

As for writing, I think this will give me more time overall hammering out words. Since I'm living with family, I tend to get lots of visitors into my writing office, and unscheduled interruptions are a major annoyance to my OCD tendencies, and there are a lot more distractions. Working at night I hope to be able to focus for longer periods on my days off. 

I follow Dean Wesley Smith's blog and have seen that he does most of his writing at night. So it works for some writers. I won't know for a couple of weeks whether it'll work for me, but so far I'm hopeful.

Another short story finished

Thursday, August 29, 2013
I love that feeling of typing the ending. This is the eighth story I've written this year. I'm considering some kind of celebration once I reach ten.

This story ended up just over 3,200 words. It's about a boy who wakes up in the middle of the night to find monsters attacking his house, but all is not as it seems.

So yay, and already on to the next one. I'm hoping to finish that one before I get around to rewrites for my novel 'truth seeker'. We'll see how that goes.

Another short story finished

Monday, August 19, 2013
This one is called 'Monster Hangover'. It's about a werewolf who wakes up after a night out to find he's locked in a dog pound, and he must escape or risk exposing his secret.

That one makes seven stories written so far this year. Not good, but I did only start pushing this recently.

One is novel length, one novella length, and the other five vary between 3 and 7 k words. I'm not counting the flash fiction.

I've come up with an interesting way of tracking how many stories I've finished. I have a reward chart with a hundred different shapes, and each time I finish a story I color one in. Once I make it to 100, I'm getting a puppy.

No, seriously. Well actually I haven't decided if I'm telling the truth. Shhh. But for now, 100 stories written and I get a puppy. I think I'll call him Teddy.

The next project is called 'they came at night'. It's another short story.

I hope to be on rewrites for my novel 'Truth Seeker' soon, so I won't have time for new projects in the time it takes to do that.

Now, got to get to bed. I'm up horribly early tomorrow to go to work.

Holly Lisle how to revise your novel - Lesson ten complete.

Sunday, August 18, 2013
Wow, this lesson took longer than I thought. It was interesting to say the least.

For the first part of this lesson I had to come up with a focus outline for the whole book. After all the lessons I've been through up to this point, my new outline was quite a bit different from my old one. I'm a little worried that it might be too different, but I do like it a lot better.

I have a feeling the rewrite is going to put me through the ringer, but I'm hoping the result will make it all worth it.

Up to this point I feel I've learned a heck of a lot. I just have to push through to get to the end.

Truth Seeker is 47.6 percent through this editing process. One more lesson and I'll be over the half way mark.

On to lesson eleven.