JanNoWriMo 2019 - Hope Smiles

Great start everyone!

And the emoticons are fun Aphotic Ink!

I didn't get as much accomplished this weekend and I'm not entirely certain why. For example, I planned to do some of the Master Class, even had the tab open and on one of my screens, and then I realized it was time for bed and I couldn't. Hrm. Need to work on that. On the plus side, I finally arranged pick-up for the clothes I'd set aside to donate months ago, so that's done.

[ ] Complete Margaret Atwood's Masterclass on writing.
[X] Donate bag of clothes I no longer wear.
[-] Hit my daily writing goals for the month:[ ] Get editor booked for novella I've been sitting on.

Week one update.

Not much, really. I knew it was going to be this way though - I had my D&D game on Saturday and was completely unprepared. My last week of holidays was therefore spent trying to get that together. Then two out of four of the party members died on a mundane fight because the monsters kept critting and I didn't realise in time to start fudging numbers soon enough (I know people die in game! but this wasn't even a particularly dangerous thing they were doing!). I was very distressed. All the ideas and plot points and loot I'd worked out for future them I am more composed now and if they want to roll new characters, I'll work with that. If they want to resurrect their characters, that's doable in this game too (and plot relevant). Only now I'm stuck with game planning until I know what's happening there >>

At any rate, the rest of the month has to be more focused on real writing. Also more reading - I barely read this past week and haven't even finished my latest Famous Five, and they're not exactly long books.

I have started my SS story, and it's looking hopeful. I did a tinsy bit of transcription (on my last day of holidays which I otherwise spent playing games >>). I, uh, definitely played lots of video game.

Oh! I did some baking. I'm a hopeless baker. I keep wanting to do more and get better though and I've decided I shall try at least one thing a month (more is acceptable). So I did cranberry and macadamia cookies, and the recipe was, uh, brief. I got to a point in the instructions and realised they hadn't told me when to put in one ingredient on their list. So I just put it in then. Unfortunately, they were in the oven before I realised they'd skipped telling me some other stuff in the instructions too... I'm not good enough at this to realise or figure these things out on my own! They turned out tasty though, I think? I fed it one of the game players, who said it was okay, then promptly began stuffing them in his mouth >>

1. Read five books. 0/5
2. Draft SS story. Started.
3. Sort other stories. Nope.
4. Game map (and accompanying session). Definitely. Need to start work on next session though.
5. Finish editing S&M. No.
6. Get back into writing Ginevra. No.
7. Transcription. Tinsy.
8. Read or write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week. So far (with the less than ideal starting week day taken into account).
9. Bake a thing. Cranberry and macadamia cookies.

If they say the cookies are okay... and then start cramming them in their mouths, the recipe is a success. Maybe make notes on it for next time so you know what needs to happen that actually wasn't included in the original recipe. It's when they say the cookies are okay, and then decline any more that you know the recipe was a disaster. *g*

Glad the emoticons are amusing.

This week has been very busy so far, and the course I'm teaching is eating my focus in a way I did not expect, but I've managed to:


[] get another donation box ready
[ . ] finish five books - 2/5, progress!
[] get a story submission-ready
[ . ] submit three times - 2/3, progress!
[ . ] spend two hours rehauling my office
[ . ] apply to two jobs - fingers crossed, this one might become a moot point, but I should still really keep looking until something is definite

Tamlyn, I'm sorry your session was stressful; I'm glad that it sounds like you've recovered, and I hope the game goes well going forward. Best of luck heading into the weekend, everyone!

Update:

[] Oubliette words
[x] January newsletter
[x] Set up Kanban journal
[x] Start manifestation journal
[] Anthology story revisions
[] Short story ~Taken off my plate due to no time
[] 5 pages of BEP

I am doing SO badly so far! Nothing completed because this week hit me like a freight train, tiredness-wise.

[ ] Type and edit last month's Short Story #1 - Nope, but have good intentions for the weekend
[ ] Write Short Story #2 - Am halfway through this, so not bad.
[ ] Read at least this month's planned novel (Bleak House) - Er no, though I did start a different, shorter book.
[ ] Read this month's planned classical text (Virgil's Aeneid) - Nope
[ ] Keep away from WIP (Book 1) until feedback received in late January - So far so good, but have very itchy feet
[ ] Get on with terrible first draft of Book 3 (at least 10k words) - Made a very small start on this last night, if I focus I'm aiming to have this done by the 21st

I have no real-life-getting-in-the-way plans for the weekend so I am hoping to get BIC and dramatically improve my progress over the weekend. Good luck to us all!

I'm making progress on stuff, but there's nothing I can cross off the list yet. It's going to be too dang hot to do any sanding until next Sunday at least, so I'm thinking I'll do the oiling of the other parts (I'm refinishing it with boiled linseed oil and then wax). With a bit of luck, I'll get the last piece sanded next Sunday, and it'll be completely done and back in use by the end of the month.

