JanNoWriMo 2015!

Happy 2015 folks!

My goals are not crazy exciting, and for the second straight month, there might be no new writing done (which feels weird).

• Finish Beta in progress
• Read other swap/beta
• Gather notes from my betas and combine
• Apply beta notes
• Plot SNI
• Go to remaining classes
• Keep up with homework

I have a New Year's Resolution, though I suppose it's more of a 2015 goal. I want to query something. Two years ago, I'd never really edited, last year I'd never sent anything to beta... so, baby steps for me. This year, to query.

I'll play:

Write 43,000 words to be divided between:

• Rewrite of the first two chapters of Shyster & Shyster
• Continuation of Bubbles first draft
• Finish outline and start How to Cure a Lesbian (Yes, this is a comedy. I do not seriously think you can cure a sexual preference.)

Self-publish two out of print stories:

• Gremlins and Bladerdash
• High Heels and Bloodsuckers

Update new blog weekly
Finish beta read
Read and review Escape from Witchwood Hollow by Jordan Elizabeth Mierek
Set up a Good Reads account

Hopefully I'll actually accomplish my goals for this month:

1) Finish WIP #2
2) Finish beta.
3) Read 3 books
4) Upkeep new blog with a post daily.

Also going to try for an unofficial daily word count of 1,000.

I have the outline of a short I want to write and submit before the end of the month. Enjoying the last few days of holidays then I'll get cracking. Good luck everyone with your projects!

I wish I could just flesh out my WIP, it has fantasy aspects and I'm having a hard time coming up with how that world works and what makes it worse is I feel like I'm so close to seeing the whole picture.

Freak'in annoying!

I've been thinking about it for a few days now, and I've decided that I'm not going to make any of my usual goals this month. Instead, I have just one over-arching goal:

Be happy.

So to that end, whenever I find myself being especially happy (or unhappy), I'll jot down in here what it was I was doing, and give it a score out of 10. At the end of the month, I should have a better idea of what it is that actually makes me happy. (And I'll also be making notes about how long it lasts - fleeting, momentary, lasting, long-term, etc.)

So yes. It's kind of an unorthodox goal, but it feels right to me.

I think that's an awesome goal, Cliff. ^_^

I'm aiming to write every day. 100 words a day. I know that's kind of ridiculously low, but I'm hoping to work my way up to NaNoWriMo rates. Right now, starting from pretty much zero, developing a habit of writing every day seems more important than how much I manage to write.

Happy New Year everyone!

Here's my goals for this month, many of which are also from last month

• Plot L2 with the Snowflake Method
• Plot L3 with the Snowflake Method
• Critique all submissions to the group within the first week
• Edit novella first chapter from feedback
• Clean up novella second chapter and send to critique group
• Revise make editorial changes to short story and send back

I'm jumping back in again this month. Here are my goals:
Finish and edit Witches for Hire
Get at least halfway through rough draft of YA novel
Work on synopses and queries

New year, new goals! Here are my January goals:

• Finish client edits (I have three I'm working on at the moment)
• Submit my YA novella to at least one publisher
• Finish first draft of Ghostslayer (35k/70k words at the moment)
• Blog at least twice a week
• Write at least ten reviews for on my review blog

Because January tends to be the busiest month of the year for me, I want to keep things simple for this month.

Write 43,000 words to be divided between:
Rewrite of the first two chapters of Shyster & Shyster
Continuation of Bubbles first draft - 1,400 words added this month
Finish outline and start How to Cure a Lesbian Completed outline

Self-publish two out of print stories:
Gremlins and Bladerdash
High Heels and Bloodsuckers

Update new blog weekly
Finish beta read finished current two chapters
Read and review Escape from Witchwood Hollow by Jordan Elizabeth Mierek Began reading
Set up a Good Reads account

Read 5 books.
Write out a timeline for the first part of my novel.
Write ten journal entries for the month.
Add 5000 new words to my novel.

So, happiness update:

I've been somewhat discontented with my current life for the past day and a half. I'll give that a -7, with a long-term time score.

Contrasting that, I've been watching Two And A Half Men season 11, which is reasonably good. I'll give that a +5, but only a short-term time score.

So yeah... I'm balancing out into negative territory so far. But I'm working on the discontentment. Or, at least, I'm thinking my way through the problem.

3k between last night and this morning. I'm gonna work on one more scene of Witches for Hire then take a breather by working on something else for a while.

Happiness update:

Looking for work is depressing. I'll give it a -6, with medium-term for a time score.

However, not having enough money to live the life I want is weighing down on me. I'll give that a -8, with a long-term time score (I've been poor a long time).

So overall... Looking for work isn't as bad as not having a job.

On the positive side... Once again, DVDs are scoring about +5, which helps somewhat, but is not enough to seriously improve my overall mood.

Happiness update:

Bought a new guitar tuner that is more suited to my needs: +4, but long-term time score.

Didn't find anything in the store to spend my vouchers on: This is a tricky one. I'll give it -4 for not having the joy of finding something I really want, but also a +5 because it's a positive step for me in becoming more of a minimalist (not so much because I didn't buy anything, but because it's the first time I've intended to spend a gift voucher and not spent it straight away). So +1 bittersweet, with a short-term time score.

So overall, I'm having a fairly decent day so far.

This flu bug is endless. Extra no-voice today, because I spent most of the night coughing. Robotics is in full swing, (4+ afternoons a week) so my personal time is greatly reduced. I have to keep an eye on those girls or we'll get a chassis with a flamethrower attached (this year, they're all about the flamethrower idea. Last year, it was a chainsaw they wanted.)

I'm going to finish the current beta either today or tomorrow. Not going to lie, it'll probably be tomorrow - as great as the book is - because I really want to go straight to bed when I get home.

SNI is so shiny. I really want to play with it, but it's just not the time for that.

No class this week, but I missed last week being sick. Bought the extra workbook yesterday, but I should really call and ask what the homework is...

ETA: totally lied - finished the beta. Ugh, SO good. Beta = sometimes reading books you'd happily pay for, for free.

So far, I wrote 6k in 2015, all in my first draft of NA paranormal "Ghostslayer". I've also written eight reviews for on my book review blog, and have kept up with blogging.

Now I'm focusing on client edits first.