AugNoWriMo 2019 - Sharp Focus and a Furious Boil

My goals for August look very similar to my goals for July! I feel like I should mix them up more for interest's sake, but no idea what I'd do instead. I'd probably have to get really specific so maybe not.

My standard daily goals, five books (hopefully will do better this month there), and game planning. My standard for this year draft one new story and edit one story plus a flash piece (the plus is not standard).

Otherwise continue writing Haven. Query S&M. Still sticking at five queries a go for that. Start editing Alyssa (most my drafts' working titles are the name of the main character. I am so bad at titles). I don't want to set myself anything definite on Alyssa - it's kind of intimidating going into a whole new world. Working on the trilogy means I haven't done that in a long time and I don't know how I'll go. Besides, I have plenty of things to do this month without needing to push that.

1. Read five books.
2. Edit one story and one flash piece.
3. Draft one new story.
4. Game planning.
5. Query S&M.
6. Continue writing Haven.
7. Start editing Alyssa.
8. Write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week. So far! In the whole two days that have passed...
9. Bake a thing.

[ ] Work through beta comments for one piece
[ ] Work through beta comments for a second piece
[ ] Work through beta comments for a third piece

I've let feedback pile up since about May b/c it was more fun to do other things.

Focus. Focus.

*Deep breath* My health has finally reached a point where I can do this without failing spectacularly, so here goes:

[ ] Upload 3 stories to Amazon
[ ] Add 5 more chapters to Wattpad.
[ ] Add 2 chapters to AO3
[ ] Design Fantasy cover.
[ ] Finish the first draft of Witches for Hire 2.
[ ] Reorganize office area.

So inconsistent with when I do/don't do these goals. But youse guys are really cool so leeme jump in.

[ ] Finish the story I started. Small goal, but feels insurmountable atm.

[FONT=&quot]August brings into sharp focus and a furious boil [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]everything I've been listening to in the late spring and summer. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]- Henry Rollins[/FONT]​

Click to expand...

I'm in.

[] 10k on The Vanishing
[] Progress on Survivor
[] Finish short story

Bit late to the party and still undecided about my goals, but I'll start with these.

[ ] Work on the rewrite I started last month.
[ ] Finish the restructuring of my 85K90 book.
[ ] Plot the thing I started last month.
[ ] Prep for the 3-Day Novel.

Week one update, and I actually feel productive.

I mean, part of that was because servers were down at work on Monday, so I wrote a story in the morning. (It was good and bad. I like not working. Being at work not working though is more problematic. But story!) Had a very poor Tuesday, but good Wednesday, in that I got a good way into the story I decided to edit. There's been a little bit of Haven and a little bit of game.

I read another Agatha Christie - The Body in the Library. I'm running low on my Miss Marple ones and think I need a break soon anyway, but currently in the middle of The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side.

On the downside, I've looked at Alyssa and have been wondering if I picked the wrong book to work on (but also suspect I'd be wondering that no matter which I picked). And my grandfather died this week. Tomorrow is the funeral, which is a five hour drive away, and I suspect I won't get any writing done. I might though - after emotion and family and people, I might need to just retreat into a corner to write to myself :S

1. Read five books. 1/5
2. Edit one story and one flash piece. Started the story.
3. Draft one new story. Done!
4. Game planning. Little bit.
5. Query S&M. Not yet.
6. Continue writing Haven. Little bit.
7. Start editing Alyssa. Nope.
8. Write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week. So far!
9. Bake a thing. Nope.

I'm late to the party, but I have a lot of goals for this month. Yikes! I did already tackle a few of them... I find this forums helps to keep me accountable, so here we go.

