2016 Year-in-Review and 2017 Goals

Here we are with my 2016 Year-in-Review and 2017 Goals. This year FLEW by, and I had a lot of health stuff crop up, so things did not go as smoothly, and some things had to be put on the back burner. All in all, I think I did pretty damn well considering. I wrote around 130,000 words for the year, which is excellent. I did a lot of editing and revising, and that’s not counted in the total.

The two major accomplishments for this year were submitting Pirouette/Death Dancer to a publisher and one agent. I got frustrated by the process, and realized that my ability to meet deadlines due to my health is compromised, and besides that, I like having control over things, so I decided to stop trying with traditional publishing and try to publish Pirouette independently. That’s not to say I’m done with traditional publishing; it just means that Pirouette will probably at some point be a Turtleduck Press release.

The second one is Ever Touched. I finished it and submitted it to my editor by my deadline of December 1st. Due to life craziness and a computer in the shop for 11 days, it was a struggle, but I’m glad to say that I made it. I’ve already received my edits back, and have started the 2nd round.

Also, Turtleduck Press published To Rule the Stars, an anthology of space princess stories. My story, Bound, is part of it (and a sneak peek of Ever Touched!). Check it out here.

What about everything else?

~Release one novel – <–DONE, technically. I released Reaper Girl as a perk of signing up for my newsletter. I am working on releasing it everywhere.
~Finish and release Fireborn <–NOT DONE. I am close, though. I was never able to get it done to my satisfaction. It’s my #1 goal in 2017 after Ever Touched edits are done.
~Finish Pirouette revision and submit to publisher. If rejected, make a ruling as to what to do with it (trad or indie)<–DONE. Was rejected by both publisher and agent. Have decided to publish it with TDP.
~Begin Flamebound rewrite <–NOT DONE. Would love to do something with it in 2017.
~Begin Survivor rewrite <–NOT DONE. Definitely going to be a project for 2017. I am DYING to get this one out there.
~Make progress on Awaken Me <–NOT DONE, unless thinking about it counts!
~Finish Ever Touched <–DONE and turned in on time. Slated for May 2017 release.
~Get back into darkroom <–DONE. Processed a test roll of film, but have not been able to do any printing. And b/c of my skin issues, it’s not looking likely for awhile. 😦 
~Try not to stress so much <–NOT DONE. LOL. It feels like all I did was stress out about things.
~Experiment with plotting techniques <–DONE! “Plotting from the Middle” and Monica Leonelle’s techniques.
~Finish up Changeling serial <–DONE! And as of Feb. 1st, I am starting a new one in the Fey Touched world.
~Get back on diet/eat healthy/exercise<–KINDA SORTA. I’ve been trying to get better with exercise, but a sprained knee screwed me up. Likewise with the diet. Been trying, but have been losing and gaining the SAME FIVE POUNDS. Ugh.
~My word for this year is NURTURE: nurture myself, nurture my creativity, nurture my dreams.

So, all in all, not too shabby. Here are my goals for 2017:

~Release 1 book (besides Ever Touched)
~Publish Ever Touched (set for May release)
~Start revision of Pirouette/Death Dancer
~Finish Covenant
~Start Elysium
~Finish and release Fireborn
~Outline book #1 in Fey Touched spin-off series
~Get on a consistent, simple exercise plan and STICK WITH IT
~Eat healthier/Gluten-free
~Get back into darkroom when hands are better
~Add in a second writing session twice a week (8 minutes)
~Try to write more short fiction
~Continue with FYFB class (so behind right now!)
~Start working on Survivor Rewrite outline again

I think that’s enough for now. What are your goals for 2017?

#ROW80 Check-in June 5th – I returneth

It’s been a CRAZY couple of weeks. Hubby and I went camping last weekend, then we had the holiday, then a bunch of other things happened, and here I am. 🙂

I’m finished with my query letter. Now, I just need to find the courage to actually, you know, send the dang thing. I still need to work on my synopsis for one agent. I have a 3-page one, but she wants a one-pager, so that’s still got to happen soonish.

I finished Changeling 5 and sent it off for approvals.

I have a longish short story to write for Turtleduck Press. That’s all I’m saying about that. 😉 So that’s been the priority. Deadline is July 15th.

Here’s the rundown:

Covenant – Nada.

Water – Mostly every day. Missed a few days here and there.

Exercise – Got lots of it last weekend and last week (2x). This week’s been slow. I did get on the bike yesterday though.

Elysium – Finished the outline! Yay!

Darkroom – Tentatively planning on getting in there next weekend.

