I just wanted to say thank you. You guys are the reason I blog. You always have the sweetest comments and are SO supportive. I heart you. I really do. I've made some amazing AMAZING writers through my little old blog this year. I feel so lucky to have so many friends that are going through the same things I am in my writing journey. You guys are all so awesome and I'm excited to see what the next year brings for all of us! :)
I wish I could have a huge giveaway or something, but I have no idea what I'd do. I'm a little short on funds for a book or something right now, but I'll definitely have more giveaways like that in the future. I'll think about what I want to do. I have to do something. It's a celebration for crying out loud! Any suggestions?
Anyway, today I wanted to talk a little about goals. I don't normally post on Wednesdays, but I'm breaking my own rules and doing it anyway. :P I've made a few goals this week. And I've decided I'm going to lay my goals out there for you guys to see so I'll actually do them! lol
So, my first one: Finish my first draft of INBETWEEN. I'm at 39,000 words right now and want to be finished by the end of September. That gives me a few weeks. I think I can do it. I want to send it to betas in October, revise and edit when I get their comments back and have it all polished and ready to send to my agent in November. And then I'll most likely have more revisions. Which is fine. That's what agents do! ;) Think I can do it? I hope I can. :P
Also, I have two Dystopians I'm dying to write. I have to decide between them. I may have to ask you guys for your opinions. They are both so different, yet I'm having a hard time figuring out which one I want to work on next. I have one of them outlined ... or as much of an outline that I'm able to do since I'm a total pantser. The other I have outlined in my head. If that makes sense. Anyway. I definitely want to work on one of those when I'm done with my first draft of INBETWEEN. I always have to be writing something if I'm editing something else. Once I decide, which hopefully will be soon, I want to at least start on it by November and be finished with the first draft by January.
I'm a pretty fast drafter, so I'm hoping I'll be able to do it!
So, what are your goals? Long term? Short term? Hit me with them!
33 comments:
Wow, congrats!
...and good luck on hitting your goals :)
I've got a story that I finished the *big* edits on July 27th that is out with a couple beta-readers right now... and I'm really gritting my teeth, absolutely dying to get those comments back ;)
Good luck with those goals! I'm hoping to finish the first draft of my YA fantasy this month. We'll see what happens with that. Congrats on 400+ followers!
400 WOW! That is quite a milestone! My goal is to polish my synopsis so I can start querying. Yikes! I'm shooting for the end of September.
Woohoo! Happy 400! I'm curious about your dystopians! My goal is to finish revisions with my agent so I can go out on submission to find an editor. That will be exciting (and probably a long process, so that will give me time to get back to my own dystopian). :)
Congratulations on over 400 followers! I am trying to get more followers on my blog as well, but right now, my main goal is to finish my current WIP. My agent has two of my manuscripts now, but it can't hurt to have one more on hand, right?
Good luck, Chantele! Oh, maybe we should have a #Wordwar on Twitter. Brodi Ashton and Bree Despain started it. In one hour, we see how many words we can write. Let me know if you'd like to participate and I will vs. you.
@1000th.monkey Isn't waiting the worst? Seriously. I drive myself crazy waiting for beta feedback! :D
@Stephanie McGee Thanks!! Good luck on finishing your first draft this month! Woot!
@Angie Cothran Oh, the dreaded synopsis. They are of the devil. :) Good luck with querying! If you need a cheerleader let me know! ;)
@Carol Riggs Yay for being almost done with revisions! And good luck when you go on sub!
@nicolekrell It can never hurt to have a few manuscripts on hand. ;) I would love to do the word war one of these days! I've done it twice I think. My kids make it hard, but I'll try to be there when I can! :D I'd love to vs you! Bring it on! ;)
Yay! Good luck with your goals! Mine is to start querying next week--it's going to happen!
GAH, I just want to finish the draft of my current WIP before I go to a conference in (eep!) a week and a half. With the aid of cocaine, a permanent puppy nanny, and someone else to do my lawyerin for me, it
*could* happen.
Sigh. Sure wish I had a puppy nanny. And an evil lawyer twin. And no compunctions about doing cocaine. (And, if I had all that, some idea about how one goes about getting some cocaine. Jeez, all those TV shows and movies about lawyers sure misled me about the amount of illegal drugs I'd have access to at this point in my career.)
Congrats on 400! Hard hard work. And wow u are a fast drafter!
Congratulations!!!
I totally get the outline thing in your head. I have a book like that right now.
My goals are to work on my edits from my CP as they come, and hopefully be finished by the end of November. While I'm doing that I am working on a re-write of my first novel. I'm at about 6,100 words and I'd like to be done around the same time as my edits.
I say write both of them.
