Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Dream Big and Live Life
I graduated with my MA in English in May, and I can honestly say I'm not even sure I read a book that wasn't required in the entire year and a half I was pursuing that degree, much less put pen to paper. Before that, I was getting my BA, and finding time to write was difficult, but I still managed. Now, though, I teach three classes a semester, which means that even though I have huge chunks of free time in my schedule, I'm constantly exhausted and tired of words on pages and using my time to grade papers (sometimes). I also work at a movie theater because being a teacher really doesn't pay all the bills, especially since I only get paid once a month. So I teach in the mornings and am done by 12:30, and then I spend my nights and weekends shoveling popcorn and making drinks. It's a glamorous life, let me tell you. I am lucky when I get a day off at all, and any actual free time I have is normally spent curled up on my couch staring blankly at the TV simply because my eyes burn and/or I'm too mentally and physically exhausted to make my brain work.
But if I want it, I'll make time. Isn't that what people say? You force yourself to write whenever you can. Any words are better than no words. But I was an English major. And a perfectionist. And I hate writing things that are bad. I like to take my time and craft them well so there's less revising and editing and cutting and all that lovely jazz. But, Amanda, you say, that's just how writing works. Not just writing, creating anything, heck, even life! It's messy and takes work and patience! And I know it. I do. You know what else I know? That I just want to write. I don't want to worry about whether my classes are failing or if my students have figured out how to string words and sentences together any better or if I'm going to want to punch my coworkers for being too lazy to sweep up popcorn. I just want to write and be happy. But I can't do that until I can pay all my bills. And I can't pay my bills without working myself to the bones. Oh isn't life grand?
And you know what? I still find time to write. Because even though the words are crap and I have papers to grade and popcorn to make, writing is what I love, and if there's one thing I learned from my mother more than anything else, it's that you should do what you love. So I teach, and I work, and I lie in an exhausted heap around my apartment, and I write. Because it has always been my dream for people to read my stories, and it has always been my goal to be good enough at crafting them that people will pay me. And one day, it'll happen.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Kill Your Darlings
Anywho, when I first sent it off to everyone, I refused to look at any of it. I knew it needed work, so showing it to people seemed like a silly idea since I already knew I had issues to fix. And it's probably a good thing I didn't dive back into revisions first, because, honestly, I would have butchered it for no reason. I listened to what everyone had to say, and almost none of the suggestions for changes matched. Everyone thought something completely different. So I opened it up today, and I decided to take it one chapter at a time (if I do it any other way I see how much work I have ahead of me and just want to shut down), and I have to say, I'm kind of blown away by what I've written. I forgot how good it was. I'm not saying it's flawless Literature or anything, but for two years while I've worked on my school stuff, I've been thinking about how crappy bits were and just how much work it needed, and somewhere along the road I convinced myself that the idea was the only solid thing about it. But, man, it's good!
So I'm editing my novel with the help of a writing group I'm not entirely sold on yet, and I'm working on my picture book. And I'm really excited because not only do I have some new ideas I'm toying with too, but I might actually meet my new publishing goal. Things are looking up.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Blog Fest Mashup
There are a couple blog fests going around today that I wanted to get in on, so I think I'll participate in both. The first in Katrina Lantz's New Year's Revision Blog Party. Katrina had the idea for everyone to share their revision plans, since revision can be a bit of a drag sometimes. So for 2011, here's what I've got planned:I want to have the 2nd draft of The Sandman's Apprentice finished before February. I'm already 20k into it and I'm hoping the final draft will be closer to 45k, which looks very doable.
I'll look back over draft two and fix all the things I know need to be fixed.
By the third week of February, I want to have my own revisions finished so I can send TSA off to others to read and crit. I really only have one or two people I can send it to, so I may be posting come February for CPs.
Hopefully, in March I can work on any- and everything I get feedback on and be completely finished before April.
So there you have it, that's my very loose schedule for revisions, and with any lucky I'll actually be finished a lot earlier than that. But I won't hold my breath. The story is the easiest thing for me to fix, so the technical aspects are what will be the most time consuming. Here's to a productive 2011!
What are your revision plans?
And now, for the other blog fest from Vicki Rocho: Eye Candy.So, because I love each and everyone of you, I'm going to try to get some eye candy that everyone can appreciate.
For the guys, the always lovely Kate Beckinsale.
Ladies, I give you Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is finally getting the recognition he deserves.
And now, some of the pictures that make me smile every time I look at them:
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Resolution Fail
On the bright side, I'm super excited about said new project! I've also decided that I'm not actually going to write on this project. I'm just going to work on plotting it out, something I've never really done before. We'll see how that goes. As it stands, I've got 3/4 of a page that resembles a query summary of the book-to-be.
