February blogging is focused on writing tips. And I’m back to blogging once a week (thankfully, I have two guest blogs-yea!). If you’ve followed my writing journey in January, I thought it fitting to give you an update especially since I vowed to be accountable to you.
My goals and the deadline.
- Work on my fiction for two hours a day, 6-7 days a week.
- Journal daily.
- Read poetry or prose daily.
- Work on craft twice a week/two hours each session.
- Provide Work In Progress manuscript to beta readers by January 31st.
I used the Strides app to track progress from January 6th, but only added the fiction reading and journaling on January 19th, (I would’ve had to upgrade to add a fourth goal). But I kept a simple checklist on a spreadsheet that I reported to my accountability partners.
How did I do from January 6-February 1?
- I wrote/edited for a minimum two hours every day except for two days.
- Journaled every day except three days.
- Crafted twice a week except missed one session. (I was bummed about missing this session because I am enjoying my crafting exercises. I want to expand this to either three hours a day or three times a week but will see.)
- Read or listened to fiction daily except once. (Finished listening to Beloved by Toni Morrison, listened to most of Persuasion by Jane Austen, beta reading friend’s manuscript, read Kathleen Bailey’s Widow’s Christmas Miracle, and enjoyed poetry.)
Lessons learned:
- Made exception for husband’s birthday. Didn’t get to write as much and skipped the crafting session. But didn’t make exceptions at in-laws during a weekend. I got up really early and wrote and edited.
- Have a better accountability system. This is on me. I reported to two people, and I wasn’t regularly informing them like I needed to be. By the end of January, I was laxer about getting writing in during the allotted time. For February, I’ll put a notification on my phone to report weekly to accountability partners.
- Keep the end in mind. In the beginning, I was zealous about meeting my writing and crafting goals, but toward the end of the month, my purpose for meeting the goals became hazy as I thought, Oh if I miss a day, I’ll get back on the wagon. This was my attitude with crafting. I allowed the urgent to take priority over the important. For February, I’m reminding myself why I’m working on these goals: I want to tell the best story I can. (I wrote this on an index card and placed it on my desk.)
- Stick to my writing schedule. Where I got off course was not taking my schedule to write/edit/craft seriously. I did for the first part of January, but toward the end of the month, I made exceptions the norm. Once I was lax, I wasn’t writing during the allotted time periods for writing and crafting, and either scrambled to make time or didn’t invest as much time. I need to maintain the schedule for discipline and rhythm.
- Be flexible if you don’t meet deadlines. I had set a goal to provide Love at the Mayo manuscript to beta readers by January 31st, but I didn’t meet this goal. I emailed the revised first chapter though. (Thanks Dee Selby, my accountability partner for suggesting this modification.) And I’m setting February 15th as the new goal for providing the manuscript to beta readers. So, if you’re interested in serving as a beta reader for Love at the Mayo, my contemporary woman’s novel, please let me know in the comments.
How about you? What lessons or tips have you discovered as you worked toward your writing goal? Please share in Comments below. Thank you.