[X] Promote the Kingdom of Mirrors and Roses box set that I’m part of with my Beauty and the Beast retelling, A Monstrous Beauty – Part One.
[ ] Finish writing Part Two of A Monstrous Beauty (since I only signed up for the box set beginning of July, and release date was August 1, I only managed to include Part One of the story in the box set. Part Two will be released seperately but I don’t want to let readers wait too long.
[ ] Finalize cover for A Monstrous Beauty. (update: working on it with cover designer!)
[X] Set up a page on my website for my fairytale retellings (since more are coming!).
[X] Send out my newsletter
[ ] Format and prepare paperback version of A Monstrous Beauty.
[ ] Finish writing the manuscript for The Wolf of the Baskervilles (The Adventures of Marisol Holmes #3).
[X] Work on a schedule for upcoming releases (since I have a lot of releases coming up, and most of these I still have to write and/or edit).
[ ] First round of editing for The Wolf of the Baskervilles (The Adventures of Marisol Holmes #3).
[ ] Write at least two blog posts per week on my blog. (update: 5/10)
[ ] Review five books for I Heart Reading (total: 0/5).
[X] Review three books for Ind’Tale Magazine (total: 0/3).
[ ] Update information about my books on forums I’m participating in, on my website and on Goodreads.
[X] Set up a page on my website for Murder in Mind series.
[ ] Work on an outline for the first book in my RH academy series.
[ ] Finish first draft for the first book in my RH academy series (still untitled).
[ ] Finish outlining the Sleeping Beauty retelling I’m working on for the Kingdom of Thorns and Dreams box set.
[ ] Write an outline for Wonderland Wars.
[ ] Finalize outline for Wicked Blood, the first book in the Blood Witch series.
[X] Work on the non-fiction paper I’m planning (writing stage).
[ ] Work on the non-fiction paper I’m planning (editing stage).

Week two.

As expected, I didn't do any writing on the Friday or the Saturday. The funeral was good (as good as a funeral can be - but it managed to be a joyous send-off instead of gloomy), but definitely had no time for writing, and the next day, after poor sleep and a five hour drive back to Perth (even though my sisters did most of the actual driving), I was far too exhausted.

I've made a little bit of progress on editing the story, but not as much as I'd hoped. I spent most of my writing day doing game stuff, which is not what I'm meant to de, but oh well. Game is soon too so will need to do more game stuff.

Still haven't made much of a start on the Alyssa chapter, but I did try and do some research today, and figuring out what sort of plane they had and that sort of thing prompted plot thoughts (eg they wouldn't be able to avoid seeing the dead person) so that's good.

Apparently I forgot that I read The Murderer in the Vicarage before The Body in the Library. Then I finished The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side. I've started another (the blackbird one - Pocketful of Rye, maybe?) but I'm not sure I'm in the mood. However, that's more books than I thought I'd read so I'm more on track!

1. Read five books. 3/5
2. Edit one story and one flash piece. Started the story.
3. Draft one new story. Done!
4. Game planning. Need more.
5. Query S&M. Not yet.
6. Continue writing Haven. Little bit.
7. Start editing Alyssa. Done some research.
8. Write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week.Expected days missed, dedicated days still on track
9. Bake a thing. Nope.