Once I get the whole thing outlined or something I'll put it up so you can get all warm and fuzzy and excited and wonder why you didn't think of it first. :P I kid, I kid. It's going to be paranormal YA though, just fyi. And I don't even know that there's going to be any real romance in this one either...huh. Well, that's all for now. Just wanted to share.
Have you already broken your New Year's resolutions? Did you make any? Did you have any goals you made?
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Hello, New Year!
Life isn't always a walk in the park. In fact, in my experience every day can provide you with more obstacles. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying life is all pain and heartbreak, but I do think it can seem that way. We have a tendency to look back on our lives and remember all of the bad things, all of the things that went horribly wrong, or the things we wish we would have done differently. I've made it a personal goal of mine to look on the bright side of life. To try and see the good things in spite of the bad.
This has become increasingly difficult, but getting to spend time with the people I love has helped me the last couple of weeks. After high school, we all went our separate ways, and now we hardly ever see each other. I got to college and I thought it would be so much better than high school, but it's worse. The people are more immature and even more vicious. I lost all of my friends after the first semester and had to make entirely new ones. Recently, nearly everyone who was there for me after that first rough patch has deserted me. But I've made new and better friends, and just like those select few friends I've managed to keep since high school, they're there for me. And I can't imagine how things would have turned out if I hadn't met any of them.
On a writing note, last night was a big one for me: I finished editing the first chapter of Rise of the Phoenix, and I couldn't be more excited. It still worries me though; I think I might have to split it, but I'm not sure yet. It grew, a lot. The 1st person version is 18 pgs; the new 3rd person rewrite and edit is 31 pgs and 8,200 words. =)
It's a new year, and a new decade. I've never been one for resolutions, but I'm a fan of goals. I mentioned before (a couple of times actually) that I want to be query ready by graduation, May 2011. I want to move it up. By January of 2011, I want to be finished with edits, and have a query and synopsis ready. I want to write more often and on a regular basis. And I want to start playing with my Shiny Idea.
I'm determined to have a fantastic year. So, here's to 2010. May it be filled with happiness and success for everyone.
I've given you my goals. Now, what're yours? Do you want to find the perfect agent? Finish that story you've been writing? Meet new people? Let's hear it!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Work in Progress Wednesday
It's a week of firsts for me here on the blog. :) Yesterday was my first attempt at a decent summary for Teaser Tuesday and today, as you're all well aware, is WiP Wednesday.
This week, last night in particular was huge for me. My WiP, Rise of the Phoenix broke 40k! I started the summer with less than 20k and with less than a month to go before move-in day and the beginning of classes, I'm super excited at all the progress I've made.
Yesterday I wrote 2000 words, most after 9PM. I'm still trying not to do a happy dance. :P Especially considering the large amount of time and energy I put in to rearranging the living room. *sigh*
My goal is to get 50k or finish the 1st draft before Aug. 17th; I'll keep you posted on how it goes. Editing is fairly nonexistent right now, I'm focusing on getting the whole thing out before I rip it to shreds. So, naturally, I have a list of things that pop into my head that I need to fix or add or delete.
My friend Brooke is working on her own project and my super-excited Facebook status updates have been motivating her to write; she broke 11k last night! We keep cheering each other on, it's great to have writing friends!
What have you accomplished this week? Did you set any new goals this week?
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Procrastination, Progress, and Goals
So then the internet is calling me and it's like,
"Hey, you know you wanna blog. Do it. DO. IT." And I cave. The next hour or more (usually more) is spent reading every new post of every blog I follow. I think there's like fifty of them. No lie. And then if it's a weekend and no one is updating, I twitter and I facebook. But there isn't ever much going on on either of those networks and I rarely myspace. *sigh* So I return to staring at my WiP.
I know where it is and what needs to happen next and where it needs to go but for some reason I just can't write it. I try. It's crap. I don't try. I feel bad because I know I should be writing, that's the only way I'm ever going to get done. Grr. GRR.
So I decided to take a little break from trying to write on the WiP and revisited the flash fiction I wrote that one night I couldn't sleep. It was a 650 word scene. Now it's 2350. I think I can get back to the WiP now that I've been productive at something else.
Do you ever feel like you need to work on something else in order to get back to making progress on your WiP? I mean, I know everyone takes breaks were they just don't work on it, But do you ever just say "screw it" for a day or two and write something else? Is that why some of you have more than one WiP? Does splitting your focus help you out?
Since the 6th I've added about 10k, and I haven't touched it at all in a few days. I do believe it's time to get back to writing. School starts in less than a month, what d'you thinks a good goal to set? 50k before Aug. 19? I think I'll try.
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