ROW80: Birthday week!
So, my birthday is Tuesday, and I tend to have a week-long celebration of sorts. Tomorrow will be fairly low-key, but Tuesday I am going to dinner with girlfriends, Wednesday I’m going for drinks with co-workers, Thursday and Friday are still open for any revelry, and Saturday is my birthday party!
I am smart enough to realize that I am probably not going to get much done this week, so I’m narrowing my focus to the characters in Drawn Together.
I have been working on some character profiles for my two main characters. My goal this week will be to finish them, maybe write a few scenes to figure out their voices, and do some quick profiles for supporting characters. (And do my ROW80 update on Wednesday of course!)
Overall I am happy with my progress…I have kept up with doing a little something on all my goals despite being busy. I really want to kick it into high gear next week so that I can end January feeling accomplished.
In the meantime, I am going to relax, enjoy time with friends, and read on my new Nook Simple Touch (an upgrade from my original Nook, an early birthday gift from my husband!). Have a great week ROW80ers!
ROW80: Quick update
It has been a crazy week for me…big client meeting at work that has required a lot of prep, and with three weeks on the job I have been moving double time to get up to date on things. I will be happy to do some relaxing this weekend, and I know my coworkers will be too. Even with all the crazy this week, I am passionately in love with my new job and I feel so comfortable there. It’s really great to love going to work every day.
Not too much has happened on the writing front other than a very successful goals group meeting (yay!), some research reading and some work on character development for Drawn Together…even so, that still has me hitting goals as long as I write a couple of blog posts. I have been keeping up my other non-writing goals too–tracking what I eat every day and doing an Instagram photo challenge!
How is everyone else doing on the second week of ROW80? I hope to visit the Linky and make some comments when I get a spare moment! 
ROW80: Week Two Goals
I have done really well on my first week’s goals…so much so that I am going to keep them for week two. I have gotten to just about everything on my list except character development, which I am planning on working on tonight. I had some unexpected work to do this weekend so I didn’t have as much time to work on writing as I expected. I think the key to my writing goals is to adjust them based on my workload and the things that are going on in my life so that everything works in harmony. That way I don’t have to skip a goal to do something else that is important.
It is a busy week at work so I want to keep my goals easy and accomplishable, which is exactly what my goals are right now. To recap:
- A blog post per week.
- Research on The Recollector
- Character development for Drawn Together
ROW80: So far, so good
It has been a busy week for me, lots of getting further adjusted at the new job and working hard to get up to speed. Even so, I have been doing well on my goals.
- I feel like all I have been doing is writing blogs since that is much of what I am doing at my day job right now! I am on top of the blogging game.
- I researched a lot on possible climactic events and catalysts for The Recollector. I am learning more about one particular event that would be practically perfect. I am saving lots of articles to my Instapaper account to go through as the week progresses.
- I haven’t started my character sketches yet simply because I know I will have more time later in the week for them, and over the weekend.
I feel pretty good…in addition to my writing goals, I am working on two other goals: food journaling and a photo challenge. I write down everything I eat so that I am more conscious of what I put in my body. The list today included delicious things like gourmet food truck burger sliders and a Sprinkles cupcake, but at least I drank plenty of water all day. I am also participating in a photo-a-day challenge on Instagram.. I love using my iPhone to document my life and taking a creative photo every day is really fun.
How are your challenges coming along so far this week? Check out your other ROW80 participants at the blog hop here!
ROW80: Round One Goals
I talked about my overall goal setting for 2012, but now that ROW80 is beginning, it’s time to set my smaller, more specific writing goals. For the first quarter of 2012, I am concentrating on research for one project and outlining another project. I also want to get into a regular blogging schedule.
I know that as the round goes on, my ROW80 goals will change as my focus changes. That is one of the things I love about ROW80–you can change your goals at any time. Once I finish a goal, I can move on to the next one. Here are the high-level Round One goals I am starting off with:
- Finish research for The Recollector. I first started writing this story during NaNoWriMo 2010. I got to 50K with it, but it became clear about 25K through that I hadn’t done nearly enough historical research to do it true justice. It’s set in England during the reign of Queen Victoria and I am twisting some historical events slightly to meet my own purposes. Research is fun for me, but I need to focus and get myself ready to start from scratch on this project.
- Outline Drawn Together. I had a bit of idea lightning hit me a few weeks ago for a contemporary romance. I have never really tried my hand at that, but I think it will be a lot of fun to write. I can easily draw from life experience given the basic plot of the story, which will hopefully make it come together quickly. I would love to start writing this during Round One as well, but I am not even putting that down as a goal until the outline is complete.
- Blog at least once a week. I love blogging and I miss it. I have multiple blogs (which some people would tell you is a no-no, but as a professional marketer I think it is just fine, thanks) about different subjects, and since one of my overall themes of 2012 is to be passionate, I want to start blogging passionately again about the things I am interested in.
