Monthly Goals

Bootcamp Bubble July 2020

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It’s been some time since I’ve posted. I have no excuses, not real ones. I could blame the virus, but then it’s here to stay for some time and we’ve been on lockdown since March so I can’t use that.

So instead I’m going to become one of my female characters who needs to get herself into training to slaughter the monster of procrastination and prioritisation. It’s not a matter of time, I’ve always hated the excuse of ‘I’m so busy’. It’s such a lame lament. We all have the same number of hours in the day, it’s how we choose to use them and what we consider as important.

For far too long, I’ve put my writing at the bottom of the list. Well this month things are going to change and I’m going to fight and destroy the creature that has pinned me down, eaten my muse and trampled over my confidence. If I don’t. It’s time to hand in the towel. And I have fight left within me, so fight I will.

This month in my little Boot-camp Bubble I shall be committing to the following:

  • Time out from my online group, Writers Abroad. We are currently in the midst of celebrating our 10 year anniversary and there is a lot going on but it takes a lot of my energy. They will all be there when I return, as lovely and as supportive as ever, but this is a fight I have to do on my own.

 

  • Musing every day, for 31 days. Every. Single. Day. I will write to a creative writing prompt. I generally do this every week day morning but I also plan to turn at least one of these musings a week into a short story or a scene.

 

  • Journaling I’ve been doing ‘Morning Pages’ almost every day since 2015. It had purpose way back then when I was struggling with so many things. But it’s not challenging me any more, it’s a daily diary, of my daily, rather mundane life. So I’ve purchased the Journaling Compendium by Amie McNee and shall be using her daily prompts to explore myself as a writer, if she’s willing to stick around.

 

  • World Building My writing project priority is the Moon series. I published the first novella back in early March just when we went into lockdown and I’ve not done a thing. So I shall be pulling the publication and exploring and revisiting the world I created to define the next in the series and perhaps a third. Who knows?

So, I hope to be sharing my progress on a short weekly post and I hope to pop out of my bubble at the end of the month. That’s if the monster doesn’t eat me first.

“The soul always knows what to do to heal itself, the challenge is to silence the mind.”

– Caroline Myss

 

Ciao for Now . . .

 

Writing Goals: December

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Last month I only had one goal:

😎Participate in National Write a Novel in a Month Challenge – and I clocked up over 56k words (yes, fifty six thousand words). My plan at the start was to write 2k a day for 6 days, having Sundays off – they are usually my PJ and off screen days – and I obviously wrote a little more than my target. The first half of the month I wrote longhand, with a pencil and notebook. A staved middle finger on my writing hand made that a little difficult as well as a pulled back muscle!  I reverted to transcribing scenes and character development via the keyboard. I’m still working on transcribing and still have a lot of decisions to make, as things changed, as always, as the story fell out of my head.

How did you get on?

For the month of December I’m going to be realistic. We go away in our van on 15th December to spend the festive season and the New Year in Spain and I don’t plan on doing much, other than walking with the dogs, cycling and sight seeing. 🙂 So for the next two weeks my goals are:

  1. Continue to transcribe my NaNo project five days a week
  2. Complete the authorschallenge2019plus on Instagram (I can plan these posts ahead)
  3. Draft out my Social Media plans for 2020
  4. Finalise Wolf Moon for publication – hard copy proof has arrived!

Let me know what you’re planning to work on and what plans you have over the silly season – you may have guessed I don’t particularly enjoy this time of the year 🙄

 

Writing Goals: November

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It’s that time of the month again…planning goals for the next four months ahead. November is an easy month, in terms of choosing my goals. But first, lets see how I got on last month *takes a deep breath*

 😉 Sketch out two more Wolf Moon sequels – for development as NaNo project #1 – I decided early on in the month only to concentrate on one NaNo project. As usual, I set myself up to fail before I’ve begun. But I have given some thought to the sequel of Wolf Moon, made a third edit following a Beta Read and planning it’s publication.

 😎 Revisit snowflake for Rainbow Chronicles – this will be my NaNo project and I’ve spent most of the month getting to know my characters, sketching out the world they occupy and having too many ideas!

😛 Schedule responses to #FantasyWiPOctober – the first time I’ve ever completed one of these Instagram challenges and I’ve met some wonderful people along the way, and increased my followers by 200!

So can you tell what my intended goals for this month are yet? There is just one.

✔ Participate in National Write A Novel in a Month Challenge – my umpteenth year and I don’t think I’ve ever been so prepared. So the idea is to write 50k – or more – within the month. I might also use the Flash NaNo Competition as a bit of inspiration but we’ll see.

Writing isn’t about the end product, not always anyway. If you’ve ever dream of writing but think you can’t do it… I say you can. Dare to dream big. All you need is a pen and paper or laptop, a sprinkling of inspiration and a bucketful of motivation and you’ll do it. I know, because I have. Follow your dreams.