Hello Chantele
Lovely to meet you! And congrats on your 400 + followers!
My writing goal is to finish my ms which I've been working on for over a year now - sadly true. I'm editing currently. Short-term, I want to start outlining a couple of short stories.
T :-)
Wow! That is awesome, congrats! As far as choosing a book to write goes, I say write a little of each and find out which one speaks to you more.
Yay goals! I'm rooting you on!
How very cool! Congratulations! :) I want you to write both so that I can read them as I haven't yet been given the privilege.
I know. I'm selfish. :P
Yay!!! Congrats to you, my friend! And I'm DYING to read Inbetween. Or any of them! As for my goal, it's to get my research done so I can finish this sucker! I'm so very close!!!
WooHoo!! *throws confetti* I agree with Jenn, write them both and then let me read them. ;)
Good for you, girl! You deserve to celebrate because your blog rocks. Keep it up, and good luck with getting to those two Dystopians. I wanna hear about them!
Congrats on the 400 followers! Yay! And good luck with your WIP. My goal is to finish editing my YA manuscript by October too. Feel free to reach out if you need a boost. We can encourage one another! :)
Congratulations on your followers, you deserve it!
Here is my foolproof advice that I always give for deciding between two of anything.
Toss a coin. If you accept the first result, that's the one you want to do. If you tell yourself 'best out of three' then you should write the one that lost :-)
Congrats on the followers, Chantele! And yay for your goals. It's time for me to set new ones, since I just finished a draft and sent it to round one of beta readers. I'll edit when I get it back, but other than that, I don't have anything firm set. Good luck meeting your own goals!
I just started a new project. Hoping to have the first draft done sometime in the next two months! O_O
400 followers! YOU.are.AWESOME! Congratulations!
Right now my goals are to get through the day. I'm too exhausted to think much more than that. But I'm sure somewhere there is a corny "reach for the stars" type of thing going on. :)
My only advice is to pick ONE project. I'm bouncing between three, and it makes it hard to focus, and hard to sleep . . .
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!
Yay for you! I'm glad so many people have figured out how great your blog is.
It's great that you have writing goals. I tend to be a pantser with those, too :)
Congratulations!!! Good luck with your goals! I'm currently hoping to finish revisions soon :)
@Meredith Good luck with querying!! If you need me to cheer you on, let me know :D
@Ru LOL! You are hilarious!! ;)
@Jessie Humphries Thank you!!
@Jenny S. Morris Yay! Good luck finishing your edits and re-writing! I really want to re-write one of my novels, but I just haven't had time to do it yet. Someday.
@Michael Offutt I agree. And I will. Not sure which one to start with though. ;)
@J. A. Bennett Thank you! And I'll take your advice and write a little of each when I'm ready. I'm sure I'll be able to choose one if I do that. :)
@Ruth Josse I'm rooting you on too!! :D
@J.R. Johansson Ha! Yes. Yes you are. ;) Give me a few weeks and you can have that privilege. :)
@Katie Dodge Yay for getting research done! I can't wait to read the rest! And hopefully you'll like Inbetween. :P
@Candice I will! :) And I need to read something from you as well. ;)
@E.R. King Thank you so much! And I'm so excited for the Dystopians. Just have to figure out which one I'm more excited for! lol :)
@Melissa Sarno Thank you!! Good luck finishing your book! You can do it!! I'm cheering you on! :)
@Sarah Pearson You are so sweet! :) That is a great way to get a result! lol I may have to try that!
@Shallee Thank you! Can't wait to hear about your goals! :)
@Steph Sinkhorn Woot! I love new projects. You can do it! :)
@Abby I know. Seriously. You are superwoman. I don't know how you do it!
@Jennifer Groepl Thank you!! :D
@Jolene Perry Holy cow! Three? You exhaust me! lol :) I'm sure they're all freaking awesome. Your writing ROCKS!
@JEFritz Ha! :) I don't know about it being great, but thank you! And pantsers RULE! ;)
@WritingNut Yay for finishing revisions! And it's nice to meet you! :D
Congrats! I'm hoping to finish the draft of my current WIP by year's end and to continue the query slog with my completed novel. Luck to us all!
Congrats on all your followers! I became an official follower today too. :) And good luck meeting all your goals... you've inspired me to put my goals down on paper as well.
That's funny, I just read Ruth's blog post about goals too. I sense a message that I'm supposed to be getting. :) Yes, I know, I need goals, Universe. Okay, here goes. I want to be finished with book 2 by the end of October. I just need to write and stop making excuses. :)
And I totally think you can finish INBETWEEN by the end of September. Go team go! :)
Congrats about the 400+ followers! :D My goal is to finish a first draft of a novel by next summer. Best of luck with your goals!
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