Tag Archives: goals

And Now For Your Weekly Update

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I think last week was my best week for writing.  At least in terms of not struggling.  I know I mentioned it in a different post how much I loved doing the average thing.  I’ve been keeping track of how much I’m writing every week, and I wanted to try tailoring my weekly word goal to each project, since I’m struggling with some projects and not others.  It seemed like taking the average for each project would be the best way to do this, and it worked so well, I’m going to keep doing this.  At least for the time being, until I get a a different idea for a weekly goal.  In all honesty, I think the average is a lot closer to what I’m writing every week for each novel, so it’s something that I want to stick with. 

I haven’t really worked on any of my plot bunnies, but I definitely have decided to do a family tree for my newest plot bunny.  I spend a good 20 minutes or so trying to figure out one of those family tree table things, and it made my brain want to explode.  If I write it out (which will probably be a great idea once it’s done), then maybe I can understand how everyone’s related a little better.  Plus, I’m going to have to do a family tree any way, so I might as well get a rough draft together.  Plus, it’ll help me come up with characters, which is always a good thing.  Especially since the idea that I really like is a different funeral each chapter, and each funeral would be told from the POV of a different person.  Even if I don’t go with that idea, it’ll still be useful, since a family tree would be setting up most of the basic groundwork for the novel. 

I can’t remember if I mentioned my idea for next month’s Camp NaNo- I’m going to go with my NCIS fanfiction, since I want to get that novel done before the season starts.  My idea is based off the season finale, and while I don’t have to do it before November, I think I will.  Just because I don’t want my idea to be influenced by anything that pops up next season.  It would also be kind of interesting to see if anything I come up with shows up next season.  It seems like Camp NaNo is going to continue into August, so I might use one of my other plot bunnies in August.  It really depends on what I get done in the next couple months. 

I think I might have decided on which ideas I’m going to do for NaNo: the one about the pact, and the one about a family only seeing each other at funerals.  I have no clue what I want to do for my historical fiction, so that’s going to be shelved until I can actually narrow down my ideas.  Or maybe I just need to pick one idea and go with it, and hope for the best.  I think my main problem is that I don’t want to pick the wrong idea for it.  There’s also the fact that I love the time period and there are so many things I could do with it- I’m pretty much like a kid in a candy store, and I can’t make up my mind.  If I decide to do Camp NaNo in August, then I’ll probably end up doing my secret government agency idea, because that’s the one that I’m not too interested in.  I think for now, I’ll just keep working on everything, and hope that I’ll actually be able to make up my mind!

And, before I go, here’s my weight loss update!  I lost just under a pound, and I actually went to the gym last week!  Granted, it was just once, but once is better than not going at all, so that was a plus. 

I think that’s all for now, so I hope everyone has a great day!

Podcast and Writing Talk

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I’m still on my podcast kick, and just when I started to get the number of podcasts down to a manageable level, I found some more to listen to!  While I still have a bunch of episodes I need to catch up, I’ve decided to take my time with it.  I’m not going to go back and listen to the episodes of the new podcasts just yet, so I’m going to download each episode as I listen to it.

Joy the Baker has a podcast!  I don’t read her blog too often, but her podcast is hilarious!  It’s still pretty new, but it’s really fun!  I’ve also been listening to Abandon All Hope, About Face Mouth, For Whatever Reason, Meat-Free Radio and Game Night Guys…to name a few.  Actually, I’m listening to 28 different podcasts!  No matter how many times I tell myself that I will NOT go looking for new podcasts, I find myself…looking for more podcasts.

In other news, I think I’m getting close to the end for Harry Potter and the Giant Prehistoric Chicken!  I’m excited, because it’ll be the first time I finished a novel.  And not only that, but it’ll be the first nano I finish!  I have no idea if I’ll go back and edit it.  I might, but I’m still not sure.  If I had to decide today, then I’d definitely edit it.  If I do, I might put it up somewhere, like over at ff.net or something.

I did a lot of writing on Wednesday, which was really nice!  It’s been a while since I’ve spent the whole morning writing, and I miss it!  Remember when I said I’d write whatever the average word count was for each novel?  It’s AWESOME!  I think it a lot closer to what I actually write for each thing, because for the first time in weeks, I’m not constantly checking how close I am to my word goal.  I’m definitely going to be doing this again!