The problem with my Round One goals is that they aren’t as measurable as something like a daily word count, especially the research goal. So I am going to set weekly goals for myself that help me fulfill those larger goals. Here are my goals for this week:
- Write at least one blog post for each blog. I am already ahead of the game on this goal, hurrah! I may even be able to get a few in the queue.
- Decide on the main event for The Recollector. I have waffled back and forth on what historical event is going to be the focus for the climax of my story. I keep thinking I have the perfect one, and then two more will crop up that give me pause. I need to decide on this before anything else so I can pick my bad guys!
- Develop character sketches for my two main characters in Drawn Together. I have some basic ideas for my male and female leads, but I really need to flesh them out and give them all kinds of quirks and personality before I start throwing them into an outline.
So how are you setting your goals for this round of ROW80? Do you think I am crazy with my super-specific layers of goals? I can’t wait to read about what everyone else will be doing!
Goal Setting for 2012
Fresh starts have been on my mind all month. I began an amazing new job right before Christmas that I am really excited about. My husband and I will start preparing in earnest for our move later this winter. And, with 2012 looming on the horizon, I am getting serious about writing goals for the coming year.
I am a part of a goals group with some of my writing friends that will help keep us accountable for what we want to accomplish throughout the year. The goals group is actually my first step toward actually meeting my goals–the accountability and encouragement from friends are both super important to me.
To start with, I broke my goals down into quarters. I am concentrating on three things for the first quarter, January-March:
- Outline the contemporary romance idea I have been kicking around, tentatively titled Drawn Together
- Continue research for my alternative historical fantasy, The Recollector
- Figure out what to do with my novel Burn. It has two plot “iterations” and I cannot decide what rabbit trail to go down. Hopefully my group can help me with it!
- Write one blog post a week.
I also plan on participating in ROW80 again (a lot more successfully this time) so that I can boil things down to weekly mini-goals, such as finishing a section of an outline or hitting a daily word count.
This seems like a lot when I write it down, but I have to remember that it is over the course of three months, and if I do a little bit every day, I will meet those goals easily. I know this first quarter will be busy, with a lot to do at my new job and preparing for a move, but if I want to fit fiction writing into my life I have to make it happen even when things are a little crazy.
What are your 2012 goals? Did you meet your goals for 2011? Happy New Year!
When (Idea) Lightning Strikes
One of the most dangerous things about being a writer is dealing with ideas that strike like lightning. You’re focused on one project, and all of a sudden all you can think of is the shiny new plot that has forced itself to the forefront of your mind.
I had a bit of idea lightning hit me last night while watching television and doing some copyediting. It’s funny how something completely innocuous can trigger the weird plotting thought process, but before I knew it I had a text file with over 500 words of plot outline in it.
It would be fun to work on right now, even though my current writing plan involves focusing on my YA novel–a project that, quite frankly, I am having trouble with. The more I write, the more the key themes and ideas mirror those in a popular, already-published book (even though I started working on the idea long before that book came out, all that matters is that it came out first), and the twist is giving me fits. I really need to strip it back to basics and rework it so it no longer bears resemblance to another (fantastic) book, which fills me with dread but needs to happen before I can really take this thing to the finish line.
It is tempting to focus on this new, shiny idea and just let myself write. I need a project that isn’t so complex, that I can finish and feel good about, that is fun and easy to write. A writer friend of mine has a short story idea that she doesn’t even want to write down because she has so many other projects to work on. What do you do when a shiny new idea distracts you from your current project ? Do you shelve it, forget it, or do you let it carry you away, at least for a little while?
My Writing Toolkit: iPad
I love seeing how writers apply technology to their writing lives. Part of what I enjoy reading about from other authors is their writing process, and I am always happy to stumble upon a fellow tech geek writer who successfully incorporates gadgets into their writing routine.
I got my iPad alongside a new Mac Mini that I share with my husband. The iPad’s intention was to replace my aging netbook as a mobile writing tool and couch web surfing machine. It not only met my expectations, but exceeded them. It has become one of the most useful things in my writer’s toolkit over the past year. So how do I use it as a writer?
Writing
The iPad wouldn’t be very useful to me at all if I couldn’t use it to create. A lot of people will argue that the iPad is strictly a consumption tool, but I disagree wholeheartedly, especially if much of what you create is text-based. I got my iPad with the intention of using it to write an I have not been disappointed. There are a number of writing apps available to meet almost any writer’s needs, from simple plain text editors to more complex word processors. I use a few different apps based on my writing task:
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Elements – This is the app I use for all my fiction writing. It syncs very easily with Scrivener on my Mac via an Elements folder in Dropbox. It has a pleasant interface, an accurate word counter, TextExpander support for frequently typed phrases or names, and a scratchpad for keeping notes separate from my manuscript. I have tried similar apps, such as the excellent free app Plain Text, but I always come back to Elements.
