Long Term Writing Goals

Wow! It certainly has been a while. I keep disappearing from my own blog. I wish I had a good excuse, but I have nothing but an apology for not being more consistent in updating here.

My life has changed a bit since I last posted an entry. I quit the awful soul-sucking job that I kept for three years for some reason that is completely beyond me now. I was unemployed for most of the month of October, but got a new job just in time for NaNoWriMo to start. Now I make less money, but I’m much less stressed out by my job.

The new job is kinda-sorta related to writing by way of books. I’m doing data entry at a used book warehouse that has a contract with Amazon. I work the morning shift, which is completely the opposite of what I thought I would like since when left to my own devices I’m very much a night owl, but it’s not bothering me much at all. I get to look at all sorts of interesting books every day, and we can bring home two “trash” books per day. I’ve been doing my best to restrain myself because I know I could easily get out of control and fill the entire apartment with books, but I have brought home a few that caught my eye.

I find writing, and just being active in my hobbies in general much easier now. My mind is in a better place, and while I do still have days that just leave me exhausted it is no longer the norm and I can get things done after work.

This has caused me to think about setting some long term writing goals. I don’t want to pile too much on myself at once, but I think it is time to think about something more extensive than finish NaNoWriMo.

Since it is almost the end of the year I’m going to make my goals all for 2015.

I’ll just try to keep the list from getting too long winded.
-finish two novel drafts
-edit and revise a novel to final draft-form
-go through my incomplete projects lists and see which are worth keeping
-win at least one CampNaNoWriMo session
-learn about self-publishing and get a NaNoWriMo winner free proof copy of my novel

Are long term writing goals something you think about? Do you focus on one year at a time? Several years? Month-by-month? What sort of goals seem to work best for you?

 

Who’s Afraid of Very Cheap Books?

 

This Is The Kind Of Competition Publishers Want

 

Amazon v Hachette: Don’t Believe The Spin

 

My job is not good for my writing

I’ve known for years now that I’m not the sort of person who can work a 9 to 5 job without losing my mind.

My job is second shift. That is one point in its favor. I can stay up late and sleep in, and still get to work on time. That leaves me awake and available to write during my prime writing hours.

On the other hand, my job is not very stable. Granted, I get a fairly steady number of hours, but I have no set schedule. One week I might have every other day off, and other times I might work nine or ten days in a row divided over two pay weeks so no overtime for me. On top of never knowing what days I might have off on any given week I also have no way of knowing what hours I might work. Some days I start in the late morning or lunchtime. Some days I start closer to dinner. I’ve been scheduled for shifts as short as four hours and as long as eleven.

It is almost impossible to have a steady routine for writing with a job like this. For me it is far from the ideal, although I’m sure it would work great for someone else.

I need a job with set days off, and set hours. Mostly I need a job that keeps my bills paid and food in the fridge. It’s a bonus if I love the job, but not really a necessity. I want to have a job that is just a job so I can come home and write.

 

Thinking About Dreams

As I hid in bed this morning pretending I was still asleep so I wouldn’t feel as though I should get up I started to think about dreams. I can’t remember any of my dreams from last night.

I do have some dreams I do remember. Some of them only stick with me for a few hours to a couple days at most, but others have been with me, living in the back of my mind for years.

In college I had a recurring dream where I was informed at the end of the semester that I was enrolled in a class I never attended. I was forced to take the final exam for the class in a last ditch effort not to fail and ruin my GPA. I never knew any of the answers on the final. To this day I never figured out what class it was supposed to be. I always hated that dream.

At the very beginning of my college career I kept having a dream that I was inside my dorm and there were no doors to the outside. On top of that my room was on the 20th floor. I would walk and walk, but I would never get anywhere. That dream always left me confused when I woke up. Then again, I was pretty consistently confused throughout my first month of college.

