JanNoWriMo 2019 - Hope Smiles

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mrsmig

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"Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, 'It will be happier.'"
- Alfred Lord Tennyson


Happy 2019! Happy January! And welcome to our first monthly goals thread of the New Year!

For those new to the thread, many of us participate in the annual NaNoWriMo festivities as well as the twice-yearly Camp NaNo - but that's not a prerequisite to join in. All are welcome to state their goals for the month: writing goals, reading goals, personal goals of all kinds. The writer's road can be a lonely one, but we're here to encourage, commiserate and cheer.

As always, I'll start us off. My goals are relatively modest this month, and focused largely on writing, which has fallen by the wayside after a stressful final quarter of 2018. I'm trying a couple of different methods to kick-start my engine, so to speak, beginning with setting a daily writing goal instead of a monthly one.

[ ] Write 100 words a day
[ ] Week One
[ ] Week Two
[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four
[ ] Week Five​
[ ] Complete Margaret Atwood's Masterclass on writing
[ ] Read three books
[ ] Read one short story a week (part of AW's Short Story Reading Challenge)
[ ] Get 30 minutes of exercise every day
[ ] Week One
[ ] Week Two
[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four
[ ] Week Five​
[ ] Decide what to do with the first four novels of my series (depending on what happens with agent submissions from last month)
[ ] Crowbar final royalty payment for 2018 from my deadbeat publisher

What's on your agenda for the first 31 days of 2019?
 
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Tamlyn

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Hello, 2019. You're looking nice and dapper. I hope it lasts.

In some ways my goals aren't changing from last year, but I intend to focus more on the short stories, work on getting back up to respectable submission levels and either getting my stuff out there or retiring it properly. I also hope to get back on the novel querying bandwagon.

With that in mind, I need to finish the final-final edits on the novel, which I think is only a few chapters. I intend to get back into writing Ginevra; I haven't set a word goal on that because I want to just read over and get started before anything else. I plan to sort my stories - put them in the send out again piles, the need to edit piles, and the burn it piles.

Otherwise I want to draft my SS story so I won't put other story goals this month except the sorting. Then there is always game planning (map assets!), maybe a little transcription, and doing my daily habits, including my one dedicated day.

I want to read five books. At least one of those should not be Famous Five :p

1. Read five books.
2. Draft SS story.
3. Sort other stories.
4. Game map (and accompanying session).
5. Finish editing S&M.
6. Get back into writing Ginevra.
7. Transcription.
8. Read or write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week.
 

Jaymz Connelly

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Happy 2019, everyone! May it treat you kindly.

I have very few goals for January. Being as it's usually stinking hot in January, I'll be lucky to get anything done. All I need is one sort of reasonable temp day to get the sanding done on the desk. (like a top temp below 30C)

[ ] finish sanding and refinishing desk
[ ] work on sisyfus story
[ ] complete counted cross-stitch project
[ ] complete clear out of unwanted stuff (clothes that don’t fit, stuff I haven’t even LOOKED at in 5 years…)
 
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NathanCosby

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Happy New Year Everyone!

The past five years I have read writing book after writing book and listened to every writing podcast known to man. I just never seem to get time to write. Since I know I'm not anywhere near ready to tackle a full-length novel yet, I have dubbed 2019 "The Year of Short Stories." I have dedicated myself to writing one for all 52 weeks of the year. So, January comes out like this:

[X] Short Story 1 } UPDATE: I have not stopped writing the first short story; hence, it is no longer a short story and I've made a change in plans.
[ ] Short Story 2 }
[ ] Short Story 3 } UPDATE: Not happening (see above)
[ ] Short Story 4 }
[ ] Submit one story for publication } UPDATE: Not happening (see above)
[X] Read a classic book } UPDATE: "At the Mountains of Madness" by H.P. Lovecraft
[ ] Read an indy book
[ ] Keep writing on new novel idea

Good luck to everyone on all their goals for January, and for the rest of 2019!
 
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mrsmig

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Welcome back, tamlyn and Jaymz, and welcome to the thread, NathanCosby! Lots of writing planned for January!
 

eternalised

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Here are my goals for January 2019:


  • [ ] Finish edits of The Sign of the Serpent (chapter-by-chapter edits).
  • [ ] Finish second round of edits of The Sign of the Serpent.
  • [ ] Write a short story a week (total: 0/5).
  • [ ] Write two blog posts here per week (total: 2/10)
  • [ ] Post at least once a week on my Sims4 Stories blog (total: 0/5).
  • [ ] Write five reviews for I Heart Reading (total: 0/5).
  • [ ] Update lists of books read in 2018 on I Heart Reading and I Heart Yearly Reads.
  • [ ] Join reading challenges for 2019 on I Heart Reading.
  • [ ] Write an essay.
  • [ ] Review three books for Ind’Tale Magazine (total: 0/3).
  • [ ] Write first draft of YA Warlock Book #1 (total: 0/60k words).
  • [ ] Tied to the previous goal, write 2k words a day Monday-Saturday.
  • [ ] Prepare for release of The Chronicles of Blood, Season 1.
 