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Nebulous Notes – This is my all-purpose, Swiss Army knife text editing app. It gives me access to the contents of my entire Dropbox. I use Nebulous to write blog posts, take random notes, make lists, or edit text documents. It features support for writing in Markdown, which helps with easy formatting, various export options, TextExpander support, constant Dropbox syncing, a customizable keyboard bar for shortcuts, and numerous themes and fonts.
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Notability – I use my iPad at the office as well as everywhere else. I was a copious notetaker all through school, and my professional life is no different. Detailed notes have been my saving grace far too many times, and they are a part of my learning process. However, I usually don’t take typed notes unless high speed capture is necessary, because I don’t absorb the information as well as when I handwrite. Notability is a great tool that lets me handwrite, type, draw, and record audio. I use a Targus stylus to take notes just as I would on paper, and Notability’s zoom function makes it easy to write normally. It syncs to Dropbox so I can easily pass the notes along to coworkers or review them at my computer when I am working. I really like using Notability when I am brainstorming for a story. Writing my notes versus typing them, or sketching out mind maps, gets me deeper into the details. Often, that helps me get unstuck on a plot point or character interaction.
Research
One of the best things about the iPad is that it makes surfing the web so easy. I love sitting on the couch with my husband, spending time next to him instead of chained to my desk. I have a pretty handy research process I’ve been using for a while and it is even further simplified on the iPad.
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Instapaper – This is one of my all-time favorite web services. It allows you so save things to read later and strips out all the unnecessary junk, leaving only the text of the content for your reading pleasure. I have the Instapaper bookmarklet installed in all my browsers on both my computers and my mobile devices. You can organize things into folders, and I have entire folders of content, complete with originating URL, for my projects that require research. It is dead simple to use and helps me lessen my bookmark load.
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iCab Mobile – I like Mobile Safari, but it is far from being a fully featured browser. When I heard about all the added features of iCab, such as the ability to download files (and upload them to Dropbox) and built-in support for Instapaper and other services, I had to give it a try. I really love it and it makes surfing the web on my iPad that much more like a desktop experience. I really don’t miss a thing now.
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Nook, Stanza, GoodReader – I don’t use my iPad as my primary reading device; I have an eInk Nook for reading most books. But for highly visual books, PDFs, or material that I need to refer to at some point while writing, I have a handful of go-to apps. The Nook app syncs with my Barnes & Noble account, letting me access any of the books in my library. Stanza is a very flexible ebook reader that I have connected to my Calibre library at home. GoodReader is a PDF reader with annotation abilities that has proven invaluable when reading source PDFs or even when editing my own writing. I love marking up my manuscript with “real” editing marks as I read.
Form and Function
Apps aren’t all that make the iPad a joy to use. It is practically a feather compared to my old hefty netbook, which got surprisingly heavy to tote around (especially considering the fact that I had to carry the charging brick too). I can throw it in almost any bag or purse I have and not notice the extra weight. I love having my writing tools with me wherever I am!
The battery life is also excellent. I have the original iPad, which was reported to get around ten hours of use on one charge. I have actually exceeded that and see closer to 11-12 hours of use, including plenty of browsing online. That of course lowers with lots of video watching or other processor intensive app use, but on the whole I rarely need to worry about leaving the house with my iPad charger. The freedom of no longer being tethered to an outlet is awesome.
I write, blog, chat, Tweet, and more on my iPad. 90% of my computing takes place on my iPad (or iPhone) instead of in my office at the Mac Mini. All this may change when I am able to afford an 11″ MacBook Air, but who knows…I also plan on getting an iPad 3! Have you worked an iPad into your writing routine? What about another tablet? What is your favorite writing gadget?
Real Life Problems and Thinking About Goals
I can’t believe December is almost here. This year has flown by, and the past month has been strange. My goals for November caved under the news that I was losing my job. I’ve never been laid off before and it has been a very difficult and emotional experience. I was lucky to have some freelance work right away as I looked for a new position, and I’ve had some very promising interviews that I hope will blossom into good news this week. I have been trying to stay as positive as possible, but it is harder than I thought it would be to keep the cheerful face on all the time.
Despite quite a bit more time to myself than I planned, I havent’t been able to concentrate on writing unless it was for my freelance work or a part of my job interviews. I had to accept the fact that with all I have on my mind, National Novel Writing Month simply wasn’t going to happen for me. I have never been so stressed I couldn’t write. I’ve been so busy I couldn’t write, but this has been an entirely new range of emotions. Every time I have sat down to work on my young adult WIP, I haven’t tapped out more than a few lines at a time. I managed to choke out almost 8,000 words of my novel before acknowledging that my hard work was likely needed elsewhere, such as looking for jobs or preparing for interviews. It makes me feel like even more of a failure than the lay off did.
