MarNoWriMo 2019 - Wind and Taxes

mrsmig · Feb 28, 2019

Indoors or out, no one relaxes
In March, that month of wind and taxes,
The wind will presently disappear
The taxes last us all the year.
- Ogden Nash *

It's March - or very nearly so - and time to organize and own our goals for the coming month!

As I said in the February thread, I'm going to keep going with my "small bites" writing goal: a modest 100 words a day. It seems to be working for me. Most of my goals are continuations/holdovers from February, but I may add more self-publishing goals once I figure out what the heck I'm doing with the re-release of my epic fantasy series.

Write 100 words a day on Book 5 of series

[ ] Week One
[ ] Week Two
[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four
[ ] Read three books

[ ] Continue reading one short story a week
Get 30 minutes of exercise every day

[ ] Week One
[ ] Week Two
[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four

[ ] Review, rewrite acknowledgements and forward final edit files for Books 2-4 to formatter
[ ] Continue research into self-publishing; set a re-release date for the series and think about promo for same
[ ] Send off prequel to fantasy series to betas

* When Nash wrote this poem, Tax Day in the U.S. was March 15th, rather than April 15th.

Tamlyn · Mar 1, 2019

My goals for March are basically exactly the same as my goals for February. I'm pleased I'm still on track with my focus on the short stories, but I definitely need to get onto finishing typing up the S&M edits. I don't want to be back to querying, because that means I'm back to novel rejections as well as short story, but definitely no chance of acceptance without it.

As one day has already passed, I've already marked a book off! I finished up my next Famous Five, Five on a Hike Together. I'll move on to the third Becky Chambers next (Record of a Spaceborn Few, I think, is the name. She has cool names). The library only had the first and the third, which is a pity, as I would have liked to reread the second one first.

I got a book voucher for my birthday and always like to treat myself to some anyway at this time, but there's so many good books it's always such a hard choice.

1. Read five books. 1/5
2. Final clean of SS story.
3. Edit one story.
4. Draft one new story.
5. Game planning.
6. Type up edit for S&M.
7. Send at least one query for it.
8. Write Ginevra.
9. Read or write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week. So far.
10. Bake a thing.

bdwilson · Mar 1, 2019

Okay! I think I'm doing pretty good on my daily habits for now, so I'm going to include end goals for my writing this month rather than the weekly tracking. I should be able to knock some of these off early, though, as they're picking projects for the various challenges I do this year. I want to give some of them more preparation than I usually do, which means actually planning and doing it early

[ ] Finish four exercises from Steering the Craft
● Decluttering progress:

[ ] Sort and clear out office shelf.
[ ] Sort through storage boxes from under the bed.

● Read:

[ ] Finish Timeline by Michael Crichton
[ ] The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
[ ] Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie

● Writing/Editing goals:

[ ] Finish draft of TCTUA
[ ] Finish self-edit on CR
[ ] Pick April's Camp project
[ ] Pick this year's 3-Day Novel project
[ ] Pick November's NaNo project
[ ] (Bonus) Pick July's Camp project

Jaymz Connelly · Mar 1, 2019

March, and it's officially autumn here in Australia. I will be very glad if the ridiculous heat and humidity we've had this year goes away. I normally like summer very much, but this summer has been horrendous--not helped by the fact that I got sick at the end of December and I'm still recovering. I did all right with my goals last month, but I didn't have much on the list. I've added a couple of things this month. Not sure how much of the cross-stitch I'll get done, since I expect sisyfus will be a huge distraction for half the month, but we'll see.

[ ] write one short story
[ ] keep working on cross-stitch
[ ] write two chapters on longer project (quasi-historical AU fantasy)
[ ] treadmill at least 4 times a week

Aphotic Ink · Mar 2, 2019

Well, I kind of completely dropped the ball on February, so here we go.

[ ] get a story submission-ready
[ ] submit five times
[ ] finish five books
[ ] move my office desk
[ ] knit at least one sleeve for my sweater
[ ] finish a story draft (or outline)
[ ] write/edit on ten different days
[ ] book a CPR course

*cracks knuckles* Wish me luck.

bdwilson · Mar 4, 2019

Standard early check-in to maintain my routine, but I get to cross something off, because I finished reading Timeline this weekend. Some progress on the others, but not enough to mark off.

[ ] Finish four exercises from Steering the Craft
● Decluttering progress:

[ ] Sort and clear out office shelf.
[ ] Sort through storage boxes from under the bed.

● Read:

[X] ~~Finish Timeline by Michael Crichton~~
[-] The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
[ ] Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie

● Writing/Editing goals:

[-] Finish draft of TCTUA
[-] Finish self-edit on CR
[ ] Pick April's Camp project
[ ] Pick this year's 3-Day Novel project
[ ] Pick November's NaNo project
[ ] (Bonus) Pick July's Camp project

Tamlyn · Mar 7, 2019

Week one update.

