2010 WRITING GOALS REVISITED

My life has changed rather disconcertingly since I posted my writing goals for the year in January and for the last three months I've only been writing in fits and starts. Though I did get a nice boost of enthusiasm attending my RWA Chapter's yearly writing retreat in February. Three days of nothing but writing and talking about writing while staying in a house on the beach at the Oregon coast—fantastic! At the end of the weekend, I'd written a few thousand words and thought I'd finalized my writing projects.

Alas, not so. Characters nagged, plots sagged—or worse, became boring—and enthusiasm waned. Between that and Real Life Stuff ™, I felt myself sinking to a new low. I decided to take a few weeks off and give my subconscious time to work on things. Hey, that approach has always worked for me in the past when things were going to hell with or without a handbasket. I don't ignore a problem; I just give it a rest and let it sort itself out in my back-brain, so to speak.

It worked, too. I've got a new plan—a cunning plan—to get me where I want to be (typing "The End") even sooner. Okay, so maybe it isn't so much cunning as it is hard work. But it is a plan! And I think I'll call it a plan from now on, rather than refer to it as a goal. Plan just seems more concrete to me for some reason.

Without further ado...

My Updated Writing Plan for 2010

1. Work on one project at a time and stick with it to the end. Write a minimum of 7150 words per week.
This will get me to a first draft of Project #1 by July 1st.

2. Start second project in July. Write a minimum of 3850 words/week.
Continue working on Project #2 during edits of Project #1.

3. Edit first draft of Project #1 in September.

4. Edit second draft of Project #1 in October.

5. Complete final edit of Project #1 before submitting to Golden Heart.

By the end of the year, my sticking to this plan will accomplish the following:

1. Two finished novels.

2. One novel entered in the Golden Heart.

In all of this, I'm making one huge assumption—that Project #1 will be worth submitting to the Golden Heart. Of course, I won't know until I've written it, will I?