Summer Goals (Not an Oxymoron)

Tip of the Day: My Chautauqua writer friend Juliet Bond blogs with Swagger Writers. Check out her post on Scholastic's gender oriented non-fiction at http://swaggerwriters.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-to-be-really-daring.html.

Hi all! As a writer, guess what I hate to do the most?

Read rejection letters? Okay, that's it. But I mean besides the obvious.

It's outlining. I hate outlining. Yet somehow, I've committed to myself to create FOUR outlines this summer. That sounds crazy even if I liked outlining. Why have I committed to such insanity?

Here's the thing: I have to start a new project. I've had lots of ideas brewing while I finished my last novel, but none I've explored fully. I have 3 promising ideas, and I'd like to write one of them. But I have a misgiving about each idea. The horror idea seems too edgy in a sex and partying way. The science fiction seems too middle grade but I can't see how to make it into a middle grade completely. The weird western also seems too middle grade, too save the world from a bad guy, but that might be the nature of westerns. Western definitely equals research.

So I'm starting out by outlining a novel I would like to rewrite. I think only the beginning third needs a rewrite and the rest just needs to be revised. But I feel like an outline would reassure me that the plot is on track, and also give me practice in writing a good outline. I plan to use Rhonda Helms's outlining method, as she describes to people who take her plotting workshop. Then it's time to write the three outlines for the books that don't exist yet.

If I get tired of outlining (and I will, I will), I'll have the rewrite to distract me, so I can take a break between outlines. And hopefully, by the end of the summer, I'll be able to do one last revision on the novel I just finished revising and send out queries.

And hopefully hopefully, I'll know which new novel to take on. I actually have a fourth idea for a contemporary that may be too quiet, but how many outlines can one person write? And will this work for choosing the next project to spend a year on? I guess I'll keep you updated!

-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages

No Goal? That's Okay Too

Tip of the Day: Think you can't make money at epublishing? Look at this post by Joe Konrath.

I love how everyone is talking about the goals they've set for 2012, even though I don't set goals and I don't make resolutions. Thinking about where you want your career to go is is important. For many people, when they translate those ideas into a specific plan, a goal is formed. I used to makes goals when I was younger, but I gave that up about ten years ago. Don't mistake that for flightiness.

In 2012 I will release at least two more novels. The first is Afterlife, which I am writing right now. This is the sequel to Sleepers. After Afterlife I'll write the third book in The Swarm Trilogy. No specific goal for that either. I know Afterlife will be out by summer. The third novel in the series will be out by winter. I'll have more details as I get closer to release.

I have no daily word count goals. I don't force myself to write every day. Those kind of binding rules don't work for me. I tend to break them more than follow them. Then I get disappointed in myself and my writing. I lived that way for years. Not anymore.

Now I write some words most days. That 'some' could be 500 words, it could be 7,500 (I once wrote 7,500 words in two hours - I may have sprained a thumb). As for 'most,' well, I try to write Monday through Friday. Occasionally on the weekends. Sometimes at night. I fit it in where I need to.

To my odd little brain, goals are too limiting. I know I will have two books out this year. I don't have to set a goal to do it because I already believe I will. I also have a partially-written middle grade fantasy sitting in the wings, begging for attention. Then there's that contemporary YA that's about 25% written. When the time is right, I'll attack those with the same fervor I'm spending on The Swarm Trilogy. Plus, I have a third fantasy trilogy planned.

I don't think I'm bad to the bone, or a ruler breaker, or anything like that because I don't set writing goals. I also don't think being goal-free makes me a poor businesswoman. 2011 proves that I can handle the business side of epublishing too. I've spent the last seven years modifying my day-to-day writing techniques. I'm a well-oiled machine now. I've learned to trust my process and trust myself.

In the past, when I set goals, I was always trying to reach them. Now, I just do. Cheesy as it is, the clip below from Star Wars illustrates my exact approach to life and writing.

Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber

Stuff I Want to Do in 2012

Tip of the Day: Want a chance to win a signed copy of JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS? Follow me on my personal blog and comment to let me know that you're following.

I suck at making goals. I faithfully wrote New Year's resolutions in my journal up until 2011 when I said screw it. Each New Year's Eve I'd look back at the previous year's goals and see that I never completed the majority of them. It just made me mad so I decided no more.

