Finding My Feet Part 1—Goal Assessment for October

Okay, I didn’t get through all of the October goals. Made progress in some, flunked totally in others. Forgot to add in my study needs and the time required by my other two writing heads. In short, had a serious overestimate over what I could achieve – hence why I’m taking a couple of months to work out what I can expect to achieve so that when I set or accept deadlines in my new work routine I can be sure of making them. So here are the October goals re-capped and assessed:

Goals:

1.      Complete Adventure 1 and submit.

PARTIALLY COMPLETED: I did edit the adventure and re-familiarise with it, but competing priorities meant I focused on other things – such as the new story that started coming together (see #2 below) and some interesting study commitments.

2.      Complete the outline and first 5,000 words on a YA setting-specific fantasy novel, YA Novel 1.

NOT COMPLETED: I’ve had a title in my head for a while now. Last week, when I set these goals, I was planning to work on one of the YA fantasy setting novel ideas I’d been working on and off on. Neither of them would cooperate, but the YA idea that had been kicking about in my head in the form of a title and nothing else, decided to develop. As bus time was all I had, I ran with the first of the three ideas that struck and am still working through the outline process. That alone is about 3,000 words long.

3.      Write a setting specific short story between 2,000 and 5,000 words, Short Story 1.

PARTIALLY COMPLETED: Story started and currently at 400 words, but I can’t seem to get it to shift forward. Half the trouble is time, but the other half is that I need to give myself more time to re-familiarise with the setting.

4.      Get Project 1 up to the 10,000-word mark.

COMPLETED! I know, but I’m excited. I actually got this one done when I miscalculated so many others. Also, you should know that I made a typo when setting this goal. What I meant to write was that I wanted to get this project to 20,000 wds and this I did.

5.      Project 2 to 10,000 words.

PARTIALLY COMPLETED: This project is currently at 2,500 words. It was at 0 when I set the goal so this isn’t too bad, given the goals were only set 2 weeks ago.

6.      Begin Emdras conversion.

NOT COMPLETED: Depressingly not even started.

What Else Did I Achieve?

·         Writing Head #2 achieved the goal 20,000 words in her current work in progress. This involved adding 10,000 words to the existing total. Writing Head #2 is on track for completing a novella for submission next month.

·         Computing Studies: Completed 4 of the 5 units in the current subject.

·         Language Studies: Actually did some. Need to do more.

·         Between two to two-and-a-half hours of travel on public transport every day.

·         Learning the Craft: Reading a wide variety of blogs once or twice a week to learn the news and views of people in the publishing industry. I’ve been reading as widely as possible in an attempt to learn about the changes going on in publishing so I can begin to set a course that I can follow. Amongst those I find most helpful are: Joe Konrath, Bob Mayer, Dean Wesley Smith, Philip Athans, Ian Irvine, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Passive Guy, Walt Shiel, and John Scalzi. There is no way to thank these people for taking the time to talk about their experiences in the publishing industry and for sharing some of their hard-won knowledge. In the past fortnight, I’ve been learning of the instability in the industry, the changing tides, and shifting rules AND I’ve been making a list of new skills I need to learn. THOSE I must incorporate in November’s goals.

·         Developed a Title into an Idea: Yup, it’s Young Adult, it’s a murder mystery, and it has no paranormal elements, references, yes, but actual paranormality, no. Still working on the outline and characters for this, and I have a two other outlines to develop.

·         Lost 2 Days: to work-related unexpectedness.

·         Lost another day: to child-related unexpectedness.

·         Housework: I did better this fortnight, but I need to maintain the standard more consistently.

What Else Did I Need to Achieve?

·         Writing Head #3 needed to add 5,000 words to finish her current novel. She also needed develop the outline for her next work and weave an overview for the next couple of books in the series.

·         Study on Second Language

·         Develop and establish an exercise routine.

What Went Wrong?

I miscalculated. It’s as simple as that. The change of lifestyle has been much more extreme than I realised. I spend a lot of time travelling on public transport, doing household tasks, and studying that I don’t really think about. I’ll need to recalculate the goals for next month.

Conclusion?

I need to try again and plan more carefully. The shift between not working while caring for a small baby to working full-time while travelling on public transport and caring for family has been greater than I realised. The old work levels just aren’t possible and I haven’t found the new work levels yet. Tonight I will go over my November goals. Tomorrow I will finalise them and post them. Hopefully, I will have a much better idea of my abilities this time round.