Hi Everyone,

There was a reason I had put these goals off. I don't think I will make it but I am making progress.


~~~


[ ] Work through final beta comments for novel 1 -- I've gone through two sets of comments this month (yay!), am reading for flow now and expect a fresh set of comments in the upcoming weeks.
[ ] Work through beta comments for a second piece -- no progress yet (but a friend asked to read it, because she had enjoyed what she had seen so far, so that was nice.)
[ ] Work through beta comments for a third piece -- no progress at all yet -- the feedback from writers club on the whole thing is waiting for me in a folder on the dining room table. It might get bumped out to November.

I think I skipped my check-in last week, as I had nothing to add, but I don't want to get in that habit, so minor update.

[-] Work on the rewrite I started last month.
[-] Finish the restructuring of my 85K90 book.
[X] Plot the thing I started last month.
[-] Prep for the 3-Day Novel.

Most of the rest will likely be in progress the rest of the month. Though, the month is disappearing fast!

Week three.

Not a huge amount to update. I finished the pass on the story I was editing, but I hope one of my sisters will be able to read it before the end of the month. If they can't, I might do another pass, but not consider it submittable quite yet.

Looked at the Alyssa chapter but didn't actually progress at all.

Mostly I've been doing game stuff. So much game stuff. Which I'm meant to have more of a balance between it and real writing. But so much game. At least some of it is not just for the one session, but I will reuse (monster sorting etc).

Finished A Pocketful of Rye (right now), might read A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett, not Agatha Christie) next. Not sure why I'm in the mood for it.

(So much game stuff. Bad balance.)

1. Read five books. 4/5
2. Edit one story and one flash piece. One pass of the story.
3. Draft one new story. Done!
4. Game planning. Lots.
5. Query S&M. Not yet.
6. Continue writing Haven. Little bit.
7. Start editing Alyssa. Done some research.
8. Write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week.Expected days missed, dedicated days still on track
9. Bake a thing. Nope.

I'm still not making as much progress as i would like, but am 2/3 of the way through my first goal, which is the biggest.

I've also been working on possible blurbs and reading a couple manuscripts.

Yes, been quite the week. I'm beginning the most recent (and with luck, final final final) set of beta comments on my novel. Another great critiquer. One of the blessings of having so much feedback is really seeing what is valuable to me in feedback, and what is not. I would not have been able to articulate that eighteen months ago.

Got a quote from a copy editor this morning--he's willing to drop his price below standard because my manuscript is clean. I expect up to six more quotes. I like the 'free sample edit' feature--I expected to learn nothing from that, but I already see how the sample edit will help me choose the editor who hears rhythm in language the same way I tend toward. (And those who hear a different rhythm.)

My other two projects have fallen into the abyss. So, two August goals not even touched. September goals are huge--I'm focusing on the novel to get it out by year's end. There are still so many steps between here and there.

Anemia and stomach pain flares did me in this month. All through the first half of the month, it got so daggone hot that my body went kaput. All the stuff I got done was mostly last weekend because we finally had temps below 80. It's so frustrating knowing that I can accomplish stuff if the air doesn't constantly feel like a suffocating cloud of heat. You can't even catch a break with breezes because they feel like getting hit by steam in the face. Seriously, heat and humidity bite so much.

One big flub by me though was having the bright idea to add a fantasy element to an almost completely edited story. This meant revising/editing as I go meticulously, which I forgot my brain hates with a passion. That revision also required 5k additional words to make it work. At least I'll get more writing done in the next few days because I need a distraction from watching everyone at DragonCon on my Facebook feed.


[1] Upload 3 stories to Amazon
[ ] Add 5 more chapters to Wattpad(2 written).
[ ] Add 2 chapters to AO3(1 written)
[ ] Design Fantasy cover.(rolling over into next month)
[ ] Finish the first draft of Witches for Hire 2.(put in a drawer for now)
[1/3 ] Reorganize office area.

I gave up on the month. Not badly, I suppose, but I could have maybe got some more goals done, but instead I read during my work breaks rather than write like I normally do, and tomorrow I'm probably not going to write, thus updating today even though the month technically isn't finished.

I do, however, have a new car. It doesn't leak! The door closes properly! And it's much prettier to look at that my old 1993 rustbucket. I've still got to finish sorting some stuff, which is stressful (my writing day failed because after car buying I was far too exhausted to write and that was when I gave up on the month), but once that's done, it'll be less stress in the future.

I did another pass on the story after my sister gave me some good feedback. It's not finished, but it's finished enough that (provided I finish it properly next month) I don't count it as a fail. I did not touch the flash.

No progress on Alyssa, no more queries. Did a little bit of Haven but not a huge amount.

I definitely need to find a better balance between game and not next month. People like my game though (the players tell me!) and not the real writing (the rejections tell me!) so it's more fun sometimes >>

I finished A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett) then read the third book, Home at Last, in a modern(ish) American retelling of it by Gabrielle Charbonnet. Don't want to think about some things too deeply (like how even more unbelievable it is Sara - Molly in the retelling and daughter of a famous filmmaker - could disappear so thoroughly and not be find, while simultaneously having legal guardianship and foster system things ongoing)) but it's sweet.

Maybe next month I'll at least try books from this decade, if not adult books

Otherwise I baked some apricot muffins. My D&D group didn't like them so much - something about the texture (though in one's words "Doesn't mean I won't eat them") - but my sister and I didn't mind the texture.

1. Read five books. 6/5
2. Edit one story and one flash piece. Story almost, flash no.
3. Draft one new story. Done!
4. Game planning. Lots.
5. Query S&M. No.
6. Continue writing Haven. Little bit.
7. Start editing Alyssa. Done some research.
8. Write/edit each day, with one dedicated writing day per week.Expected days missed, dedicated days still on track
9. Bake a thing. Apricot muffins.