Ever Touched – Outlined the ending. Now trying to find the time to work on it. Wrist is still slightly wonky, so I’ve been watching my wordcounts. Hopefully I can do something with it soon. It’s so close to being done!

Chocolate consumption: Ye Gods. Lots of those chocolate sandwich thingies, chocolate caramel thingies, Twix bars…yeah, lots of chocolate. No s’mores at camping because rain. Boo. But we can still make them at home, which we have done on occasion. 🙂

#ROW80 Check-in May 22nd

This week I’ve been mostly working on my query letter. It’s coming along. I hope to have it finished very soon.

I started Changeling 5 and have been working on that as well. I don’t think I even touched Ever Touched, which sucks because I need to keep moving on it. But Changeling 5 is due for approvals on June 1st, and I need time to revise, so that was the priority.

Here’s the rundown:

Covenant – Nada

Water – Every day but 2.

Exercise – 3 times, all walks.

Elysium – Another nada. 😦

Darkroom – Nada. Trying to figure out what a good day would be for printing. Still fighting exhaustion, so I honestly don’t know when it will be. Hopefully soon. I may shoot more b&w on our camping trip this coming weekend if I can fit all my equipment into one bag. We shall see. 😉

I’ve also been thinking a lot about Survivor, and I am considering starting that as my new main project after Ever Touched and the Fireborn revision. It’s going to be a huge challenge, but I absolutely love the story and NEED to get it out there. The first step is rewriting it.

Chocolate consumption: WW sundaes, WW chocolate caramel things, ice cream Twix bars, and a new thing, Skinny Cow brand chocolate ice cream sandwiches. But it’s not the normal sandwich. There’s chocolate ice cream sandwiched between two thin layers of chocolate cake and then covered in chocolate. OMG I thought I was in heaven last night when I tried one! (I am craving another RIGHT NOW.)

So that’s it for me. How are you doing?

#ROW80 Check-in #5

Here we are again with a ROW80 check-in.

~I’ve been drinking water pretty much every day, so that’s a win!
~I’ve finished the Changeling 4 revision
~I’ve read over Fireborn and am planning how to end it. That’s the first priority.
~I have a deadline for Ever Touched, so after Fireborn is done, I’ll be working on that.
~I haven’t started the 8-min writing thing yet. For the past few days, my attention hasn’t been there. I think I’m still a bit worn out after revising and submitting Pirouette/Death Dancer. Will try to start this week. I am thinking of working on Covenant, since it’s already in progress and I know the basic plot and I want to finish it ASAP to publish.
~Would like to re-institute Survivor Sundays
~Did my 15 minutes of physical activity twice this week
~No darkroom. I’ve had a serious lack of time. Maybe next weekend.

So things are happening. I just need to get back into the swing again. Things tend to derail or mess with my momentum, and I’d like to figure out a way to keep that from happening.

How have you done on your goals this week?

#ROW80 Check-in #4

Feeling so much better than I did last check-in. I’ve been drinking a glass of water a day every day so far (with one exception) and it seems to be helping. It seems that once I start drinking it, I’m good. Only drinking one glass for now. Because I have bladder issues, I don’t want to go overboard.

The awesome fantastic wonderful super news is that I not only finished my synopsis to my satisfaction, but I submitted the whole thing on Monday. And now I am chewing my fingernails off. I don’t think I’ll hear from them really soon (unless they are rejecting me) but who knows? Gah, I hate waiting.

I also more or less finished the Changeling 4 revision. I decided that the ending did work, and it will provide a hook for part 5. It will end with part 5, though. I sort of semi have that figured out.

(Also toying with the idea of an online serial novel. Thoughts?)

So now that the submission’s finished, I will turn my attention to Fireborn and writing 8 minutes of new material per day. May end up being Flamebound, a paranormal romance novella I wrote waaaaaaay back in 2008 for Harlesquin’s Nocturne Bites line, but it never quite got to the point where I felt confident in submitting. I took it through Holly Lisle’s awesome How to Revise Your Novel class and have been chipping away at it ever since. When I set up my short work priority list for this year (I also have a novel priority list as well), I decided that 50-60k would be perfect for my new goal of getting shorter works up for sale (and could kick off a series). So, that may be my 8-minute writing project, maybe.

On the physical activity front, I’ve done 15 minutes of activity. I’ve fallen a bit down off of it due to lack of motivation. It’s cold outside, I was forced to spend a lot of time here revising/editing/synopsis-izing, I was tired, etc etc etc. I need to get more time in and pronto. If I feel up to it, I may clean a portion of my darkroom as one 15 minute thing this weekend, and it will help me get closer to having it ready to reopen.

