Skip to main content

How I Plan to Tackle the New Year...at Least in My Writing

So many things about me that could use improvement. Some of those things I believe are just hopeless. But at least my writing is something I feel like I can constantly work on and see improvement.

My goals this year for my writing are not so much about my writing specifically, as they are about my commitment to writing. I have a very busy and full schedule, and so finding time for my writing is exceptionally difficult. The past few months, it has been almost nonexistent because I returned to teaching full time. Add that to the list: young kids, husband, house, crafting, church involvement, AND now preparing, teaching, and grading full time. Hence...no writing.

So here's my goal: write 500 words/30 minutes every day.

I know. That doesn't sound like much of anything. And it's not, but at least it's something. That's more than I'm getting done right now.

The past few months, I realized something - I've been sitting around waiting for a big chunk of time in which I could sit down and write something substantial. Obviously, it's not happening, so I need to adjust my expectations a bit. At least if I'm writing 500 wds/day, then I'm getting in 2500 words per week or 10,000 words a month. That's a heck of a lot better than maybe 2500 words every couple of months.

I do have a couple of "issues" with this goal that I will have to somehow overcome, and that will probably be a work in progress to find the right combinations. It seems that big chunks of time are better for me because I get into the flow of my story and have a hard time stopping. I'm going to have to train myself to start - and stop - on demand. That certainly won't be easy.

Time will be another factor. I've sorta been trying to achieve this goal for a couple of months, but even a half hour is difficult to eke out of my schedule. I absolutely HATE getting up in the morning; I am not a morning person at all. But past experience of another writing experiment taught me that I'm actually most productive if I get up and write before anyone else in the house is up. I'm already getting up at 6 to make it to school on time; this means I'll have to get up at 5:30. Not a pretty prospect for me. That definitely means I need to get to bed at a reasonable hour, like 10:00, every night, which is hard when the kids don't go to bed until 8, and then I just want to crash and relax or spend time with my hubby.

But I'm sure going to try.

And lately I've written a couple of stories that I'm kind of excited about, so an ancillary goal is that I'm going to try and submit at least a couple of stories to either publication or significant writing contests within the next year.

So wish me luck.
I'm gonna need it...

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Perfect Ending to a Perfect Story (Hopefully)

We've invested a lot of time and energy into writing the perfect story, only to be faced with creating the perfect ending. We want our conflict wrapped up with a nice, neat bow, but we don't want to cheat our readers. My prime example of this faux pas is the Hunger Games series. I loved about 2 1/2 books of this series, and was furious at the last half of the 3rd book. Suzanne Collins broke every promise she had made to her reader, and she broke many of the beginning rules of writing. I'll try not to spoil the story for those of you who haven't read it yet, and if you haven't read the series, you should...at least as a case study. But basically, Collins wrote her character into a corner (which is good practice, by the way), and then gave up trying to find a logical, believable way to get that character out of the corner (which is NOT a good practice). Plus her main character did not actively solve the conflict driving the entire series, and the difficulties in th...

K12 Teaching in 2020

Today I drove home from work with my rock music blasting at higher decibels than, I'm sure, was healthy. But I needed a heavy beat loud enough to feel it vibrate in my chest. I'm not a drinker, but if I were, today would be a three-glasses-of-wine day. And there's no specific reason. Except that I'm only a month into the school year, and I'm already exhausted. And I'm not alone. All you parents out there who are concerned about the style, quality, amount or any other qualifier of education your child is receiving this year, I can guarantee you that an entire team of teachers, administrators, and support staff is just as worried. We're doing our damnedest to meet your (and our!) expectations. Right now, I'm barely keeping my head above the water line. I am the kind of personality who plans things out. I visualize my dive into the deep end, consider all possible complications, and then perform a smooth breaststroke from one side to the next before any of t...

Top Eight Things I *Love* About Writing

http://www.123rf.com/ Why do writers write?  It's certainly not for the money. The major success stories are all we hear about, but they are actually so rare as to be laughable.  So why do writers write? I think the answers are individual for each writer, but similar across many writers.  In honor of Valentine's Day, here are the top eight (8) reasons why I write: 1.      The creative process.   I love when I have a new idea in my head and I get excited about it.  I love to express those stories and put them on the paper for someone else to enjoy. The mental process of figuring out how to make a story work is fascinating and exciting. 2.      The escape.  When I write, I get to create the world and events.  It allows me to be in control of how good (or bad) things are.  It rejuvenates me to face my own reality again.  Writing is one of my outlets of stress relief; I can always make thin...