I did the final edits on the SS story, and I have done most the edits on the other story. It just needs one more pass. So feeling very productive there at least.

I concentrated on game stuff for words since game is on this weekend. I really need to do more in the rest of the month so I'm not trying to cram it all into the week beforehand though. Ginevra will have to wait until next week.

I was going to read Record of a Spaceborn Few, but then a library ebook came in, which is a shorter loan time and non-renewable. So I'm reading Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison. It's been a series I've intended to read for a while, but it's been hard to get hold of because it's the first book in a long series. So far it seems quick (in a good way) and enjoyable, and I'm giving the plot holes more book to fix themselves (and if they don't, oh well, still fun).

1. Read five books. 1/5
2. Final clean of SS story. Yes!
3. Edit one story. Almost.
4. Draft one new story. Nope.
5. Game planning. Yep, some.
6. Type up edit for S&M. Only one chapter so far.
7. Send at least one query for it. Nope.
8. Write Ginevra. Not yet.
9. Read or write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week. So far.
10. Bake a thing. Nope.

RaiscaraAvalon · Mar 7, 2019

A little late, but I figure I might as well join in. The beginning of March is a little hectic for me every year.

Finish Up Birthday Stuff For Midget
- Bake Cake (Sunday)
- Gather Presents Together
- Surprise Birthday Dinner (Friday)
Rewrite Meg's Story
Pick Camp NaNo Project For April
Pick Goal For Camp NaNo
Read And Review 2 Books
Catch Up On Reviews
Pick Up Treadmill
Write 3 Blog Posts
Write 1 Short Story

I think that's a good start. Would be great to get even more done, but I started late, and who knows how the month is going to go.

mrsmig · Mar 7, 2019

Hi RaiscaraAvalon, and welcome to the thread.

I forgot to remind everything in the opening post that we have a month (well, less than a month, now) before the first NaNo Camp of 2019! For those who may be familiar with NaNoWriMo but not with the bi-annual Camps, you can read up on them here. Instead of the rigid 50k goal of NaNoWriMo, you can set your own goals, and you can also be placed in a Cabin with other Campers, which is fun all by itself. (There's usually at least one AW Cabin, so watch this subforum for signup info as the April 1st start of Camp NaNo approaches!)

Saoirse · Mar 7, 2019

A bit late, but here. I've had my surgery and now I am recovering.

[] Survive surgery recovery
[] Write something, anything

That's it for now.

mrsmig · Mar 7, 2019

Welcome back, Saoirse! Hope your recovery is quick and uneventful.

Jaymz Connelly · Mar 7, 2019

Glad you made it through the surgery okay, Saoirse. Hopefully the recovery will be smooth sailing too.

First week in and I've accomplished very little.

It's mostly been too hot to cross-stitch and the short story just isn't happening right now. I did, however, get about a chapter and a half done on the longer project, so that's something. I think I'll update that goal to reflect how much of my time it's gobbling up (of course then I'll probably lose inspiration for it *g*). About the only thing I've managed to do with no qualifiers is treadmill.

[ ] write one short story
[ ] keep working on cross-stitch
[ ] write five chapters on longer project (quasi-historical AU fantasy) (currently have 1.5 written)
[ ] treadmill at least 4 times a week
[X] week 1 (plus 1 walk in the park!)
[ ] week 2
[ ] week 3
[ ] week 4

Tamlyn · Mar 8, 2019

Hope you get plenty of rest, Saoirse. Recovery is hard!

mrsmig · Mar 9, 2019

Off to a slow start this month. I'm keeping up with all of my weekly goals except the exercise; when I work at the shop I'm getting in at least a solid hour of exercise what with hefting and carrying and stacking seed, but I haven't made any real effort to exercise on my days away from the store. I'm getting in my 100 words of writing a day, but just barely. I finished reading a book this week, and I'm on target with my short-story reading. I'm going to hold off on the reviewing and rewriting of Books 2-4 of my fantasy series until I get back the formatter's work on Book 1. I've tentatively settled on a mid-May re-release date, but I may rethink that depending on how much of a handle I can get on this whole self-publishing thing over the next couple of weeks. I did get the prequel off to my fourth beta and in fact, already got her feedback on the piece. I need to give myself some time to absorb her comments and suggestions before I tackle any revisions. My former publisher never registered copyright on any of my books (a violation of our contract), but she did pay me $50/book which is roughly what registering the copyright would have cost her. I've been reading up on what I need to do to register the copyright myself (I was told today that I'll have to send the U.S. Copyright Office a paper copy of my books because they've already been published - aiiieee.) And I've also been investigating whether I want to get my ISBNs from Amazon to start with, or go ahead and bite the bullet and buy a block of ISBNs from Bowker so I can go wide when and if I feel ready. Sooooo much to learn...