Annnd that’s it for now. 🙂

 

 

#ROW80 Check-in #3

It’s been a rough few days for me. I spent most of Wednesday night in the ER thinking I had appendicitis when I actually was severely dehydrated. That was a wake up call. I’m not a fan of plain water, but it looks like I will need to start drinking it. So I’ve been trying to add it into my daily routine. We’ll see how that goes.

I have finished the submission to the publisher – synopsis and first 3 chapters. I am waiting for a bit to see if there’s any other feedback on the most recent version of the synopsis I posted to the forum. I still have almost another week. I am not waiting till the last minute though. They are in the UK and go by BST, and I have no idea how that converts to our time, and I don’t want to miss it. So mid-week or so I’ll submit.

Next up is Changeling 4 revision. I’m wibbling a bit on the ending. I think I need another installment to wrap things up. So I need to leave a few things ambiguous. I’m pretty sure I know how it ends, though, so that’s progress.

What else? I’m giving some thought to what’s coming next. Fireborn, for sure. Getting my freebie set up with Mailchimp so I can get more subscribers to my newsletter. A Facebook ad for it, too.

After that…not really sure. Probably Covenant and Ever Touched. Something for my 8-minutes a day thing(if different). Survivor Sundays for sure.

That’s about it. 🙂

#ROW80 Check-in #1

It’s been a busy two weeks, and this is the first time I’ve been able to sit down and do a proper ROW80 post. I got a bit sidetracked by my first freelance editing job of the year, which was great. I sent it back yesterday. I had a few issues with Open Office which could have delayed things. My comments were turning into gibberish. I still have no idea what happened, but I need to figure out what happened so it doesn’t happen again.

So, I was able to finish the first pass of the revision before the job came through, but noticed a few plot holes and discrepancies that needed to be addressed, so I’m doing a second pass just for that. And then editing/proofing, but only the first 10k so I can get the submission done. I will continue to edit/proof the rest while I’m biting my nails off waiting for a response. 😉

I am on page 35 of the second pass.

I’ve done 3x of physical activity last week, and tonight I’ll be doing another.

I finished the first draft of Changeling part 4 which I see I didn’t put in as a goal. Oops. Anyhoo, that’s due to my TDP folks on 2/1. Just need to revise it.

Logging in to the planner has been working pretty well. However, I’m still not quite in the mode and have to remind myself to do it. But it is helping me narrow down things for when I’m home and have only so much time.

Annnd that’s really it for now. How are you doing with your goals?

 

2015 Year-in-Review and 2016 Goals

Happy New Year!

I’ve been doing this for at least 5 years now, maybe more, because it helps to take stock of what I’ve accomplished (and what I haven’t) and it also helps me to set concrete goals for the new year. So, here we go!

This year’s goals:

~Publish Grave Touched, pending approval, in May (tentative) – DONE! Grave Touched was published May 1st, after a 2-year hiatus. It was my biggest accomplishment in 2015, hands down!
~Write Fireborn, Reaper Girl novella – MOSTLY DONE. I started Fireborn in January, but got tied up with GT’s release and lost momentum. Started it back up after, and ran into some problems, and had to rewrite a portion of it. It’s at 19k currently, with maybe 5-10k left to go. I am hoping to finish it and release it this year.
~Figure out a plot for Ever Touched – DONE
~Start writing Ever Touched – DONE for NanowriMo, and it’s at 32k currently.
~Poke at Survivor (my book, not the TV show) on Sundays – DONE. Poking has happened, as well as a revised outline. Have not started the rewrite, but plan to this year.
~Start rewrite of Flamebound – NOT DONE, but planned for this year.
~Write 1 poem per week minimum – NOT DONE, but wrote 10 poems over the course of the year.
~Do something with darkroom – DONE. Began cleaning and replenishing chemicals.  Shot a test roll of b&w film that I will be developing soon. Also got my 35mm automatic camera working again so I can continue shooting more b&w. Also planning on shooting b&w infrared.

So, all in all, I didn’t do too badly. Other notable accomplishments:

~Started a new novel, Covenant, which is up to 13k currently
~Wrote and posted the second and third installments of my fantasy serial, Changeling, at Turtleduck Press
~Got Reaper Girl ready for publication
~Wrote around 100k for the year
~Made concrete plans for more novellas
~Began the revision of Pirouette for a publisher. Pirouette has been languishing for 4 years because I didn’t know what to do with it

Non-writing accomplishments:

~Diagnosis of trigeminal neuralgia + meds which is improving my quality of life greatly
~Obtained a digital-converted-DSLR and began experimenting with digital infrared
~Began reviving my darkroom and have plans to start working in it this year.
~Revived my editing business and have landed several jobs

So what are my goals for 2016?

