AprilNoWriMo 2019 - Breathe With Joy

mrsmig · Mar 31, 2019

There is no glory in star or blossom till looked upon by a loving eye;
There is no fragrance in April breezes till breathed with joy as they wander by.
- William Cullen Bryant

Welcome to the April goals thread! Whether you're participating in the April Camp NaNoWriMo or not, this is the place to state your goals for the month, the better to track them and to be cheered on by your fellow denizens of the thread!

My goals are mostly continuations of last month's, although my participation in Camp NaNo means I've amped up my modest 100-words-a-day writing goal to a more challenging 333 words a day. Fingers are crossed that I'll be able to maintain my end-March surge and have a successful Camp for the first time in a while.

April Camp! Write 10k words (333 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 each day

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

Continue work on self-publishing Books 1-4

[ ] Finalize cover for Book 1
[ ] Figure out how to upload material to Amazon and set a firm re-release date for Book 1
[ ] Set up schedule with formatter/cover designer for overhaul of Books 2-4
[ ] Decide on promo for Book 1 release

What's on your agenda for April?

Tamlyn · Apr 1, 2019

No camp, and basically copy paste from March. Just a couple of changes to the actual goals, though I'm going to try and be smarter about my approach this month. I will not leave my short story I need to write until the last week, in case it turns out to be another long one. Ginevra will be what I move to after those, instead of before.

Querying definitely needs to happen, even if I'm approaching it with the grimness of... something very grim. Not sure if I'll have time for game this month, but still need to prepare for when I do have time.

And as ever, I would like to actually make my writing goal for once. *looks at the book I lugged all the way to work (it's a big book) and yet still didn't read on the commute* One day.

1. Read five books.
2. Edit one story.
3. Finish March story draft.
4. Draft one other new story.
5. Game planning.
6. Query S&M
7. Write Ginevra.
8. Read or write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week.
9. Bake a thing.

bdwilson · Apr 1, 2019

Right, new month! Let's see if I can knock off some of my carry-over tasks, finally :tongue

[0/4] Finish four exercises from Steering the Craft
● Decluttering progress:

[ ] Sort and clear out office shelf.
[1/5] Sort through storage boxes from under the bed.

● Read:

[ ] The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
[ ] The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson
[ ] (Bonus) The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick (depends on if it comes in at the library)

● Writing/Editing goals:

[-] Finish self-edit on CR
[ ] Publish WA
● Hit camp goals:

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

Jaymz Connelly · Apr 2, 2019

Well, I'm late for posting my goals, but I'm here! I changed my exercise goal slightly, since it's cooling down and it's a lot more comfortable to go out and walk in the park or do gardening work. I'm hoping I'll accomplish a bit more in my evenings than I have been (which has been nothing).

[ ] cross-stitch – finish the grinch at least
[ ] complete first draft of new story (current word count - 13,700)
[ ] read all the sisyfus stories I asked for
[ ] exercise of some sort six times per week (minimum 1/2hour)
[ ] week 1
[ ] week 2
[ ] week 3
[ ] week 4

Good luck to everyone on reaching your goals this month!

Aphotic Ink · Apr 4, 2019

*cracks knuckles* Alright, here goes.

[ ] finish outline for Camp NNWM project
[ ] finish draft for Camp NNWM project
[ ] submit five times - in progress, 1/5
[ ] finish five books - in progress, 2/5
[ ] get one story submission-ready
[ ] finish a sweater sleeve
[ ] sketch three times
[ ] grade all the regular assignments
[ ] grade all the final papers
[ ] grade all overdue assignments
[ ] transcribe the handwritten fiction I need to update

Oh boy. This is gonna be a lot.

Saoirse · Apr 6, 2019

I'm late too, Jaymz, due to being sick.

Here are my goals:

[] Participate in Camp - 10k goal
[] Decide on what to work on like NOW
[] April newsletter
[] Revise and edit short story
[] Submit short story
[] Oubliette words

mrsmig · Apr 6, 2019

Welcome to the thread, Jaymz, Aphotic and Saoirse!

