Setting Writing Goals: May 2017
Hey, writer, how’s it going?
Did you write in May?
I hope you did. I hope you scheduled time to write and followed through with your promise to your art.
I did a lot of soul searching, teaching, and writing. This month, I focused on working on my novel, The Divantinum Project: Wastling and teaching my workshop Anthropology, Archaeology, & Romance.
At the end of each month, I do a recap to see what I did the previous month and what I want to work on next month to move my writing career forward. Let’s look at what I did in May and what I can improve on for next month.
What really happened in May:
I didn’t write every day [shocker!], but I did hit four of my six mini goals!
I finished The Artist’s Way. I’m tenacious and as usual wasn’t going to quit until I finished what I started, and now I can say I’ve had a few insights in the last two months.
I taught my Anthropology, Archaeology, and Romance workshop. I was really excited about this because of the way I set it up – it wasn’t just a writing workshop – it was a deep-dive into science and writing and a fusion of the ideas.
I wrote two + blog entries every week. It’s habit now – and I’ve been looking for ways to level up my craft. Each week, I pick a topic and learn about it, and then I apply it to my work.
I published several reviews.
I sent out 20 pitches.
0 guest posts – mostly because I was focused on writing.
I looked for a teaching position and compiled a list of potential jobs that I’m applying to.
I networked with writers and readers. I could have done more here and want to over the next few months.
I invited writers to my blog and to share my writing life.
My Blog Posts
3-step Grocery Shopping with $50 in the Bank
Capturing Character: J. K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy
Coffee Talk and Writer Secrets
Emily’s Ghost: William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily.”
Exploring the Fantastic in Robert Kirk’s The Secret Commonwealth
From the Files: Organizing Your Home Office
Happy Mother’s Day – to Share with Moms
How to Read Like a Book Dragon: a Reader’s Manifesto
Literary Appropriation in Jorge Luis Borges’s Labyrinths
Makings of a Madwoman: Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea
Mortal Danger: Elizabeth Moon’s Trading in Danger
My Top 11 Favorite Anthropology Topics for Writers
On the Darkest Hours: When You Think of Giving Up Writing
Particularities in Nicolai V. Gogol’s The Overcoat and Other Tales of Good and Evil
Review of Brandy L. River’s Sleepwalker
Review of Not Your Mother’s Food Storage by Kathy Bray and Jan Barker
Specific Details and Word Choices: William Gibson’s Neuromancer
Storytelling Magic: Mary Mackey’s The Year the Horses Came
Talk-Story and Ghost Words: The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
Guest Bloggers
Athena Grayson | Writing Business Mistakes, or Learn From My Fail
Therese Martin | A Relatively Painless Research Strategy
Brandy L Rivers | Interconnecting Stories
The Recap
The lowest low
So many pitches. I’ve learned a few techniques to deal with these feelings, how to focus, and how to do everything I can on my end, and then realize that when I send something out into the universe, it may or may not come back to me. All I can do is all I can do.
The highest high
Finishing the FF&P Workshop. I met so many writers who have the passion and love for it that I do. It was my honor to teach them. If I won a few over to the idea that anthropology can be used in fiction, I’ve done my job [and it can, even if your character isn’t Indiana Jones or Lara Croft].
So. June.
I’ve got a three-day MPS [monthly planning session] for next month! Will post on my goals next week.
Until then: keep dreaming, reading, writing, and playing.
Write on,
Darlene
If you’ve enjoyed this and other blog entries, you can follow it here! Keep up-to-date on other writing happenings too! Coming soon – an online RPG writer’s course.
And if you or anyone you know needs a writer, please keep me in mind. I’m available for new projects now!
I especially liked your “lowest low” and “highest high” features – I think it’s really good to look back and pick out the best and the worst, so that you can keep perspective and not get lost in a day-to-day routine. Nice, Dar!
Hey, Theresa! Thanks for commenting – glad you like it! I love doing the highest high and lowest low – because it totally makes you contemplate everything, not just the ups! It also lets you think about what you can do to improve yourself in the future – and you know I love that! 🙂
It’s nice to have that perspective.
🙂