~Release one novel
~Finish and release Fireborn
~Finish Pirouette revision and submit to publisher. If rejected, make a ruling as to what to do with it (trad or indie)
~Begin Flamebound rewrite
~Begin Survivor rewrite
~Make progress on Awaken Me
~Finish Ever Touched
~Get back into darkroom
~Try not to stress so much
~Experiment with plotting techniques
~Finish up Changeling serial
~Get back on diet/eat healthy/exercise
~My word for this year is NURTURE: nurture myself, nurture my creativity, nurture my dreams.

Annnd I believe that’s enough.  I have a good feeling about this year, and I hope to get lots done and take care of myself better. 🙂

What are your goals for this year?

 

 

#ROW80 Check-in 11/29/15

I am finally able to do a proper #ROW80 post! I was busy with Thanksgiving prep, then Thanksgiving! I had a 4-day weekend from work which has gone by so fast! I go back tomorrow and I am NOT looking forward to it!

I also got all of my Christmas shopping done. 🙂

As for NanoWriMo, I am up to 31,548 words, which means I made my goal of 30k! YAY! And, early, no less! Yesterday I had a migraine/TN pain combo which put me in bed early (like, waaay early!) and on Friday I went Christmas shopping which was exhausting, so here we are. On Thanksgiving I took a break — and I was too busy to really think about writing, honestly.

So I made it. I also revised Changeling 3 for posting on Tuesday, finally!

On Tuesday I am also starting the revision for Pirouette for submission to the publisher I mentioned a few weeks back. I was hoping to start this weekend, but it wasn’t in the cards. I still need to think about the first scene, anyway — I want to present my MC using her forbidden magic, but I have rewritten this scene several times and it’s just not working for me. It’s been said that you start a novel when the MC’s life is about to change irrevocably — which is what I did. But I can’t put my finger on why it’s not working. So, 2 days to think about it.

Stats!
Words written: 31,548
Words remaining: 0
Word wars: 11
Word wars with myself: 5
Chapters written: n/a, as I stopped doing chapter divisions
What’s happening: Brianna is in over her head
What’s next: Something?
Feeling: Not bad!

Chocolate consumption: It’s more like pie consumption this week! We had a grand total of 5 pies for Thanksgiving, and none of them were chocolate. I think my favorites were (homemade) pecan and caramel apple! Been sneaking some WW chocolate caramel thingies. I also need to get back onto the program. But, leftovers!

#ROW80 Check-in 8/19/15

ROW80, here we are again!

I have to admit, I’ve made almost no progress on any writing so far this week. Real Life is conspiring against me!

Today I managed 526 words of Changeling 3, which I am proud of! It’s finally moving again! I’m hoping to get the rough draft done before freelance editing job #2 lands in my inbox. I started it in the middle, then moved to the beginning. Next it’ll be finishing the middle and adding the ending. I usually don’t work that way, but for some reason I had a mental block about where to start, and I did know the middle, so I went with it. I wonder if that would work for novels, When the Stars Fall in particular (it’s still trying to become fanfic. I don’t know).

I’m still having vertigo which is not good, and a bit scary. I had one last night in the shower. My mom had one of those railings put in when she had the bathroom renovated and thank God for that! I hate being unsteady, but having the rail there is helpful and I feel safer. (Hard to imagine not feeling safe in the shower…)

As for everything else…not much happening. I just hasn’t gotten back into the groove, and I hope to soon!

Maybe working on several projects isn’t working. I’m not sure. For now, I’ll keep with it, make a decision later.

Chocolate consumption: Some. Last night I had a few mini Kit Kats (I LOVE those!) and today I had a WW Sundae.One goal for next round will be an actual plan for dieting. I really, really need to lose get some weight off and I’ve been tap-dancing around actually dieting and well…it’s overdue. Why can’t the good stuff have NO calories? It’s crazy.

Some eye pain due to a storm front. I did take a loopy pill this time. But I haven’t taken one since vacation, so I call it good. Hopefully tomorrow the front will be gone and I’ll feel better.

I feel like this is a bit of a downer post, so I apologize. Usually I’m bursting with things to say! Today I’m a bit quiet, and I think it’s okay. Sometimes we need quiet, you know?

How did you do?