In high school I had what seemed like a very, very long dreams about being forced to drive people everywhere. I was only about fourteen and too young to even be thinking about getting my permit, but in the dream I was expected to drive just about everyone I knew all over the place for the stupidest reasons. This dream is at least partly to blame for why I still don’t want to drive.

My earliest memory of a dream was a nightmare. I even know the cause. I was three and my dad had let me watch Unsolved Mysteries with him. That night I had a dream that Big Foot came after my whole family. We hid in my play house, but my dog escaped out the window and attacked Big Foot. I won’t go into all the gory detail because it still creeps me out to this day, but the dream ended with all of us dead. I really, really don’t like Big Foot.

It probably says a lot about me that all of the dreams I most easily remember are negative and full of anxiety. The positive dreams never seem to stick with me.

What sort of dreams do you remember? Do you think they have had a significant impact on the way you think about things? Have you ever incorporated your dreams into your writing?

 

The Great E-book Pricing Question

I’m adding this to my list of things I’m throwing at friends and family that think I can upload a word document to Amazon slap a 99 cent price tag on it and quit my job.

 

I’m back

After a rather lengthy, unannounced hiatus I’m back to continue rambling for your amusement.

In case you’ve forgotten who I am (and I don’t blame you!) I’m Blitz and I write fantasy stories. I’m a fountain pen enthusiast with a deep love of tea.

Hopefully I can get back into the habit of posting here, and hopefully I’m not talking to no one.

 

Cabins are Here!

I’ve been assigned a cabin for July’s session of Camp NaNoWriMo. This makes it real in my mind. Camp NaNo is really just around the corner.

I need to get ready.

That might be easier said than done. I have the worst luck when it comes to keeping myself organized and on task while living at home. Other people distract me.

Okay, maybe that isn’t quite fair. I lived with people at college and I was able to stay organized and get my writing done there. My family doesn’t understand that I need to write while I’m in the zone. They’ve never figured out that seeing me writing with headphones on doesn’t mean they should just talk a bit louder about whatever “urgent” task they need me to do.

My priorities are not always going to line up with theirs and I’ve been trying to explain that to them for years now, but of course in the midst of explaining it whatever bit of dialogue or description I was in the middle of writing floats right out of my head.

I’m half temped to make a sign and stick it on my own forehead: Is the house on fire? Is someone dying? Can it wait until later?

It’s not like I won’t take the trash out if that’s what needs to be done. I just might need ten minutes to tie up some loose ends so I can actually jump in where I left off again. Just let me know it needs to be done. Don’t make it into a full-blown conversation. Even better, write a note next to me of the things you’d like me to do once I’m done. Notes work. We already use notes so we know they work for us.

Somehow I think if I suggest this I’ll just end up covered in sticky notes by the end of July…

 

Thoughts on July Camp NaNo

I can hardly believe that Camp NaNoWriMo cabin assignments start tomorrow. I can hardly believe June is more than halfway over. It really feels like just last week the last Camp NaNo session ended.

I feel so unprepared. Although I know I’m going to be a rebel and continue an ongoing project, I feel like I should be doing research, creating characters, and trying to come up with at least a vague premise for a novel. Instead I’m working on the project already, and hoping I can at least get close to wrapping up this book by the end of July.

This story started as an idea back in 2007 and an early version was written during NaNoWriMo 2007. I won that year. The story was very rough, and after some half-hearted attempts at revising the draft I decided it would require a complete overhaul. By the time I was ready to try again the story had expanded into at least three books worth of material. I wrote the first book of this new expanded story for NaNoWriMo 2010 and won again.

The 2010 version was much, much better in my opinion. I’ve reread it since, but I haven’t made any major revisions yet. At this point I’m still waiting to finish the three books I planned before I start going back and making changes. I’ve been working on the second book off and on since 2011.

Right now my goal is to finish the second book before November of this year, and then work on writing the third book for this year’s NaNoWriMo. It’s only a tentative goal, and I’m sure I’ll change my mind on what I’ll actually write for NaNo a dozen times between now and then.