Write 100 words a day on Book 5 of series

[x] Week One - total for 9 days 1408 (average 156 words per day)
[ ] Week Two
[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four

[ ] Read three books 1 of 3
[ ] Continue reading one short story a week
Get 30 minutes of exercise every day

[ ] Week One
[ ] Week Two
[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four

[ ] Review, rewrite acknowledgements and forward final edit files for Books 2-4 to formatter
[ ] Continue research into self-publishing; set a re-release date for the series and think about promo for same
[x] Send off prequel to fantasy series to betas

Aphotic Ink · Mar 10, 2019

Best wishes, Saoirse. And good luck, mrsmig; that sounds like a huge amount of stuff to sort through.

[ ] get a story submission-ready
[ ] submit five times - 4/5
[ ] finish five books - 1/5
[ ] move my office desk
[ ] knit at least one sleeve for my sweater - in progress
[ ] finish a story draft (or outline)
[ ] write/edit on ten different days - 5/10
[ ] book a CPR course

For only being a third of the way through the month, not too bad - I wish I could more done in terms of finishing things, rather than just making progress on them.

RaiscaraAvalon · Mar 10, 2019

Looks like everyone is doing good! Get better soon Saoirse!

Finish Up Birthday Stuff For Midget
- Bake Cake (Sunday)
- Gather Presents Together
- Surprise Birthday Dinner (Friday)
Rewrite Meg's Story
Pick Camp NaNo Project For April
Pick Goal For Camp NaNo
Read And Review 2 Books
Catch Up On Reviews
Pick Up Treadmill
Write 3 Blog Posts
Write 1 Short Story

bdwilson · Mar 11, 2019

Still dragging my feet on decluttering and the writing exercises, but at least I made progress on the other goals.

[ ] Finish four exercises from Steering the Craft
● Decluttering progress:

[ ] Sort and clear out office shelf.
[ ] Sort through storage boxes from under the bed.

● Read:

[X] ~~Finish Timeline by Michael Crichton~~
[X] The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
[X] Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie

● Writing/Editing goals:

[-] Finish draft of TCTUA
[-] Finish self-edit on CR
[X] ~~Pick April's Camp project~~
[ ] Pick this year's 3-Day Novel project
[X] ~~Pick November's NaNo project~~
[ ] (Bonus) Pick July's Camp project

Tamlyn · Mar 14, 2019

End of week two and halfway(ish) through the month.

Did another pass on my second story. Nothing deep, but a bit of cleaning up. So story goals are complete. Also have typed a few more chapters and gotten a little bit written on Ginevra, but both definitely need some more focus. I'm mildly optimistic about it.

Game was delayed, which I don't mind because I've had a chance to think of a better (smoother) way of imparting some necessary info to my players. So I've done a little bit of planning for that too.

Still reading Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison. I read so slowly these days. I mean, playing so many video games doesn't help, but still. Slow.

1. Read five books. 1/5
2. Final clean of SS story. Yes!
3. Edit one story. Yes!
4. Draft one new story. Nope.
5. Game planning. Yep.
6. Type up edit for S&M. A few chapters.
7. Send at least one query for it. Nope.
8. Write Ginevra. Little bit.
9. Read or write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week. So far.
10. Bake a thing. Nope.

Jaymz Connelly · Mar 14, 2019

Bleh. Too much goofing off this week. About the only thing I did was get my treadmilling in. I'm pretty happy with that - back up to 3mph for 30 minutes on the treadmill finally. Progress is extremely slow on the cross-stitch. I'm just not feeling inspired to do much of anything. I really hate this feeling. I need to kick myself in the butt to get something done in the next two weeks.

[ ] write one short story
[ ] keep working on cross-stitch (crawling progress)
[ ] write five chapters on longer project (quasi-historical AU fantasy) (currently at 2 chapters)
[ ] treadmill at least 4 times a week
[X] week 1 (plus 1 walk in the park)
[X] week 2
[ ] week 3
[ ] week 4

mrsmig · Mar 17, 2019

Hey all! For any of you that are interested in participating in the April Camp NaNo, there's an AW cabin forming. Sign-up thread is here. Remember that you'll need to create your project on the Camp NaNo site before you can join a cabin.

mrsmig · Mar 17, 2019

Continuing with my slow and somewhat erratic pace. Once again I barely met my weekly writing goal, and did not meet my exercise goal. I'm still on track with my reading goals (halfway through Bird Sense, my second book for the month, and getting my one-short-story-a-week read as well).