The sisyfus story is going very slowly. This one is a real challenge for me, but I WILL win! At this point I don't even have a clue how long it will be, but I'm figuring at least up around 10K, if not more.

Making good progress on the cross stitch too. It's unlikely to be done by the end of the month, but that's okay, I don't really need it until next Christmas. *G*



[ ] finish sanding and refinishing desk – small legs and 1 drawer face sanded. Left to do – edge of desktop
[ ] work on sisyfus story – finalized my notes for it – 2210 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…)

Did okay this week. A friend of mine who is also going through Margaret Atwood's course reminded me there's a PDF with exercises and things to go along with this, so I back-tracked some of the videos I'd already watched so I can start doing the exercises along with. This one was focused on what process I wanted, which was pretty much writing down what I'd already been thinking about, but was useful.

[-] Complete Margaret Atwood's Masterclass on writing.
[X] Donate bag of clothes I no longer wear.
[-] Hit my daily writing goals for the month:[ ] Get editor booked for novella I've been sitting on.

Week two update. I am sleepy.

SS story is plodding along. Bit of a slump at the moment, but exciting event is about to happen so I can smooth that out later. Had my writing day, when I edited a chapter, did some minor game stuff, sorted some stories and subbed a few (which is surprisingly time consuming). It wasn't the most productive day, but I'm happy to still ease my way back in. I think I need to do more sorting though - I didn't really do much then that I hadn't already done. Maybe make an attack plan or something.

Had a really busy weekend cleaning (my sister and I finally cleaned out the shed the previous owners left a mess - not much in it - except spiders - but really dodgy shelving, homemade cupboard, that sort of thing. And lots and lots of spiders) and was almost too exhausted to write anything. I barely managed some transcription, and that's my easy mode 'editing' for the day. I got there though.

Read three Famous Fives (numbers 4, 5, 6). Also popped down the library and have a couple of books out so hopefully I'll get to them and fulfill the 'at least one other book' portion of my reading goals.

1. Read five books. 3/5
2. Draft SS story. Plodding.
3. Sort other stories. Maybe.
4. Game map (and accompanying session). Definitely. Need to start work on next session though.
5. Finish editing S&M. 1/4.
6. Get back into writing Ginevra. Not yet.
7. Transcription. Tinsy.
8. Read or write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week. So far (with the less than ideal starting week day taken into account).
9. Bake a thing. Cranberry and macadamia cookies.

I had to travel for a bit so all my goals got kind of sidelined :u A bit confused about my 100 words a day goal because I didn't write for most of the week, but the couple of times I did write ended up being more than 700 words??? uhh I guess it's a partial success

[ ] write 100 words every day
[???] week 2 (1580 words)
[ ] week 3
[ ] week 4
[ ] week 5
[ ] publish a short story
[ ] read 1 book

It's not been a terribly productive week for me. There's been a slight hiccup with the refinishing of the desk. I had to glue in drawer supports that fell out... and I glued them in upside down. With Liquid Nails. Trying to get them off now so I can put them on the right way. I managed to get one off yesterday, but not without some damage, which I'll have to see if I can fix. So annoyed with myself right now.

The sisyfus story has slowed even more. I really need to focus and get the rough draft done this month. Haven't done a stitch on the cross stitch project either. So... what HAVE I done this week? A whole lot of nothing but coughing. It's been really hot and we've had to have the air con running flat out... which makes my lung issue play up. It should be slightly cooler this next week so I'd better do better than I have!

[ ] finish sanding and refinishing desk – small legs and 1 drawer face sanded. Left to do – edge of desktop - and fix the mess I made with the drawer runners
[ ] work on sisyfus story – finalized my notes for it – 3,776 words
[ ] complete counted cross-stitch project (at this point, it'd take a miracle to finish it before the end of the month)
[X] complete clear out of unwanted stuff (clothes that don’t fit, stuff I haven’t even LOOKED at in 5 years…)

Update:

[] Oubliette words
[x] January newsletter
[x] Set up Kanban journal
[x] Start manifestation journal
[] Anthology story revisions ~Almost finished, just need another pass
[] Short story~Taken off my plate due to no time
[] 5 pages of BEP ​~4 pages done!

Taking some advice from a book I'm reading ("Finish" by Jon Acuf) and halfing my goals for the month, because I pushed too hard and made them unachievable.

[ ] Edit on average 5 pages a day.
[ ] Finish act one of the DtS edit.
[ ] Hit monthly weight goal.

I'm worried I still won't hit these because I've left it too late to re-calibrate my goals, but hey, I can try.

Oh my goodness it's been a ridiculously busy week.

[] get another donation box ready
[ . ] finish five books - 4/5, progress!
[] get a story submission-ready
[ . ] submit three times - 2/3, no new progress but I've got time
[ . ] spend two hours rehauling my office - 1/2, progress!
[] apply to two jobs - one of the last places I interviewed for hired me! This is now a moot point.