A middling start to the month for me. I stayed on track with my Camp goal as well as my reading goals, but only got in one 45-minute walk this week, so I'm failing miserably at the exercise goal. Much that is due to my participation in a musical workshop I'm doing. I figured an exploration of a combination deaf/hearing version of The Music Man would be challenging - I just had no idea how challenging. It finishes tomorrow, so I'll be able to get back on track - at least until the next musical workshop (a three-day rather than five-day commitment this time, and not as far a commute).

On the self-publishing front, the new cover for Kinglet was finished this week, and I'm really pleased with the designer's work. It holds to my original concept, but is executed much more stylishly than the one pictured below. I'm not quite ready to unveil it yet, but it's making me much more excited about making this self-publishing journey.

April Camp! Write 10k words (333 words a day) on Book 5 of series

[x] Week One 2324 words (average 387 words per day)
[ ] Week Two
[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four

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

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

Continue work on self-publishing Books 1-4

[x] Finalize cover for Book 1
[ ] Figure out how to upload material to Amazon and set a firm re-release date for Book 1
[ ] Set up schedule with formatter/cover designer for overhaul of Books 2-4
[ ] Decide on promo for Book 1 release

Tamlyn · Apr 6, 2019

Week one check in..

Not a lot of progress, but some. I finished drafting my March story, which made a productive start to the week, but it's dropped off since then. I've been doing Ginevra for my work day writing after finishing that, but I hope to start the April story this week. I've just been looking at my options and have no idea what I want to write. It's only about 1k words on Ginevra too since I was doing minimum words and then reading.

Done a little bit of game stuff. Got some feedback on my synopsis for S&M and need to clean that up, but hopefully this coming week so the querying can begin. I decided on the story I was going to edit but have only done about a page of it.

I don't know, I just don't feel productive. Right now I'm tired too so that probably doesn't help.

Have not finished Abaddon's Gate (James SA Corey). It's technically due back at the library today, but I'm just going to try and get it done by Tues and cop the fine if there is one. I'm really enjoying it when I do pick it up, I'm just bad at picking it up. I could read today, but I think I shall play some game before I have to go out for the afternoon/evening. Once I get it read though I'm switching to at least one Famous Five because Blyton doesn't have such a high death count.

1. Read five books. 0/5
2. Edit one story. Nope.
3. Finish March story draft. Yes!
4. Draft one other new story. Nope.
5. Game planning. Little bit.
6. Query S&M. Nope.
7. Write Ginevra. Tinsy bit.
8. Read or write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week. Yes. Somehow?
9. Bake a thing. Not yet.

Jaymz Connelly · Apr 7, 2019

I have not accomplished much this week, although I did get my exercising in. I'm not feeling well again, so I should probably take myself off to the doctor's. Bleh.

[ ] cross-stitch – finish the grinch at least
[ ] complete first draft of new story (starting word count 13, 700 – current word count 25,200)
[ ] read all the sisyfus stories I asked for
[ ] exercise of some sort six times per week (minimum 1/2hour)
[X] week 1
[ ] week 2
[ ] week 3
[ ] week 4

bdwilson · Apr 8, 2019

I'm looking forward to the cover reveal mrsmig

Some progress! Also, The Bookshop of Yesterdays came in at the library, so I can start reading it. Of course, so did, like, three of the other books I had holds on. So much for the idea that they all had a different number of holds on them prior to mine and should therefore come in staggered :tongue

[1/4] Finish four exercises from Steering the Craft
● Decluttering progress:

[ ] Sort and clear out office shelf.
[1/5] Sort through storage boxes from under the bed.

● Read:

[ ] The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
[-] The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson
[ ] (Bonus) The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick (depends on if it comes in at the library)

● Writing/Editing goals:

[-] Finish self-edit on CR
[ ] Publish WA
● Hit camp goals:

[X] ~~Week One~~
[ ] Week Two
[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four
[ ] Week Five

Saoirse · Apr 8, 2019

Here are my goals:

[] Participate in Camp - 10k goal
[] Decide on what to work on like NOW
[] April newsletter
[x] Revise and edit short story
[x] Submit short story
[] Oubliette words

mrsmig · Apr 13, 2019

I'm still on track with my writing and reading, but a super-busy week combined with a headcold made things kind of rough. Needless to say, no exercising was accomplished, but I made progress on my self-publishing goal (if you'd like to see my AW reveal of the new Book 1 cover, look HERE). I had initially set a re-release date for Kinglet of May 16th, but I may actually shift it earlier if the stars align. I'm waiting to see the proof of the paperback version, and for one last wrinkle to be ironed out of the ebook version.