And if you are taking part in NaNo and have registered on their site, let me know your username, or send me a buddy request – I’m ‘The Duchessa’. See you on the other side!

 

 

This Months Goals: October

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Aarrghh… can’t believe we’re into October already! Though Autumn is my absolutely favourite season and NaNoWriMo is approaching so excited all round! How did I fair in September, I wonder…

😋 3rd Edit of Wolf Moon – yay! And gone to for Beta Reading

😉 Rainbow Warriors review – I’ve done a lot on this and… the story has already changed, but for the    better I believe

😥 Partake in a couple of writers challenges – nope, I couldn’t keep up with this. I need to accept my planner affliction and well… get them planned in advance

😁 Daily Writing Prompts Monday to Friday – 18 out of 20 and I did some extra scribbles now and again. This is becoming a habit… think three months and it’s hard wired.

😎 Update my journal ‘First Draft in 30 days’ to market for NaNoWrimo – and it’s a yes… need more work on the marketing side.

So for October – as I’ve mentioned, NaNoWriMo starts in November so a lot of this month will be spent preparing for that…

The Big Stuff

 

✔ Sketch out two more Wolf Moon sequels – for development as NaNo project #1

✔ Revisit snowflake for Rainbow Chronicles – NaNo project #2

✔ Schedule responses to #FantasyWiPOctober – did I mention I’ve passed 500 followers on Instagram! So chuffed and will be working hard to make new connections… you can follow me here

And it would be nice:
  • to pick up my keyboard practice… haven’t done any since April
  • to resume my Italian listening skills practice
  • to get out on the bikes and make it to a cafe for coffee!

What are you planning to get done this month?

Monthly Goals: September

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So how did I do last month? August is always a tricky one with visitors and the heat. I didn’t have the first excuse this year for the first time in many…😌 apart from the one month a year neighbours.

😊Complete Wolf Moon – this target was my priority and I just hit it as the sun went down on the 31st August. Feeling rather chuffed!

😉Continue with the 15 minute prompts – five days a week which totalled 22 in the month and I managed 19… not a bad return and they did help with #1 target

😊Social Media posts planning for October – writing quotes and prompts are scheduled and I’ve now reached over 400 followers on Instagram… not sure if that’s a good thing or not!

So, being realistic with my goals for last month meant I was able to get them all done, which is a great feeling… here are this months:

The Big Stuff

✔ 3rd Edit of Wolf Moon for line editing via table for me and to Kindle for Simon to read *eeek*

✔ Rainbow Warriors review – start a bullet journal in preparation for NaNoWrimo

✔ Partake in a couple of writers challenges (post everyday in response to a task) probably #Writer Warriors and #FantasyWiPSeptember

✔ Daily Writing Prompts Monday – Friday – I’d really like to keep this up. It’s good for my soul

✔ Update my journal ‘First Draft in 30 days’ to market for NaNoWrimo

and in between

  • Research editor for final draft Wolf Moon
  • Social Media Posts for November
  • Submit Italian Tax Returns!

Let me know what you plan to get up to!

Monthly Goals: July

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So, I’ve been away in our faithful old camper-van, Bobbus for nigh on five weeks so my routine hasn’t been all that… well routine. The weather was against us for a lot of the time meaning two soggy humans and two even soggier Springer Spaniels cramped in a small space. Excuses, I know but you try it!

So how did I get on the past few weeks?

😍Schedule all Social Media posts as far as I can up to end of June – well I’ve gathered all the weekly quotes and prompts up until end of September… and scheduled until end of July. So a big win!

🤐 Re look at Journals for Writers and plan relaunch (for my return in June) utter fail, again but I have access to some different media so that might give me the impetus I need.

😊 Organise and clean up my One note Bujo (which is essentially my whole life) and Pinterest Boards – well, I managed the first half, downloaded a planner which I’m loving. Need to work on the Pinterest boards.

🤔 Work on scene list and world building for Rainbow Chronicles – I’ve done a lot of thinking about this… not much ‘work’….

😎 Read, read and read! – oh yeah, I did a lot of reading, mostly fantasy and non fiction books around world building, but at least three sessions a day. And I’ve caught up on a lot of the articles I had saved to Pocket.

This month we have work on our bathroom, essentially it’s having to be re-roofed and re-fitted. That means a lot of work, noise and disruption. But it will be fab when it’s done. So I’m trying to be a little realistic… ha ha famous last words

🎯 Write to a prompt for 15 minutes five days a week

🎯 Look at one writing journal to concentrate my thoughts and hopefully, the others will follow

🎯 Participate in World Building challenge for Rainbow world setting

🎯 Upload my short fantasy story (20k words) The Earth Dragon of Sassi to Kindle

🎯 If possible, edit last four chapters of Wolf Moon