I've given notice at my old job, and gotten a lot of story revision done this weekend, so overall I'm feeling pretty good.

All my best wishes to everyone; we've still got more than a third of the month left, and I hope you do well.

I can't believe it's the start of Week 4 already. Doing a little better, but have learned a lot of lessons about what life feels like in January from setting these goals. I should cut some out, but at this point I'm going to leave them there for posterity and be a bit more realistic in February. Still, some progress made, so am happy with that:

[X] Type and edit last month's Short Story #1 - Done! Needs further resting and editing but this was all I wanted to achieve for now.
[ ] Write Short Story #2 - Still halfway through, no progress, am afraid the impulse has died on this one.
[ ] Read at least this month's planned novel (Bleak House) - Have started it, but very slow going. Have cheated and read another, easier book in between AGAIN. It's marvellous but just a lot of brainwork. Not gonna do this one I don't think.
[ ] Read this month's planned classical text (Virgil's Aeneid) - Have started, leaving this here because it's still possible.
[X] Keep away from WIP (Book 1) until feedback received in late January - YES! I survived without tinkering!
[ ] Get on with terrible first draft of Book 3 (at least 10k words) - Almost there, 7k words in, will have this done in January for sure.

Congrats on the new job Aphotic! And good luck to everyone, fingers crossed for continued progress

I have accepted I'm not going to finish the entire MA course in January, so I'm going to revise that goal to something a little closer to my current pace

[-] Complete the first 5 lessons of Margaret Atwood's Masterclass on writing.
[X] Donate bag of clothes I no longer wear.
[-] Hit my daily writing goals for the month:[ ] Get editor booked for novella I've been sitting on.

Yay for the new job Aphotic Ink!

Week three update here. Can't believe we're almost through a month of the new year already.

I finished my SS story draft. It's the first proper short story I've written in almost a year (since last year's SS stories, actually) and it feels so good. 2018 had a few flash pieces, but otherwise all my words were on long form stuff (novels and game). I've had a few ideas about editing, but I think I'll let it sit until the end of the month and start that process in February.

Did another chapter. I probably could have done more on that day, but oh well. Will do one today and maybe even two(!), since it is my writing day. I'll see how I feel. I've done spots of transcription, worked out some game stuff (one of the dead players is rerolling, the other is going to be ressed, which makes sense for both their characters). I'm doing bits and pieces here and there, basically. Still probably not as productive as I could be, but baby steps.

Read Famous Five number 7 (Five Go Off To Camp). Now I should definitely read my library books before more Enid Blyton.

1. Read five books. 4/5
2. Draft SS story. Drafted!
3. Sort other stories. Maybe.
4. Game map (and accompanying session). Definitely. Know what I need to do, mostly, for next session.
5. Finish editing S&M. 2/4.
6. Get back into writing Ginevra. Not yet.
7. Transcription. Little bit.
8. Read or write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week. So far (with the less than ideal starting week day taken into account).
9. Bake a thing. Cranberry and macadamia cookies.

Tamlyn, that's fantastic! And SophK, congrats on the drafting and reading progress. bdwilson, revising goals makes perfect sense and I'm glad you've found a new one that works.

[] get another donation box ready
[] finish five books - 5/5!
[] get a story submission-ready
[] submit three times - 4/3!
[ . ] spend two hours rehauling my office - 1/2, progress!
[] apply to two jobs - mooted.

I've got a couple of classes on how to be a good teacher this weekend, but I'm hoping I get to spend the final hour on reorganizing my office before the end of the month. I've hit the "must move around furniture" stage, and it's hard to decide where everything should go.

I love seeing all the progress! Congrats to all.

[X] Pick up (at least) two new pointers on 'good writing techniques' from reading more broadly

I've read several fantastic authors. They're new to me. Just finished Kindred by Octavia Butler--I read it in three days, just devoured it. Some of the tricks I learned from it (and others) is how to move time more quickly in narrative, and new ideas about interjecting voice.

[ ] Finish final edit on WIP 1

I'll check this off in a few days... Is there really such a thing as a final edit? But let's call this one done b/c it's with an editor and soon I'll have a final clean copy. no promises that I won't tweak, but I'll call it done when it comes home to me.

[ ] Finish a working 'good draft' (a readable draft, heh) of chapter 1, WIP2

Nope. Not yet. instead, I've tossed my NaNoWriMo words in lieu of a better overall story structure with a more resonant conflict. I'll set writing a few chapters as part of February's goal, and I actually think I'll be able to get readable first drafts down as I go, which would be a HUGE advance for me as a writer.

Update:

[] Oubliette words
[x] January newsletter
[x] Set up Kanban journal
[x] Start manifestation journal
[x] Anthology story revisions
[] Short story
[] 5 pages of the BEP ~4 pages so far!