That doesn't mean there isn't stuff I want to do. Like sell another YA book. And finish writing the middle grade I'm working on right now. And then sell that too. That's not too much in a year right? I also want to finish writing this YA that I love, love, love. It's heavily outlined and several chapters are done so I can jump back into it any time. And I started outlining this awesome YA idea. Oh my gosh, it's such a good idea, I'm sure it would make a great book. So I wouldn't mind getting that written too this year. Oh, and I wrote synopsis for the first three books in a middle grade series. So how many books does that bring me to now...6 or 7? Easy peasy! Not. See? This is how I set myself up to fail. There's so much I want to do but I don't know what I'll have the time to accomplish. But I guess it's better to have a lot of projects in queue rather than be struggling to come up with something right?

Ok, so in 2012, my plans are to get a lot of stuff written. I hope you write a lot of stuff too!

Kristina, Miss Author in Action

Goal Control (or I Got To Write a Lot*)

*with apologies to Janet Jackson

Tip of the Day, Librarian Edition: Follow me at @bmlkidsteens for tweets from my librarian persona!

I love the idea of coming up with a key word for the year and using that to focus my goals.

My life word is BREATHE. I sometimes think I forget to use 50% of my lungs. I work out a lot, but am doing more yoga and will continue to do so throughout 2012. Breathing helps to center, calm, and heal and I need to consciously do more of it at a lung-filling level. And release the air sloooowly.

My writing word is PRIORITIZE. As you will see in my month-by-month breakdown below, I want to finish 50 pages of one YA novel (a companion to my ms on agent sub), and a complete first draft of another YA novel (a humorous ghostly idea). I haven't written more than 1 book a year in....years. So if I'm going to do it in '12, I need to prioritize writing over other things, like a) reading, and b) futzing around on the internet. It will be hard bc I really enjoy both of those activities -- and now I have my addicting Nook! -- but I know I can do it if I focus on the satisfaction I'll feel with the end product.

And now, a look ahead:

January-February: Complete 50 pages of YA #1.
March: Get YA #1 to critiquers. Write rough outline for YA #2.
April: Revise YA #1 (50 pages). Start writing first draft of YA #2.
May-December: Complete first draft of YA #2 (about 200 pages).

I will also keep submitting and revising my current YA as requested by agents and/or editors, which may cut into the schedule above, but for now this is what I feel I can forsee/control in the next 12 months.

Thanks for keeping me honest as the year goes on (!!! Please???)

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Trekkin' Along on Track (or Oh God I Have to Rewrite 10 Chapters in 10 Days)

Tip of the Day: I tweet about bookish and library things at @bmlkidsteens if you want to follow me!

I'm here, checking in on my November goal!

Goal recap: To revise my YA WIP and have it ready to sub by Dec. 1.

And as of today, I'm on page 165/206 and feeling totally on track!

It hasn't all been easy. During my lunch breaks at work I tried really hard to get in a solid 45 minutes of revision, but sitting at my desk in a cubicle -- even with my headphones on and personal laptop powered up -- doesn't always keep the coworkers away. I love them and all, but but but...NaNoREMo people! :)

I also got feedback from my wonderful Helper Monkeys critique group...and I learned that, uh, there were some "issues" with the chapters leading up the climax. And the climax itself. And oh yeah, the resolution chaps need some clarity. Oh boy. BUT! I was so inspired by them as well -- they helped me brainstorm "fixes" and I could feel what a better book these changes would make -- so when I sat down to write, the words came easily.

This book is different from anything else I've ever written: It has two 1st-person povs, a speculative story with a thriller feel, and a faster pace with bigger stakes. I'm really excited about this novel and hope my revisions are making it into the story I imagine.

How is everyone doing with their NaNo projects?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

NaNo-WHAT-Mo? (or Writing & Turkey Month!)

Tip of the Day: I'm sure you've picked up the sweet and hilarious JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS this week. But have you also tried Lisa's just tasty MG, SPRINKLES AND SECRETS?

Thanks to the bounties of the internets, most writers are now familiar with NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. I participated in it twice, "won" once (reached a 50,000-word draft), and then in the following years I realized I couldn't always get my projects together so that I was ready to start a new novel in November.

Instead, my CPs and I started coming up with November Writing Goals, which could be drafting a 50,000-word novel a la NaNoWriMo, but it could also be something like "Send picture book ms to 10 editors" or "Revise YA novel." Having the support and cheers and commiseration and check-ins of the Helper Monkeys throughout November is what is more important than the goal itself. No matter how "big" or "small," it is something that each of us seriously wants to complete before the end of the year.