April Camp! Write 10k words (333 words a day) on Book 5 of series

[x] Week One 2324 words (average 387 words per day)
[x] Week Two 1688 words (average 241 words per day)
[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four

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

[ ] Week One fail
[ ] Week Two another fail
[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four

Continue work on self-publishing Books 1-4

[x] Finalize cover for Book 1
[x] Figure out how to upload material to Amazon and set a firm re-release date for Book 1
[ ] Set up schedule with formatter/cover designer for overhaul of Books 2-4
[x] Decide on promo for Book 1 release

Jaymz Connelly · Apr 15, 2019

Congrats on getting those words down in spite of the head cold, Mrsmig!

Still not doing anything but writing. I need to be more productive in my evenings.

[ ] cross-stitch – finish the grinch at least
[ ] complete first draft of new story (starting word count 13, 700 – current word count 33,180)
[ ] read all the sisyfus stories I asked for
[ ] exercise of some sort six times per week (minimum 1/2hour)
[X] week 1
[X] week 2
[ ] week 3
[ ] week 4

Tamlyn · Apr 15, 2019

That's a lovely cover, mrsmig. Good luck with the release!

Week two (and a day since I forgot to update yesterday!)

Done a little bit more of Ginevra and have almost finished my April story. The ending isn't coming together very well so I didn't finish it today, as I'd hoped, but probably will tomorrow.

Done a bunch more game stuff. Still need more before actual session. No further progress on synopsis/queries/story editing. I spent most of my writing day talking with a friend about the novel they read (one of mine, and the talking was feedback). So probably not very productive, but I've got some good ideas for edits on that now. Will do better on official stuff this week, I hope.

I finished Abaddon's Gate (James SA Corey) and moved on to Famous Five number 11 as planned. It was almost too easy and light in comparison! Finished that one though and, due to watching Pride and Prejudice, I suddenly felt the need to reread, so I've started that.

1. Read five books. 2/5
2. Edit one story. Nope.
3. Finish March story draft. Yes!
4. Draft one other new story. Almost.
5. Game planning. Yep. Still need more.
6. Query S&M. Nope.
7. Write Ginevra. Tinsy bit.
8. Read or write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week. Yes. Somehow?
9. Bake a thing. Not yet.

bdwilson · Apr 15, 2019

I'm keeping up with my writing goals, which is good, and actually made progress with the boxes. Unfortunately, part of that progress was still hanging onto a bunch of stuff I really should rethink keeping one of these days, but I think I'll leave that as a decision for Future Me.

[1/4] Finish four exercises from Steering the Craft
● Decluttering progress:

[ ] Sort and clear out office shelf.
[4/5] Sort through storage boxes from under the bed.

● Read:

[ ] The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
[-] The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson
[ ] (Bonus) The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick (depends on if it comes in at the library)

● Writing/Editing goals:

[X] ~~Finish self-edit on CR~~
[ ] Publish WA
● Hit camp goals:

[X] ~~Week One~~
[X] ~~Week Two~~
[ ] Week Three
[ ] Week Four
[ ] Week Five

Saoirse · Apr 17, 2019

Looks like everyone's doing well.

mrsmig, beautiful cover!

Update:

[x] Participate in Camp - 10k goal ~661 words so far
[x] Decide on what to work on like NOW ~The Vanishing, Reaper Girl #3
[x] April newsletter
[x] Revise and edit short story
[x] Submit short story
[] Oubliette words

Aphotic Ink · Apr 18, 2019

The combination of fiscal year end (helping with finance!) and term end (grading papers) is annihilating me.

