Friday, August 27, 2010

Lofty Goals and End of Summer

I have been working on a new project (as another one swims through slushpiles) and I'm almost done. Like, so close I can taste it and it tastes a little like cotton candy and funnel cake. ;)

I gave myself a deadline I'd be done in July. Didn't happen. Health complications.

Then had a good long convo with the critmates and specifically my dearest Nichole and we decided that the end of August / end of summer would be a great deadline. Not gonna happen. Why, you ask? Well, firstly, life gets in the way: health/family/kids/school/dayjob. You name it. But also, for me personally anyway, I knew I couldn't finish my wip as it was.

And now, 65K words into a project that I think will end up right around 75k, I am going back to rewrite the whole thing.

Oh, and Nichole and I have committed to finishing our full-on first drafts by September 20-the official "Last Day of Summer." How's that for lofty end of summer goals?

Despite how little time that gives me (about 3 weeks), I know this is possible. Why? #amwriting. It's a hashtag on Twitter that if you use it, you can end up finding lots of other buddies online writing at the same time. While writing is a solitary activity, mostly, I've found I can always count on finding a friend with #amwriting. Nichole and I are usually online together tweeting with it while we write late into the night, but we always inevitably have a few other twittermates come on board to the conversation. It's nice to know you're not alone, even if you're by yourself sitting at your desk typing away. But most of all, it's motivating and that ability to reach out at 1 a.m. for a quick pep talk has been priceless for me! So here I go, into the yonders of rewrites.

Have you got any "I need to do this before summer is really over" sort of goals?

8 comments:

Stephanie McGee said...

Good luck with the rewrite! 75K in 25 days? I've got my fingers crossed for you.

Nicole Zoltack said...

There are several anthologies I want to write short stories for with deadlines before summer is over. Good luck with your rewrite!

Rachel said...

Woot for #amwriting! :)

I've missed you guys heaps! I'm avoiding Twitter like the plague right now though, waiting for my copy of Mockingjay to get here in the darn mail. I'm a huge spoilerphobe. Hopefully in the next couple days I'll be back. I miss #amwriting!

Good luck on rewrites! Awesome goal!

Meadow (@AGypsyLove)

Elana Johnson said...

Go Windy! I am so going to get my outline done by August 31. SO GOING TO.

Michelle D. Argyle said...

Oh, GOOD luck with your goal! I know you can do it. Now I want cotton candy... :)

Angie said...

Good luck, Windy! I hope you make your goal. I've started over with long projects too. It's hard, but the story turned out soooo much better than the first try.

Nichole Giles said...

I called you out, you called me out, and now we HAVE to finish, right? Yeah. Okay. Go us! See you later tonight for #amwriting!

ali cross said...

Yeah! You go girl! I know you can do it! (And no, no lofty goals for me. Not just now, anyway!)