Thankfully, this time of year is about fresh starts. Looking back, October and November have been when I have sunk the lowest…and December and January are when amazing new opportunities have always surfaced. I am going to face 2012 knowing that it holds all the promise in the world and set my goals accordingly.
I am lucky to have some amazing writer friends who not only are awesome and fun ladies, but keep me going when I feel like I can’t do this writing thing. They have their own goals and I love seeing them accomplish new things, like book contracts (!!!!) and new drafts finished. This year we are starting a goals group to keep ourselves accountable and encouraged. I have been thinking a lot about what I want to accomplish in the coming year, and the job loss has actually helped me.
I feel like I’ve started fighting for what I really want again. I have been complacent in the last year professionally, assuring myself that things would get better if I just gave them time. Being laid off has been awful, but it helped me realize that I wasn’t happy. I don’t think I was being utilized as fully as I could have been, and I only have myself to blame for that. I made it clear that I could do things, but I didn’t push for them. That isn’t me…I am pretty confident and I make things happen. But for whatever reason, I wasn’t making things happen, and now that I have some distance from it all, I think it is because I wasn’t in the right place.
Fighting to find (and get!) the right kind of job has also helped me realize that I haven’t been fighting hard enough for my own dreams outside the workplace. There is always the idea in my mind that I can do things later, that I need to see my husband because our schedules are so opposite one another, that I need to have a social life, that I need to relax. Those things are all important, but they don’t fight for my dreams at all. They sometimes hinder moving forward on them, in fact. I need to start fighting myself for the time to make dreams come true.
I know that it won’t be easy…one of the things that was great about my old job is that I could leave work at work most days, and I had a great work-life balance. Doing what I really want to do professionally may mean that I have less of that balance than I have enjoyed the past year, and that means that I need to be even more deliberate about working the dream and goal time into the free time. I will have to make some sacrifices on occasion. But that is okay, because I am coming out of this corner fighting again, and I am willing to do the hard stuff.
Have you ever been through a hard time like this as a writer? What are you doing to realize your dreams in the middle of the rest of your life?
It’s that time of year…
It’s October. The air is getting crisper (and for Dallas, that means under 90), the leaves are turning (and for Dallas, that means dying and falling off the trees), and it’s time to prepare like crazy for writing 50,000 words in 30 days.
NaNoWriMo (otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month) is the 30 days out of the year that I go momentarily insane and decide that even though it’s the start of what always turns out to be the busiest time of year, both personally and professionally, it’s a GREAT idea to write at least 1,667 words per day. This year it’s going to be compounded by the fact that my husband and I are moving into a house in January and we have a LOT of wallpaper stripping and painting to do (and an estate sale to have) as well as an entire apartment to pack. Crazy? Yeah, that’s me.
Writing on a novel can be really hard for me to do every day because, well, I do it every day. A large part of my job involves writing and being creative. I have been feeling creatively numb the last few months and not inspired. I have to be rigid about making myself write regularly and, quite frankly, I have failed miserably.
All this makes it sound like NaNo is a terrible idea for me, but it is actually great. NaNo holds me accountable and makes me re-form my habits of writing every day OUTSIDE the office. NaNo pushes me and challenges me. It can be a chore sometimes, but if I am unmotivated it completely reinvigorates my creativity and my writing. I am looking forward to that.
I am trying to write on an idea that I have been messing with since 2005. Its current incarnation is a YA fantasy. I’ve tried more than once to write it for NaNo and failed–both at getting to 50K and at completing the story. This year will be the year I tackle it head on and make it work. I am really excited about the plot right now because I feel like I have worked out some of the issues that made it not work before.
Another reason I really enjoy NaNo is that it gives me the perfect excuse to hang out with the friends I made LAST NaNo. My husband has a crazy school and work schedule that keeps him out until around 11 every night now, so I need something to do to keep me occupied other than packing and stripping floral wallpaper off my future library room walls.
I will be spending the next 20 days fleshing out the main plot points of my novel and working on an outline. I am not a pantster, though sometimes I play one at work. I write best and easiest when I have a plan in front of me (or at least really, really good notes). I wouldn’t have gotten to 50K the last couple of years without my super detailed outlines. If I discover anything as I write, it is the characters and their personalities. The plot has to be planned out pretty well for me to churn through the required wordcount. I want to be ready to start pounding out words on November 1.
Who else is doing NaNoWriMo? Are you getting ready?
authoress of urban fantasy and paranormal, grammar nerd, serious geek
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