This year I am going to complete my "final" revision of my sci-fi light adventure YA told in dual 1st-person POV -- a first for me that I am loving. And because I know this is my November goal already, I am working even harder on my ms through the end of October to up my odds of "winning" my November challenge. :)

Cheating? Maybe. But the ms will be ready by December 1!

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Visions of Success For 2011 (or "Is This a Vision in My Mind?"*)

*With apologies to Stevie Wonder

Tip of the Day: I read 177 books this year. Want to see my favorite three? Click on my LiveJournal link.

Happy 2011, Readers! Hope your New Year has kicked off right. I'm glad to have survived the shortest day of the year and am happy to be back posting on A2A! It also means that the publishing peeps in NYC are coming back to work!

We're talking about our writerly visions for 2011. Some of you may recall my completely failed and derailed goals from last year. Um, yeah, new approach this year:

1. First, to be literal, I am envisioning myself:

a. writing with excitement and enjoyment every time I sit down in front of Word, and
b. being able to write harder books with new skills (for the YA with alternating time period chaps, and the YA with two first-person povs I've got percolating).

2. I'm visualizing my YA PfF going out into editor world, and I'm hoping that editors will love reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

3. I'd like my labor of love YA, SDT, that I worked on at the Falling Leaves Retreat in November, to reach the point where it's ready for the light of editor world.

(Hey, I can't be Miss Subbing for Pubbing without putting it out there for this (3.) and (2.) above!)

4. I have a vision of preparing two YA book proposals for my agent (the ones alluded to in (1.a.) above).

5. For A2A, I see weeks of fun post, collaboration with my writing peeps, and all new interviews and guest posts -- another great year!

6. I'd like to read 200 books in 2011, but with an impending wedding and honeymoon to plan and attend, I won't be too sad if I don't reach it again this year. :)

Anyone else planning a wedding on top of writing and working this year? ;-)

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Goals Again? (or The Girl Who Cried Goal!)

Tip of the Day: Read a zombie book, like those I have on display at my library, in honor of Halloween!


My regular blog readers probably roll their eyes now every time I post my "goal" for the month. Why? Because inevitably something comes up and said goal must be changed/modified/deleted. I have good intentions, I swear! But sometimes proirities much change.

That said, I have a new goal for the rest of October and all of November! And TOTAL confidence that they are worthy and doable! For real!

For the last few days of October, I will be finishing up PF revisions, then sending them to my fresh reader on Nov. 1. I really want to get this puppy sparkled up so we can sub it soon!

For November, the Helper Monkeys have decided not to do NaNo, but to each do our own November goal. Mine is to complete those SS revisions that I originally said I'd complete this month (the book I'm bringing to the SCBWI revision weekend in 2.5 weeks), and to get PF back to my agent, all pretty and polished up.

Is anyone out there doing NaNoWriMo this year?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

October Action! (or I'll Be Working in the Lab, Late These Nights*)

*With apologies to Bobby "Boris" Pickett



Tip of the Day: If you like social media, check out THE SOCIAL NETWORK movie for an interesting view on Facebook's inception. I enjoyed it!

After about six solid weeks of hard work on PF, I slacked off for about four. Now I'm back in the saddle. It's time to announce some October goals!

1. Make agent revisions to PF.
2. Make CP tweaks to PF.
3. Send PF back to agent.
4. Complete acceptable revision of KSS to bring to the Falling Leaves workshop in November.

I can do it! We gain an hour this month, right?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Goals, Revised (or Crank It Up)

Tip of the Day: Check out Lisa's blog post about her day at the Rochester Teen Book Fest here!

I am moved into my new house.

The weather is warmer and the idea of writing on my new deck is calling to me.

I am still waiting to hear back from editors on my revised MG novel.

I have a writing retreat day with my CPs in a couple weekends.

I had Writer's Group last night with my CPs and am psyched to dive into more WIP revisions.

My WIP is really fun to write -- and I want to know what happens next.

I told my agent I'd have my wip ready for her this summer.

What does all this mean? TIME FOR A NEW WRITING GOAL! And if I write it here, I'll be bound to it (instead of to my New Year's goals that were usurped by, well, life and a different WIP).