I'm blaming the ramping-up of my self-publishing journey for my shaky results this week. This month I've spent a lot of time going back and forth with the cover designer used by my former publisher (who, despite earlier claims to be very interested in continuing to work with me, has not been particularly helpful). This week I discovered that she'd managed to ruin the Photoshop file for the second cover and seemed unwilling to recreate it for me. As it happens, the company that's doing my interior formatting also does beautiful covers, so I'm shelling out the extra money for a redesign of the series. That'll give me something fresh to promote as the books are republished, and it actually makes me more excited about this whole self-publishing thing. I've set a tentative date of mid-May for the re-release and I've got some promo ideas, so I'm calling the self-pub goal done.

I've signed up for the April Camp NaNo. My project is a continuation of my work on Book 5 of the series, but I've got to get all the dribs and drabs I've written over the past couple of months into some kind of chronological order. Therefore, I'm putting off my goal of rewriting my front matter on Books 2-4 until next month, and replacing that with a reorganizing goal for Book 5. Hoping fervently that doesn't cut into my actual writing time - but I bet it will.

Write 100 words a day on Book 5 of series

[x] Week One - total for 9 days 1408 (average 156 words per day)
[x] Week Two - 984 (average 140 words per day)
[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four

[ ] Read three books 1 of 3
[ ] Continue reading one short story a week
Get 30 minutes of exercise every day

[ ] Week One nope
[ ] Week Two nope

[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four

~~[ ] Review, rewrite acknowledgements and forward final edit files for Books 2-4 to formatter~~ putting off until April
[x] Continue research into self-publishing; set a re-release date for the series and think about promo for same
[x] Send off prequel to fantasy series to betas
[ ] Organize Book 5 writing into chronological order

CoffeeBeans · Mar 17, 2019

Thanks for the post about camp, MrsMig! I have so much trouble formatting posts on my work computer but I kept intending to post here. Everyone interested in an AW camp cabin, invites are going out!

bdwilson · Mar 18, 2019

One day, I will have an update on decluttering or writing exercises. That day is not today.

[ ] Finish four exercises from Steering the Craft
● Decluttering progress:

[ ] Sort and clear out office shelf.
[ ] Sort through storage boxes from under the bed.

● Read:

[X] ~~Finish Timeline by Michael Crichton~~
[X] The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
[X] Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie

● Writing/Editing goals:

[X] ~~Finish draft of TCTUA~~
[-] Finish self-edit on CR
[X] ~~Pick April's Camp project~~
[X] ~~Pick this year's 3-Day Novel project~~
[X] ~~Pick November's NaNo project~~
[ ] (Bonus) Pick July's Camp project

I've now both hit the wordcount I wanted for TCTUA and got a complete draft. (I think. I added a scene this morning that I might still need to stitch in.) Unfortunately, after completing the draft I played with a different PoV for the additional scenes, which might actually work better, so the editing process might involve re-writing the entire thing to change that. Whee? Ah well, at least I finally have a coherent draft done, given this is not my first attempt at this particular book and I haven't pulled that off before

Aphotic Ink · Mar 20, 2019

I have spent the last week grading student papers on top of my full-time job.

My opinion on plagiarism has not changed, but it has gotten exceptionally pointed. And I am developing a rant about reading the instructions.

That said:

[ ] get a story submission-ready
[ ] submit five times - 4/5
[ ] finish five books - 2/5
[ ] ~~move my office desk~~ rearrange my office - in progress and nearly done; just a couple of smallstacks left
[ ] knit at least one sleeve for my sweater - in progress
[ ] finish a story draft (or outline)
[ ] write/edit on ten different days - 6/10
[ ] ~~book a CPR course~~ I have just got to put this off until later

I feel like I really underestimated how much time dealing with the coursework would be; it's less the actual grading of assignments and more the extra time that some students need. Still. I'm figuring it out, and I'm still getting things done.

Tamlyn · Mar 21, 2019

Week three.

Reached an exciting part of Ginevra, though still haven't done a huge amount. Went through my unfinished folder, seeing if any inspired me for the new story, and have started on one. Not sure how it will go. I've discovered without something I'm actively editing, I struggle on my writing days - it takes me lots of time and I can break up other stuff. This week was a matter of, well, I want a break from writing so I need to... write something else. Did a whole bunch of game stuff.

Finished Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison. Want to read the rest of the series but plenty of other books to read in the meantime. Discovered Record of a Spaceborn Few was due back at the library and couldn't be renewed, but had a day free and spent it doing basically nothing but reading. Reading all day is very tiring now (unlike the my teenage years) but it was worth it. Character book, not plot book, but that's what I expect from Becky Chambers.

1. Read five books. 3/5
2. Final clean of SS story. Yes!
3. Edit one story. Yes!
4. Draft one new story. Maybe started?
5. Game planning. Yep.
6. Type up edit for S&M. A few more chapters.
7. Send at least one query for it. Nope.
8. Write Ginevra. Little bit more.
9. Read or write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week. So far.
10. Bake a thing. Nope.

MarNoWriMo 2019 - Wind and Taxes

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Lost In The Realms

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