2012 Goals

Since I shared my progress on my 2011 goals yesterday, I think it's time for the 2012's goals!

Blog Goals:

• Re-design in 2012. I've had the same design for over a year now and while I still love it, it's time for something fresh.
• Re-ignite my spark for blogging. My interest has been somewhat lacking, but now that I've decided to become more of a (aspiring) author blog than a book review blog, I think that will help.
• Brainstorm for content ideas on a regular basis.

Writing Goals:

• Get my manuscript The Last Beautiful Place query-ready. Perhaps with another read-through by someone with fresh eyes or by my CP.
• Finish at least one new project in 2012.
• Participate in Nanowrimo this year.
• Spend several months honing my query and researching agents.
• Take an online workshop focusing on querying/pitching. I suck at summing things up, so I hope this will help.
• QUERY. Try not freak out in the process. 

Reading Goals

• Don't put pressure on myself to read as many books as I did in 2011. I hope to read at least eighty in 2011.

What are your goals for the new year?

2011 Goal Wrap-Up

I set these goals for myself a year ago. Now that the year is over, it's time to see how I did!

Blog Goals

• Continue blogging ahead and try to have blog posts scheduled for at least one week ahead.  COMPLETE! I have posts scheduled a couple months ahead of time.
• Consider which additional blog tours I want to participate in.  COMPLETE! I don't do many blog tours, but I've read some great books this year thanks to blog tours.
• Set a budget for contests, and stick to it! COMPLETE! I didn't do as many contests this year as last year because I frankly couldn't afford to. Hopefully that will change in 2012.
• Set aside one day twice a month to focus on the blog. Schedule blog review posts, brainstorm topics, etc. FAIL. I do set aside time to work on the blog, but I didn't keep to this schedule. I did do it for a few months, though!

Writing Goals

• Set aside at least three hours a day to write and revise. FAIL. I decided to change this goal to be word count based, vs. time. Since I write and revise super fast, I don't usually use the full three hours a day. I was diagnosed with tendonitis earlier this year, so I have to limit my time on the computer. I hope to work longer in 2012, when I'll get a laptop, which I hope will be a bit easier for typing, since I can do it in bed. 
• Start putting out feelers so I can find a critique partner whose style is similar to my own. COMPLETE. I now have a critique partner, Kelly. We work really well together and I'm so glad I have her! :)
• Research my two long-term "out of the box" projects. The first is a historical/time-travel, the second being a contemporary YA that will take a lot of research regardless. COMPLETEish. I scrapped the historical time travel, and the contemporary YA changed focus. I did finish it and it's in the second draft now.
• Attend at least one SCBWI event or online Writer's Digest event/course. FAIL. I let my SCBWI membership lapse, mainly because I just didn't get much out of my local chapter, which is why I joined. I will probably re-join later, or join RWA, which also has a YA branch.
• Spend time researching agents and the querying process, so when I'm ready for it, I'll be prepared.  COMPLETE. I've signed up at query tracker and have started my own database with agent info.

Reading Goals

• Read at least eighty books in 2011. In 2010 I read about sixty-five, which is an all-time high for me, but I want to go further! COMPLETE. I've read over 100 books this year!
• Expand my reading list beyond YA. YA will still take up a good chunk of what I'm reading, but I don't want to risk burn-out. I think that could happen if I don't start reading other genres. COMPLETE. I branched out to romance this year, and I'm so glad I did.

So, not to pat myself on the back, I think I did pretty well this year! :D How did you make out on your yearly goals, if you set them?

Happy Holidays

Wishing all of my followers a very happy holiday. Thanks for spending another year following along on my blog!

Shiny Idea is Shiny

I think I'm lucky. Or maybe cursed. I have Shiny New Idea Syndrome. My brain churns out story ideas at a pace which I could not possibly keep up with, not unless I turned into some writer cyborg. Usually when this happens, I add info to  my story notebook so I don't forget it. Sometimes I'll rush and start plotting it out in Scrivener, so it's ready for me when I get around to it.

Well, last week I had an idea so shiny that it darn near blinded me. It came to me, as about a quarter of all my ideas do, as a dream. This dream was so vivid that it actually woke me up. I got up, told my husband about it, and jotted it down in my notebook.

Last Thursday, my husband went back to work after a brief vacation, and I decided to start writing the shiny new idea. I knew it was bad, I already had two projects in revisions, and another waiting to be written, but this SNI (shiny new idea) would not be placed on a wait-list.

One week later, and I've written almost 40,000 words, which is unheard for even me. I write fast, and usually get a draft done within about 6-8 weeks. If I keep up this pace, the book will be done by the end of the year!

I love it, and I'm totally swept up into it. I love all of my books, but this one is consuming me on an epic scale. I love it when that happens!

What do you do when you have SNIS?

Writing for Yourself

Source

I've been writing for a very, very long time. Most of it has never seen the light of day. Other pieces were read by a very small circle of friends, and that was it. I wrote to keep myself happy, and never had any intention of publishing.

Now my goals are different, the books I write are for publication. That said, every once in awhile I'll write a short story or a drabble or something that's just for me. Sure, maybe one day if I'm internationally famous and folks are clamoring for my every word (ha) I'll publish them, but for now, they're just for me.

What am I writing? Romantic, frothy stuff, mostly. Period pieces, but without the bothersome research. They're usually short stories under twenty thousand words. Quite a lot of them are unfinished, and that's okay. I love writing for just me, and it's nice to write without worrying what anyone else will think.

Do you write anything that's just for you?

Tune In Tuesday (13)

Each week I participate in Tune in Tuesday, hosted by Greads!

This week's Tune in Tuesday is Concert Edition. Back in the stone age, when I was younger, I went to a lot of concerts. I mean A LOT. Music is still my passion, but since moving further away from Washington, DC, I don't go to many concerts anymore. Okay, to be fair, even when I lived right outside of the city, I didn't go to many. I just hit that age where it got hard to go to shows and go to work the next day. I know, excuses!

Anyway, the show I want to talk about today was several years ago, back when it was no big deal to just get in the car and drive to New York for a gig. For most of my life, I lived north of Baltimore, so I would go to shows in DC, Philly, NYC and Baltimore too. The show I'm talking about took place at the Webster Hall in NYC.

In 2005, Interpol was my favorite band, and I've seen them at least seven times, in several states. When I met my husband, and he told me that he had driven two hours to see Interpol, I knew I'd found a good match. :D

We waited for hours to get to the front of this show, and it was worth it. I did almost get into a fight when this girl thought she could cut the line right before the show started, but when everyone started yelling at her, she eventually went where she belonged...at the back of the line.

It was one of the best shows ever, and when they played Stella at the very end of the show as an encore, it was one of my best concert experiences ever. Interpol aren't as great as they once were, but I will always love their earlier music.

Abandoning Projects

This year I've abandoned two projects, and it was not an easy thing to do in either case. In the first case, I started writing an adult romance novel, that had everything. A clever title, a dashing British leading man, and a spunky American protagonist. I sort of sputtered out with it about a third of the way through, and I've never returned to it. My second failure is more on a grand scale. This book is big. Big in scope, in the fact that it involves time travel, research on time travel theory, historical research, and I was going to try a new writing style as well. Yeah, I guess it's not surprising that it didn't work out.

I have an inspiration board for that project above my desk, and every time I look at it, I get a little twinge of guilt for moving on to another shiny new idea instead of going back to work on it. I've decided that it may be a project that takes me years to actually get to, and I'm okay with that. I love the idea and hope that it'll come back to me one day. But if not, that's okay too.

Do you return to projects once you abandon them, or are they abandoned for good?