That said:
[

] finish outline for Camp NNWM project - done!
[

] finish draft for Camp NNWM project - done! sent off for crit, revisions will probably happen and oh god it's too short.
[

] submit short stories five times - 7/5, done!
[

] finish five books - 5/5, done! ...I. Wow. I didn't notice that until I hit Goodreads. Guess how I've been coping with stress?
[ ] get one story submission-ready
[ ] finish a sweater sleeve
[ ] sketch three times - in progress, 1/3
[ ] grade all the regular assignments
[ ] grade all the final papers
[ ] grade all overdue assignments
[ ] transcribe the handwritten fiction I need to update - in progress

I am very nervous about the grading. This will be a dense week.

mrsmig · Apr 20, 2019

Over the hump and into the downhill toward the end of April! This week I was suffering through my cold and a simultaneous five-day stretch at the store, so while I got a bit more exercise than expected, it wasn't "good" exercise because I'd practically hack up a lung every time I had to lug bags of seed around. I was so beat by the time I had a day off that all I did was lay around the house. I'm back at the store today, then off again for a bit due to another musical workshop the first part of next week - thank goodness my cold is just about done.

I still managed to stay on track with my writing (I'm just a bit behind on my Camp goal at the moment), and I'm mostly on track with my reading. My current book is taking longer than I expected, but the writing is so gorgeous that I don't want to rush it (the book is Robert Macfarlane's The Old Ways, in case anyone's interested). I'm up to date with my short story reading, too.

Got the paperback proof of Kinglet from Amazon. It looks great inside and out, so I guess I'm on target for that May 1 re-release date. Started doing some Twitter promo for it, and am waiting on my cover designer/formatter to get back to me regarding a schedule for the next three books. She's supposed to produce a cover design for Fiskur, the second book in the series, in the next week or so.

April Camp! Write 10k words (333 words a day) on Book 5 of series

[x] Week One 2324 words (average 387 words per day)
[x] Week Two 1688 words (average 241 words per day)
[x] Week Three 1907 words (average (average 272 words per day)
[ ] Week Four

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

[ ] Week One fail
[ ] Week Two another fail
[ ] Week Three a semi-fail
[ ] Week Four

Continue work on self-publishing Books 1-4

[x] Finalize cover for Book 1
[x] Figure out how to upload material to Amazon and set a firm re-release date for Book 1
[x] Set up schedule with formatter/cover designer for overhaul of Books 2-4
[x] Decide on promo for Book 1 release

Tamlyn · Apr 21, 2019

This whole long weekend thing has completely thrown my sense of time off (with everything, not just writing updates).

Anyway. Week three.

Most important thing is I have sent a small bundle of queries out. It took most my writing day and was exhausting, but it is done, and now I'm hoping not to think about them for ages. Otherwise I finished the April story (it's a mess, but it's finished!), did a bit more of Ginevra, and a bit more game stuff. Kind of edited a flash piece, but that isn't finished and doesn't count for the story editing goal anyway. I've probably done less than I should have this weekend, but it's been hard. I literally spent hours staring at my computer trying to find some words on Saturday night (I got some at 11:30pm! Just in the day!).

Otherwise I finished reading Pride and Prejudice. Have not started my next book yet.

1. Read five books. 3/5
2. Edit one story. Nope.
3. Finish March story draft. Yes!
4. Draft one other new story. Yes.
5. Game planning. Yep. Still need more.
6. Query S&M. Yes.
7. Write Ginevra. Little bit.
8. Read or write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week. Yes. Somehow?
9. Bake a thing. Not yet.

mrsmig · Apr 21, 2019

Congratulations on getting those queries out, Tamlyn!

bdwilson · Apr 22, 2019

I do not think I'm getting to the Nightingale in time for book club. The library books that came in took priority, though I've had to return one and re-request it, and from the copy I saw last month, it's a long book. Anyway, it's also on my Pick 12 challenge, I think, so I'll still read it. Just late.

Might have to make an end of the month push for some of these other ones, too :tongue

[1/4] Finish four exercises from Steering the Craft
● Decluttering progress:

[ ] Sort and clear out office shelf.
[4/5] Sort through storage boxes from under the bed.

● Read:

[ ] The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
[-] The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson
[ ] (Bonus) The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick (depends on if it comes in at the library)

● Writing/Editing goals:

[X] ~~Finish self-edit on CR~~
[-] Publish WA
● Hit camp goals:

[X] ~~Week One~~
[X] ~~Week Two~~
[X] Week Three[/S]
[ ] Week Four
[ ] Week Five

Jaymz Connelly · Apr 22, 2019

Mrsmig, I'm totally in awe that you did all that hard work at the store when you were down with a bad cold.

