Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Sharing my goals

I had a writing vacation and now I am back! I don't feel any less blocked so no more breaks. They don't work for me. Everyone works differently-- I am very goal-oriented and I need small milestones to keep me motivated and productive.

I believe that goals are easier to keep if you announce them. I am giving up TV until I have completed though to the end of the third draft. If I ever feel like watching TV I will either read a book or will go write :)

I have mini-chapters. They run between 800 and 1600 words. The chapter numbers aren't as much my goal as the word count. This is pretty mutable, but here is the basic idea.

Does anyone else out there have any specific goals? How do you motivate yourself to work on your book?


My plan:
Draft 0: Outline (Done)
Draft 1: Plot and basic description
Draft 2: Make it good enough to share
[Send to CPs in batches]
Draft 3: Take input and fix issues
[Send whole thing to CPs and Beta Readers]
Draft 3.5: While CPs and Beta Readers are doing their thing work on technique, description and setting
Draft 4: Final Draft
[Send queries to agents]

Total means total word count to the end of the section--lower drafts that are downstream from the section don't count into the totals.


Done: Chapters 1-22 (Draft 1) Total: 20k
Done: Chapters 1-5 8k (Draft 2) Total: 8k
Sunday Dec 7: Chapters 6-15 (Draft 2) total: 20k (5k in this section)
Sunday Dec 21: Chapters 11-15 (Draft 2) total: 20k (7K in this section)
Sunday Dec 28: Chapters 16-21 (Draft 2) total: 28k (8k in this section)
Sunday Jan 4: Chapters 22-25 (Draft 1) total: 33k (5k in this section)
Sunday Jan 11: Chapters 26-30 (Draft 1) total: 38k (5k in this section)
Sunday Jan 25: Chapters 31-35 (Draft 1) total: 44k (6k in this section)
Sunday Feb 1: Chapters 22-25 (Draft 2) total: 36k (8k in this section)
Sunday Feb 8: Chapters 26-35 (Draft 2) total: 50k (14k in this section)
*Sunday Feb 22: Chapters 1-21 Draft 3 (need draft 2 reviews for these chapters on or before Feb 1)*
Sunday Mar 1: Chapters 36-41 (Draft 1) total: 56k (6k in this section)
Sunday Mar 8: Chapters 42-49 (Draft 1) total: 63k (7k in this section)
Sunday Mar 15: Chapters 50-56 (Draft 1) total: 70k (7k in this section)
Sunday Mar 22: Chapters 57-61 (Draft 1) total: 75k (5k in this section)
Sunday Apr 5: Chapters 62-65 (Draft 1) total: 80k (5k in this section)
*Sunday Apr 19: Chapters 22-35 (Draft 3) (need draft 2 reviews for these chapters on or before Mar 22)*
Sunday Apr 26: Chapters 36-50 (Draft 2) total: 60k (10k in this section)
Sunday May 3: Chapters 51-56 (Draft 2) total: 70k (10k in this section)
Sunday May 17: Chapters 57-61 (Draft 1) total: 78k (8k in this section)
Sunday May 24: Chapters 62-65 (Draft 1) total: 86k (8k in this section)
Sunday May 31: Chapters 66-72 (Draft 1) total: 93k (7k in this section)
Sunday Jun 7: Chapters 73-end (Draft 1) total: 100k
Sunday Jun 14: Chapters 57-65 (Draft 2) total: 90k (20k in this section)
Sunday Jun 21: Chapters 66-end (Draft 2) total: 105k (15k in this section)
*Sunday July 5: Chapters 36-56 (Draft 3) (need draft 2 reviews for these chapters on or before Jun 14)*
*Sunday July 12: Chapters 57-end (Draft 3) (need draft 2 reviews for these chapters on or before July 5)*
Sunday July 2: Deliver full draft 3 to beta readers (and CPs, if they want)

Send out to Beta Readers and focus on technique over next month. (work on draft 3.5)

August 1st: Start querying agents

{{Note, this was updated Dec 9th, 2008}}

7 tidbits:

KarmaLennon said...

Wow. this is awesome. And impressive. I set goals for myself too like right now I'm doing the second revision of my first novel but I don't have a date I need to finish it by. I should probably have one of those....LOL.

Lauren said...

It isn't awesome, it's just what I have to do in order to get anything done! Without due dates I don't do anything. I've been working on my novel for about a year and I'm only 25kish words in...and that's if I round up. :-/

That's awesome that you are starting on your second revision!

Spy Scribbler said...

That's awesome. I keep postponing my plan until I "clear the decks." But I need to plan now, while I'm behind.

My goal is to write one 50K novella and one proposal every month. That's a tall order and I'm not sure I can do it, but it's my goal.

KarmaLennon said...

Don't lose heart cause of the time. I wrote my first draft in 8 months but that was also about 6 months ago. By the time I get done, it will probably have taken me like two years.

I am excited about the revision. I have lots of new ideas for it! :)

Rachel Burton said...

Wow - you are one organized woman! I should write everything out like that; it would probably be inspiring!

Andrea Coulter said...

Haha I love this, it's the kind of schedule-making I do (though I usually get off track pretty quick!)
My only suggestion might be to get input and feedback sooner, like as soon as you have five or ten chapters in more or less the shape you want them. Then if any major plot/character changes need to be made you'll catch the problem early on and save a ton of time. Good luck!

Lauren said...

Thanks everyone for your comments about my goals :)

So it's the first day of my goals and I was only able to get chapters 6-10 done rather than 6-15 like I was going for. I might have to revisit this :-P

That being said, without the goals I probably wouldn't be at the point to hand stuff over to my CPs today.

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