2012 Writing Goals

With the new year upon us, I decided it was time to publish my writing goals for 2012. I decided I need to write much more this year, so my main goal is to get at least 5000 words down on page each week. That will equal 260,000 words for the year when all is said and done. The plan is to work on a few novels (YA speculative fiction still being the main thrust, though I'd like to throw an adult horror story in, as well), write short stories for publication, and publish Friday Flash stories (more on that last one later). I've also made myself a deal when it comes to editing and plotting--each hour I spend doing one or the other counts as 250 words. This way, as long as I'm working on a novel or short story, it'll count towards my goal. I think that this goal will do well to getting me closer to where I want to be as a writer.

In addition, I need to put more focus into marketing and social media. These are weak areas for me. I'm very sporadic on Twitter, only really post goofy stuff for my friends on Facebook, and largely ignore Google+. This needs to change. I will be more of a presence on Twitter, will make more use of my writing account on Facebook, and will actually use Google+ this year. Also, I will be more on top of submitting short stories and query letters, as well as other marketing areas that I'm not very good at. I hate that part of the writing game, but I know it needs to be done. I will also comment on other writers blog posts in an attempt to get my name out there more often (and to show others how much I appreciate the hard work they put into everything, since I know how much time it all takes).

This blog will also benefit from my wanting to be a better all-around writer this year. I need to post more often, and I have some ideas to make this happen. I will continue to publish Speculative Fiction Writing Prompts each Monday (or at least most Mondays). As I said in the first paragraph, I also want to publish Friday Flash stories on, you guessed it, Fridays. I won't do this every week, but my goal in this area is to aim for at least a couple times a month. So if you're a fan of my flash fiction, keep an eye on that coming soon. I also will do my best to post an article on writing every Wednesday. These may be my thoughts on certain writing topics, book reviews on writing books, occasional movie or television show reviews, or any other topic that pertains to writing. I'm not going to promise that there will be one every single Wednesday, but I will post most weeks. I'm also considering posting a review of what I've done, writing-wise, each weekend, be it Saturday or Sunday, and maybe a preview of what I plan to do in the coming week. If I do this, I doubt I'll advertise much about it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or wherever else might be appropriate. That post will be mostly for me to keep myself accountable. Of course, anyone will be free to read it and leave me comments. I always love to see comments on any blog post.

So there you have it: my writing goals for 2012. I'm hoping this will be a breakthrough year for me, as I'm in the middle of an agent search. With the output I hope to produce, there will also be further agent and publication searches down the line. All in all, I hope this is my best writing year yet!

My Writing--July 5 - July 11

The schedule for last week didn't quite work out for me on the novella I was planning to write. I stalled on it and decided to shelve it for some other time. I've decided "pantsing" (writing without an outline) is simply not for me on longer pieces. I can do it with short stories, but I'll continue to create road maps for my works longer than shorts.

Which brings me to my main goal for this week. I'll be setting up an outline for a middle grade novel--my first attempt at one. It'll be aimed for the 8 to 10 year old readers, as it'll take place in fifth grade. I'm anxious to see how I pull it off. I don't want to say too much about it (my silly superstition of not talking too much about a work in progress before it's done (or mostly done), but it'll be a time-travel piece. Not too ambitious, just the main character going back a couple of days and having to dodge his past self while solving a crime. We'll see if I can pull it off.

I'm also hoping to revise a short story, as well as maybe start writing a new one. I'm going to make it my goal for the rest of the year to write a first draft and ready one for market each month. I've been so focused on my novel (which I'll start revising in August) and flash fiction stories for #fridayflash that I've neglected other short stories. I don't see a problem with having one ready for market each month since I have a few first drafts backlogged, but I'm hoping I'll have the discipline to crank out at least six more first drafts before years end.

On to the blog posts:

Monday: Speculative Fiction Writing Prompt #24 will go up, most likely in the morning. I don't have one picked out yet, but whatever it turns out to be, I hope it's helpful to at least one of you out there.

Wednesday: I'll have two short story reviews. I've already picked out the stories, and they're both science fiction this week. One is from an ezine, while the other is from a podcast. I enjoyed both, and I hope you will as well.

Friday: My #fridayflash story still needs a bit of polishing, but it's pretty much ready to go. Last week's story was a contest entry for a zombie romance, and this week's entry will also be a contest entry, this one with the theme of Happy Birthday. It's for Deanna Schrayer's blog, The Other Side of Deanna, and if you're interested, you can see the rules here. Even if I don't win, I think it's a good story, so it should entertain the readers. That's all that matters in the long run.

Sunday: You'll get another of these posts. Excitement! If you read these, bless you. I basically do them for me, to make me keep myself accountable. Didn't work last week with my planned novella, but sometimes we writers need to know when to cut our losses, too.

Until next time, keep reading and/or writing!

My Writing--June 21-27

For this week, Monday, June 21 through Sunday, June 27, my main focus is going to be on my current novel. I'm just about done with the first draft, and I'm hoping to finish this week. My goal for the week is 10,000 words, which should get it done. I'm not going to hurry it, though, so if I find some neat tangent to take my story on, I'll follow it. I'm more worried about writing the 10K words and doing a good job than rushing to finish the story.

I'll also be working on a first draft of a flash story that I plan to use in two weeks for the Fourth of July weekend here in the states--Yes, I know it's the July 4th weekend everywhere, but it's a big deal here. ;-) I'll also be choosing which flash fiction draft I want to clean up for this week's #fridayflash.

As for this here blog, I'm going to be in my new schedule, which I hope I keep for awhile. I may even add more content, but for now, I'm happy with four postings a week.

Blog Schedule:

Monday: Speculative Fiction Writing Prompt #22: This one will likely be a fantasy prompt. Check back at some point tomorrow to find out what it is. I'll either have it up before 9AM Pacific Daylight Time, or sometime in the afternoon (Pacific time).

Wednesday: I'll have the links to two short stories that are currently available to read for free on two different ezines (one might be from a podcast--not sure yet). I won't be doing a review of the stories, per say, but mainly giving a couple of sentences about why I liked the stories. I'll, of course, also be supplying the link so you can check it out, too. Spreading online reading material is my goal here.

Friday: Fridays, of course, are for #fridayflash. As I said earlier, I'm not sure what you'll be seeing from me this week, but I'll do my best to make sure it's a winner. It'll likely be posted on late Thursday night (Pacific time).

Sunday: You'll see another one of these posts about what I'm working on next week.

That's it for this post. You get a tiny glimpse into my writing life with it, and I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time (tomorrow with the writing prompt), keep reading and/or writing!