Goodbye, Spooky Season. I’m sorry I didn’t give you the attention you deserve. I promise I’ll try to do better next year…
October Goals
- Nanowimo prep + research
- Submit Victoria to Neon Hemlock
- Read and/or Workout 30 minutes a day
How'd I Do?
- Nanowimo prep + research
- Yep. A little last minute but, yes.
- Submit Victoria to Neon Hemlock
- Yes! The book is done and gone and I am so relieved about that.
- Read and/or Workout 30 minutes a day
- Yes? I didn’ workout while I had a migraine, but I did listen to an audio book. And I don’t feel like I should punish myself for something as out of my control as my migraine attacks. So, yes.
Total Word Count: 4,839
Well, hot damn! That was a successful month despite work obligations and a killer migraine. I got it all done and even wrote a short story somewhere in there, which I totally was NOT supposed to do.
I also launched a new blog series (Outings!), participated in another Twitter Pitch event, continued short story submissions, kept up on queries, hung out in Portland a bunch to do research… It was a busy ass month, y’all!
Just how busy? Well, let’s take a look!
Hours Check
- Victoria Revision: 9 Hours
- This was a stressful, mad dash 9 hours to get the book done. Have I mentioned how happy I am that it’s over?
- Reading: 24 Hours
- I feel like this is a lot of reading… But I don’t feel like I read that many books? Am I missing something here? Were the books just bigger?
- Willamette Writers Meetings: 8.5 Hours
- My migraine and HoCo Week meant I missed quite a few meetings, unfortunately.
- Website Management: 18 Hours
- Holy moly. That’s a lot of time. This counts blog posts, announcements, back of house organization, and Newsletter prep. This thing’s a bit of a bear to maintain y’all!
- Podcast: 3 Hours
- This should have been doubled, but, y’know, migraine.
- Working Out: 11.5 Hours
- This is a nice number! I’m happy with this!
- Misc. Contract: .5 Hours
- This was the contract for “Bell Biv Derailed” which was a lovely little surprise in my inbox.
- Zombie Story: 6 Hours
- This thing started as a weird, incomplete idea last Spooky Season. But this year it all came together in a whirlwind. I kept very little of the original rough draft, just a couple of killer lines. The majority of the story is brand new and just fell right out of my brain and onto the page. I love it when that happens.
- Research: 6 Hours
- Two visits to the Oregon Historical Society Research Library and six hours later, I’m feeling pretty good about my foundational research. I’ll continuing reading and learning throughout the drafting process.
- Short Story Submissions: .5 Hours
- It’s been a very quiet Fall for submissions so far. Fingers crossed for some good news soon!
- Fanfic: 1 Hour
- I’m not gonna lie, I don’t even remember what project this was on. Glad I made an effort, I guess?
- Queries: .5 Hours
- Querying continues to be painfully slow. I’m doing my damnedest to forget about it until I get news.
- Pitches: 1.5 Hours
- I participated in #PitDark, kinda at the last minute. I slapped together some new pitches, tweaked some pre-existing ones, and went for it. I even got an agent like on one of them, so I’m calling it time well-spent!
Total Hours: 90 Hours (!)
Okay… Even I didn’t expect to see the numbers add up to quite that much. This breaks down to about 22 hours a week in October. That’s a part-time job, during one of the busiest work months of the year. What in the hell is going on here?! Is this the ADHD meds at work? Is this what a somewhat functioning brain can do? Is this my life now?
*crosses fingers and toes* Please, please, PLEASE! Let it be so.
November Goals
- Write 50k words (+/- 5k)
- Workout/Read 30 minutes a day
- Enjoy Family Time
Okay. I’m gonna be painfully honest with you right now. It’s late. I’m tired and spent a big chunk of my evening sitting in 54º degree, rainy weather handing out candy. I spent an hour and a half(ish) plugging a bunch of research and character building into Scrivener, so I at least have SOME sort of framework to begin writing tomorrow.
Have I mentioned I’m tired?
I don’t have a lot of thoughts about this month’s goals other than… do them? This is a pretty straightforward month. Write 50k while reading, working out, and doing my damnedest not to neglect my loved ones in the meantime.
That’s it. That’s the goal. I’ve just made it look fancier by splitting it up into three separate goals!
So, yeah. That’s what I got for November. It’s in my planner. It’s on my whiteboard. I’m as ready as I can get with the time that I have. Tomorrow I jump headfirst into the challenge that is National Novel Writing Month.
Please keep me in your thoughts.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a new issue of Outings! Until then, Bloggos.
BZ