I, Deena Lipomi, will have a presentable draft of my YA WIP ready by August 1, 2010.

Hold me to it, folks. Hold me to it.

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Marching On (or Springing Back?)

Tip of the Day: Like zombie books and literary fiction? You must read THE DEAD-TOSSED WAVES by Carrie Ryan!

Is it that time again already? By gum, it is! Time to see how I'm doing on my March goals as written in January:

March -- Complete first draft of SS

Oi. OK, I am so off track from where I thought I'd be -- yet in a good way! Since the end of February, I've been deep in revisions for an editor who requested them. Spot-on revision suggestions that have been improving my middle-grade novel, BAKE, so much.

On top of that, I don't think I'll get back to SS until fall. This spring and summer, after I turn in these BAKE revisions to my agent, I'll be first drafting PforF, a new idea that I got the agent thumbs up on.

So it's all good stuff. And it is interesting to see the direction my writing life is going compared to the way I thought it would be a mere three months ago.

What fun surprises have come up in your writing world this month?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

February Goal Check-in (or How the H3ll is it Almost March Already?)

Tip of the Day: Sometimes it's worth the extra $ to fly direct with no layovers, especially for your third trip of the month.

Here's my Feb 2010 goals check in! Oh man, I'm almost afraid to look....

Goals:
-- Incorporate CP suggestions into my YA, SISTER SECRETS
Um, no. Didn't happen at all. But can I take a second to give myself legitimate excuses? I went to NYC, St. Martin, Chicago, caught up at work in the meantime, and worked on a new book proposal that I pitched to my agent in NYC. Also looked at houses to buy and got engaged. Phew!
But to reimmerge in the world of the relevant, any SISTER SECRETS writing time I planned went to my new book instead.

-- Get 2 more chaps ready for and sent to my CPs of SS
Gong! See above excuses for why this didn't happen. Instead I did get 30 pages ready for Tina and Emily for my Chicago visit with them last weekend.

-- Meet up with Tina, Miss Delighted to Debut, in Chicago, schmooze with kidlitters at the Author Breakfast, and have a blast
Emily ended up coming, too, so I exceeded this goal! Had such a great time at Anderson's Children's Literature Breakfast with 2/3 of the A2A girls. We also had a fantastic brainstorming session with each other on Saturday night and I am rearing to go on my 30 pages-plus to get them in top shape for my agent. I am also excited for Tina and Em's projects as well!

Overall, things have taken a different path writing wise, but they are still progressing.

How is everyone else doing so far in 2010 on their writing goals?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

A New Year is Here!

Tip of the Day: The Dream Big blog series is still going on and continues through January. You can read the entries HERE.

Last year my goals were to work REALLY hard to make CHASING BROOKLYN and IT’S RAINING CUPCAKES the best they could be. I think I did that, and I’m proud of how they turned out. CHASING BROOKLYN has received two wonderful reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal, and I’m getting lots of nice notes from readers, so YAY! The hard work paid off!

I also wanted to stop worrying about things I can’t control, like sales, negative reviews, etc. I said, “I want to write without worrying about it all.” I’m carrying this forward to this year because I’m still working on this. It’s hard! But important. I don’t think I worry as much as I used to, so that’s good. Progress is always good!

My last goal was to go to New York to meet my publishing peeps. That didn’t happen, I went to ALA in Chicago instead, and I’m happy I went. I met Tina there! This year, New York is going to happen, and I’m so excited!

Writing wise, last year I spent a good chunk of time writing a book different than anything else I’ve ever written. I wrote it for me, and I had fun. We’ll see if it sells in the coming weeks, but if not, I needed that time to write something fun, and I’m glad I did it!
So, new goals?

It’s a new year, and a new opportunity to grow as a writer. I’ve taken the leap and today is my last day at the day job. My only job now will be author!! I’m excited and nervous and a hundred other things, but more than anything, I want to enjoy this time in my life. I don’t know how long it will last, but while it’s here, I want to wake up every day and appreciate all that comes with it. It’s an incredible thing, to be an author for kids and teens, and I feel so incredibly blessed.

One thing I really need to do is figure out school visits. How to do them, how to market myself to do them, and get some scheduled for next school year, hopefully.

Other than that, I think it comes down to what I often sign in my books.

Read. Write. Dream.

Yep. That pretty much covers it.