I should have updated yesterday, but that day was mostly taken up with buying a new car (well, new to us). When Mr C finally makes a decision, he never lets the grass grow under his feet (takes him forever to actually make the decision, though *g*). Who knew it would take four freaking hours to buy a used car?

We're having a 'last gasp of summer' so it's been too hot to do any sort of needlework. About the only thing I've done is writing and keeping up with my exercising. I am getting a LOT of writing done, though. I've been spending all my computer time either writing or researching, so haven't done any reading of other stuff. Bad Jaymz. It's supposed to get cold this coming weekend so I'm going to push myself to get back to the cross stitch and make some more progress on that.

[ ] cross-stitch – finish the grinch at least
[ ] complete first draft of new story (starting word count 13, 700 – current word count 43,548)
[ ] read all the sisyfus stories I asked for
[ ] exercise of some sort six times per week (minimum 1/2hour)
[X] week 1
[X] week 2
[X] week 3
[ ] week 4

Aphotic Ink · Apr 22, 2019

mrsmig, that's really impressive. I hope your cold's finished clearing up by now, and congrats on staying on track with the reading and writing and rerelease.

Tamlyn, congrats on the queries! That's fantastic, and I will keep fingers crossed for you.

bdwilson, sorry about the Nightingale, but you look like you're making progress on everything else, and I'm hoping the Steering the Craft exercises are going well.

Jaymz, keeping up with writing and exercising sounds pretty impressive, given all that. I sympathize on not keeping up with cross stitch--I've been getting almost nothing done on my knitting--but I think you're doing pretty well and wish you luck.

mrsmig · Apr 27, 2019

It's been a mostly "up" week: with three days left to go, I'm on track to successfully complete my 10k Camp NaNo goal as long as I continue to write about 500 words per day. I had a huge writing day yesterday, interrupted only by losing power for about an hour after a thunderstorm passed through. I finished two of my three books this week (Robert Macfarlane's The Old Ways, which I loved, and the 2018 O. Henry Prize Winners Anthology which, like most anthologies was a mixed bag). I'm about halfway through a friend's book and not loving it, but I'm going to make myself finish it before the end of the month. Another fail on the exercise front. All four weeks I had some days when I exercised, but not every day. I have to do better.

The reissue of KINGLET happened this week. I was going to hold off until May 1 to publish, but once I realized I can't really control when Amazon goes live (you click a button and it takes between 1-3 days for stuff to happen), I went ahead and published. The ebook went live later that same day, and the paperback went live today. So I'll be moving forward with the second edition of Book 2 next month.

I'm going to check back in after the end of the month to do a final reckoning, but overall I'm pretty proud of how this month went.

April Camp! Write 10k words (333 words a day) on Book 5 of series

[x] Week One 2324 words (average 387 words per day)
[x] Week Two 1688 words (average 241 words per day)
[x] Week Three 1907 words (average 272 words per day)
[x] Week Four 2500 words (average 357 words per day)

[ ] Read three books 2 of 3
[ ] Continue reading one short story a week
Get 30 minutes of exercise each day

[ ] Week One fail
[ ] Week Two another fail
[ ] Week Three a semi-fail
[ ] Week Four continued fail

Continue work on self-publishing Books 1-4

[x] Finalize cover for Book 1
[x] Figure out how to upload material to Amazon and set a firm re-release date for Book 1
[x] Set up schedule with formatter/cover designer for overhaul of Books 2-4
[x] Decide on promo for Book 1 release

Saoirse · Apr 28, 2019

Final Update:

[x] Participate in Camp - 10k goal ~2,505 words of my amended 5,000 word goal
[x] Decide on what to work on like NOW ~The Vanishing, Reaper Girl #3
[x] April newsletter
[x] Revise and edit short story
[x] Submit short story
[] Oubliette words Nopers, but that's okay

I did pretty well considering how busy work has been and with a sick cat (she's okay, just needs fluids again). And stress, did I mention stress?

Onward to next month!

AprilNoWriMo 2019 - Breathe With Joy

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

fish skeleton

Dedicated Lurker

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree

Mi verkas

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

fish skeleton

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree

Dedicated Lurker

Mi verkas

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree

fish skeleton

Dedicated Lurker

Mi verkas

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

fish skeleton

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

Dedicated Lurker

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

Mi verkas