Aphotic Ink

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Happy 2019!

I'm going to
[ ] get another donation box ready
[ ] finish five books (1/5)
[ ] get a story submission-ready
[ ] submit three times
[ ] spend two hours rehauling my office
[ ] apply to two jobs

Best luck, everyone!
 

mrsmig

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Welcome back, eternalized and Aphotic Ink!
 
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eternalised

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Thank you, mrsmig!

I already made some progress on my goals, and it's only day 2. Off to a good start! X marks when a goal is complete, numbers in bold text are updated numbers.


  • [X] Finish edits of The Sign of the Serpent (chapter-by-chapter edits).
  • [ ] Finish second round of edits of The Sign of the Serpent.
  • [ ] Write a short story a week (total: 0/5).
  • [ ] Write two blog posts here per week (total: 3/10)
  • [ ] Post at least once a week on my Sims4 Stories blog (total: 0/5).
  • [ ] Write five reviews for I Heart Reading (total: 1/5).
  • [X] Update lists of books read in 2018 on I Heart Reading and I Heart Yearly Reads.
  • [X] Join reading challenges for 2019 on I Heart Reading.
  • [ ] Write an essay.
  • [ ] Review three books for Ind’Tale Magazine (total: 0/3).
  • [ ] Write first draft of YA Warlock Book #1 (total: 0/60k words).
  • [ ] Tied to the previous goal, write 2k words a day Monday-Saturday.
  • [ ] Prepare for release of The Chronicles of Blood, Season 1.
 

SophK

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Happy 2019! I've never done NaNo, but can I join? I could really do with some order in my habits. I may be back to add to these but so far, in January I want to:

[ ] Type and edit last month's Short Story #1
[ ] Write Short Story #2
[ ] Read at least this month's planned novel (Bleak House)
[ ] Read this month's planned classical text (Virgil's Aeneid)
[ ] Keep away from WIP (Book 1) until feedback received in late January
[ ] Get on with terrible first draft of Book 3 (at least 10k words)

That seems like a lot now I look at it, considering how tiring this day is so far. Oh well, can but try. Good luck everyone!
 

mrsmig

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It's all about the trying, SophK. Welcome to the thread!
 

PorterStarrByrd

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January
Research agents to find ten who work with a book like "Dead Roses"
Mail queries to each
Finish at least one two chapters of "Dust in the Till"
Finish At least two chapters of "What's Cooking"
Create at least two carachters for "Flight 65 Down"
Blogging at least once per week on one of my blogs
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Finish at least one of the books I am reading
Clive Cussler
Quanta and Reality
Holy Blod, Holy Grail
Continue my beta reading project.

All of that is pretty aggressive considering I am also going to be unpacking from our move and working a list of projects for the new house (built in 1820) but without setting goals I remain stagnant. At least I have my whiteboard up and can see remonders daily.
 

Woollybear

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[ ] Pick up (at least) two new pointers on 'good writing techniques' from reading more broadly
[ ] Finish final edit on WIP 1
[ ] Finish a working 'good draft' (a readable draft, heh) of chapter 1, WIP2
 

bdwilson

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I'm having trouble coming up with what I want to do, so I'm going to copy one of yours @mrsmig. I hope you don't mind. I started the Margaret Atwood class some time last month, but haven't focused enough to get very far yet. I'd like to do so this month, though.

[ ] Complete Margaret Atwood's Masterclass on writing.
[ ] Donate bag of clothes I no longer wear.
[ ] Hit my daily writing goals for the month:
[ ] Week One
[ ] Week Two
[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four
[ ] Week Five​
[ ] Get editor booked for novella I've been sitting on.

I'll go with that for now. Might add more as the month progresses.
 

Saoirse

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I'm back again. :)

My goals:

[] Oubliette words
[] January newsletter
[] Set up Kanban journal
[] Start manifestation journal
[] Anthology story revisions
[] Short story
[] 5 pages of BEP
 
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mrsmig

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I'm having trouble coming up with what I want to do, so I'm going to copy one of yours @mrsmig. I hope you don't mind. I started the Margaret Atwood class some time last month, but haven't focused enough to get very far yet. I'd like to do so this month, though.

I don't mind at all - we can compare notes!
 

EMaree

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Happy New Year, everyone. :) Looking forward to another year of hitting goals alongside you all.

My resolution for 2019 is to finish my half-finished projects.
My goal for January is to consistently edit at least 6 pages a day, and I'm aiming to boost that up to a 10-per-day average when I get rolling and start having big boom days.

[ ] Edit on average 10 pages a day.
[ ] Finish the DtS edit.
[ ] Hit monthly weight goal.
 
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mrsmig

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End of the first week of the year (albeit a truncated one), and I'm proud to report that I actually made all my goals for the week - even exceeded the writing goal (approximately 900 words over a four-day period, and today's not over yet). I'm up to Lesson #6 in the Atwood masterclass; I'm finding it just a wee bit simplistic, but probably because I already have finished books under my belt. Atwood's lecture style can be a little droning, but then she'll do or say something unexpected and look at the camera with a twinkle, and I find that great fun. I read my short story for the week and did my 30 minutes of exercise every day, and I finished a book (Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire).