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career

2010 Writing Goals!

Tip of the Day: If you’re near Winnetka, IL, I’m on a YA Panel with Bev Pratt and Julie Halpern this Saturday the 16^th at 3pm at The Bookstall. Come see me! Details here.

I do this thing every year in my personal journal where I rewrite my resolutions from the year before and comment on how I did before making the new year’s resolutions. Since I made writing resolutions on A2A last year I’m going to see how I did with those.

Goal 1: Celebrate my book coming out. Oh yeah. I totally did that. Such fun!

Goal 2: Work on all that marketing stuff that goes along with a book release. Um, pretty good I must say. I still owe some interviews out there but I’m getting to them. :)

Goal 3: Edit Book 2. I kinda rocked this one. I wrote book two in just a few months (too lazy to go look up exactly how long) and finished edits and now it is happily off somewhere in copyedit-land.

Goal 4: Be faster with my critiques for my wonderful critique partners! Oh wow, I was BRILLIANT with this one. Ok, no I wasn’t. Maybe a smidge better. Will keep working on it!

Goal 5: Read tons more YA (I already do, but even more) and buy lots of books to support fellow authors this year. Yep!

Goal 6: Finish the Middle Grade proposal I'm currently working on and complete two more YA proposals I've been thinking about. Yeah. Finished this way early in the year. In fact, that MG proposal is the book coming out 9/1/10.

Goal 7: Write at least one full YA book. I wrote two and the first few chaps and outline of a third. Go me, go me, go me.

Goal 8: Sell more books. No. But I did sell Japanese rights to The Espressologist at Thanksgiving. Does that count?

---

So I didn’t do too shabby on the writing front as far as goals. Now on to this year’s:

Goal 1: Sell another book. DONE! Read here for details. :)

Goal 2: Keep up with book signings and school visits and interviews as best I can. Get ready to promote next book.

Goal 3: Visit with some of my CPs. DONE! Deena and Emily are visiting next month for the Anderson’s Children’s Literature breakfast.

*Pause* I kinda feel like I’m cheating since I keep listing things already planned. I better come up with new stuff.

Goal 4: Revise books I haven’t sold yet. That’s one MG and two YAs. I love them SO much so I must figure out what will make then extra sparkly to sell them.

Goal 5: Come up with the next most wonderful bestest book idea ever and write that book. I’m thinking Twilight meets Harry Potter meets High School Musical meets The Office. Ok, I’m totally kidding on that last part. But I do want to write at least one new book this year and I have no idea what that will be.

Ok, that’s enough writing goals. I’ve been trying to catch up on personal goals this year and have been spending a ton of time at the gym (OMG, I LOVE spin class!) so it’s eating into my writing time. Oh, that would be a good goal—

Goal 6: Work on balancing everything.

Happy 2010!

Kristina, Miss Delighted to Debut

It's a New Year, Baby!

Tip of the Day: writing goals don’t have to be your enemy.

Looking over last year’s writing goals left me in a bad mood. They were a complete failure. Wanting to binge out on the couch eating a gallon of Moose Tracks ice cream kind of failure.

Not one thing I accomplished, even the things I could control. And considering failure is one of my biggest fears, that’s not easy for me to admit.

But the only thing I can do is pick myself back up, slap on some make-up, and make some new goals. Unlike Kate, I do like making goals (or rather objectives of things I’d like to accomplish in the year). I’m not incredibly strict about them, but having some sort of guideline of things I’d like to accomplish (such as write so many words in so many days) helps keep me challenging myself and pushing myself further.

So goals I’d like to accomplish this year (which you may note is vaguely familiar to last year):

• Get an agent
• Get a book deal
  

And the ways I’m going to make this happen (i.e. the things I can control):

• Continue to push myself to learn my craft. I’m starting this off with a bang by going to the Winter SCBWI conference at the end of this month and I’m super excited to not only learn more about writing, but to get excited about writing again.
• Finish and polish at least one of my books this year.
• Then send that polished book off to as many agents as I can.
• Set a goal each month throughout the year of things I want to accomplish in that month.
  

My theme for this year is GROWTH. I want to grow as a writer and as a person. If by pushing to grow and blossom, something happens for me in my writing career it will feel great. If it doesn’t than knowing I accomplished any growth at all with be a resounding success for the year.

Happy Growth to all of you!!

--Emily, Miss Querylicious