Today will be a bit of a struggle to make the goals, as I have to work at the store, but I'm going to do my best. I'm hoping to keep up this slow-but-steady pace in the coming weeks.

[ ] Write 100 words a day
[x] Week One - 900 words
[ ] Week Two
[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four
[ ] Week Five​
[ ] Complete Margaret Atwood's Masterclass on writing
[ ] Read three books - 1 of 3
[ ] Read one short story a week (part of AW's Short Story Reading Challenge)
[x] Week One
[ ] Week Two
[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four
[ ] Week Five​
[ ] Get 30 minutes of exercise every day
[x] Week One
[ ] Week Two
[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four
[ ] Week Five​
[ ] Decide what to do with the first four novels of my series (depending on what happens with agent submissions from last month)
[ ] Crowbar final royalty payment for 2018 from my deadbeat publisher
 

eternalised

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Good job, mrsmig on the progress on all your goals!

I've also made some progress, posted below. X means the task has been completed, bold text means the number has been updated. I also added an additional goal because I'm crazy. It's in bold at the bottom of the list.


  • [X] Finish edits of The Sign of the Serpent (chapter-by-chapter edits).
  • [ ] Finish second round of edits of The Sign of the Serpent.
  • [ ] Write a short story a week (total: 0/5).
  • [ ] Write two blog posts here per week (total: 7/10)
  • [ ] Post at least once a week on my Sims4 Stories blog (total: 0/5).
  • [X] Write five reviews for I Heart Reading (total: 5/5).
  • [X] Update lists of books read in 2018 on I Heart Reading and I Heart Yearly Reads.
  • [X] Join reading challenges for 2019 on I Heart Reading.
  • [ ] Write an essay.
  • [ ] Review three books for Ind’Tale Magazine (total: 0/3).
  • [ ] Write first draft of YA Warlock Book #1 (total: 0/60k words).
  • [ ] Tied to the previous goal, write 2k words a day Monday-Saturday.
  • [ ] Prepare for release of The Chronicles of Blood, Season 1.
  • [ ] Post an additional five reviews on I Heart Reading (total: 1/5).
 

EstherJ

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Hmm, not sure what goals would be reasonable for me, so gonna start with something simple for this January :u Might update this if I come up with something new


[ ] write 100 words every day
[ ] week 2
[ ] week 3
[ ] week 4
[ ] week 5
[ ] publish a short story
[ ] read 1 book
 

Jaymz Connelly

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Way to go on the progress towards your goals, mrsmig and eternalised!

I've had a pretty good first week of the year. Did a massive clear-out of stuff. Put together the new desk... which is too small for my two monitors. It was disappointing, but the desk fits in the bedroom upstairs pretty well. I've ordered another, bigger desk (with a different layout), so hopefully I'll have a new desk before the end of the month. Started writing my sisyfus story yesterday. It always goes slow when I'm first starting, so I'm pretty happy with the 600 words I managed. Hoping to make a lot more progress in the coming week.

The extreme heat is gone for now, so I'm hoping to finish the sanding on the desk I'm refinishing this week. That desk used to be up in my bedroom, but now it will act as a desk return for the new desk downstairs (I need lots of desktop space *g*).

I'm making progress on the counted cross-stitch, but I dunno if I'll manage to get it done by the end of the month. I'll see how I'm placed in the next week or so.

[ ] finish sanding and refinishing desk
[ ] work on sisyfus story – finalized my notes for it – wrote 600 words
[ ] complete counted cross-stitch project
[X] complete clear out of unwanted stuff (clothes that don’t fit, stuff I haven’t even LOOKED at in 5 years…)
 

mrsmig

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Hmm, not sure what goals would be reasonable for me, so gonna start with something simple for this January :u Might update this if I come up with something new


[ ] write 100 words every day
[ ] week 2
[ ] week 3
[ ] week 4
[ ] week 5
[ ] publish a short story
[ ] read 1 book

We update/revise goals all the time here, EstherJ - usually about the second week of the month, when reality sets in.
 

Saoirse

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Update:

[] Oubliette words
[] January newsletter
[x] Set up Kanban journal
[x] Start manifestation journal
[] Anthology story revisions
[] Short story
[] 5 pages of BEP
 

Aphotic Ink

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Alright. End of the first week, and I've managed to


[:D] get another donation box ready
[ ] finish five books (1/5)
[:D] get a story submission-ready - Oh goodness, done. I'm not 100% sure I should count this one; I edited a story down to 7500 and sent it out. I have other things I'm working on; if I manage another one this month I imagine I'll feel better.
[ ] submit three times - 1/3
[ ] spend two hours rehauling my office
[ ] apply to two jobs

Not as much as I hoped, but I also got ready to teach my first class ever at a local college. Best luck going forward, everyone!
 
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mrsmig

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Aphotic Ink - I love using emoticons to indicate progress! And congratulations on that submission.
 
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