I definitely need to get my butt into gear for camp nano!  I think I might do my ncis fanfiction next month for it, and as for august, I have no idea if i’m doing it yet.  I think it depends on how my plot bunnies work out.

Going To Try Something New

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I was taking a look at my little progress sheet I made for my weekly writing goals, and decided I would try something different this week.  For some of my projects, I end up sticking close to the word goal for the week.  For everything else, I end up writing more than I expected.  So this week, I think I’m going to figure out the average amount I write every week, and have that as my goal.  If that works out, I think I might do that for a while, and tailor my goals.

Writing went pretty well this week, as did my plot bunnies.  I’m sticking to the schedule I had set up in January pretty well, but I’m trying to be flexible with it as well, because stuff happens and I want to be able to change things as needed.  I did come up with another plot bunny, so I’ll end up working that in.  Who knew a funeral could inspire a novel?   

I lost a pound this week!  Definitely unexpected, but I did eat better this week.  I still can’t get myself to the gym…maybe this week, but it’s not something that’s likely.  But at least I’m eating better, so I’m making progress.

I think that about covers it; it looks like I’ll have another productive week!

My Blog Is Different!

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You might have noticed that my blog looks different now!  I decided to change the theme, as well as making some changes to the pages I have.  If you go over to the Projects page, you’ll see a page devoted to my NaNo history, a page about previous, non-NaNo projects, and of course, everything I’m currently working on.  I’ve been meaning to do a NaNo page for a while, and yesterday I decided I really needed to do it.  Especially since NaNo is the basis for a lot of my writing, and helped me work on some stuff I started way back in high school.  The about this blog page is also updated, plus there’s a contact info page, so be sure to check that out if you want to email me or find me on twitter or goodreads.

I didn’t really like how the old page did subpages (seeing as I now have several now) so I decided to find a them that did subpages slightly better…and I found one I liked!  I hope you enjoy the new layout.

The writing went fairly well this week, and I sort of stuck to the schedule I came up with earlier this year.  I’m hoping that I’ll be able to stick to it more, because I want to get more of a routine going.  Writing in the mornings is working out better than the afternoon, although the afternoon is working fine too.  Overall, I managed to get to my 125 word goal, and for the most part, added a little extra.  I think I’ll aim for 150 words per project, with the goal of adding as much as I can to that.

I also made some progress with the David Starkey book, and I’m particularly glad I checked it out from the library, because it’s gotten even more dull and tedious than it already was.  The intro was pretty off-putting, and I’m actually not sure if I’ll finish it or it.  I’m determined to, but it’s frustrating that he felt the need to talk about Henry’s divorce from Katherine of Aragon TWICE!  And pretty much the same info but from Katherine’s perspective and then Anne’s.  It’s more about the political aspect of his marriages, as opposed to a more cultural version.  I appreciate the research but it’s just so much information that it’s overwhelming.  As of right now, I wouldn’t recommend the book to anyone.

I worked on one of the characters from one of my plot bunnies, and did a little mind-map.  There’s an actual program (which is free) that does this, but I find it a little hard to use when I tested it out.  I might keep my handwritten one, but I may end up using One Note instead.  Still, it’s more than what I had at the beginning of the week.  Maybe this will be the week that I actually take a look at all my plot bunny notes!

I didn’t lose any weight either, which isn’t a surprise considering i didn’t exercise and ate crap all week.  But surprisingly, I didn’t gain any weight either.  Maybe I need to just…go to the gym and stuff.

Just…Writing

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I’m glad I’m back to my normal word goals, because that really does work better for me. 

I think I’m going to write a minimum of 125 words for all 6 of the projects I’m working on.  If I write more, great.  But if it’s close to 125, that’s okay too.  I tend to go over.  I’ve consistently decided to go over my word limit, although that’s partially because I try to finish the paragraph I’m working on. 

I didn’t work on any of my plot bunnies, other than to do some research for my historical fiction.  I did get an idea for my NCIS fanfiction after watching the NCIS season finale, so I might try writing something about who’s selling top-secret information.

I only lost 1/2 a pound over the last week, but that’s because I decided I didn’t want to go the gym, and it was kinda hard getting my eating under control, so the fact that I lost any weight at all is good.  I still need to get my eating under control, but it’s getting easier, especially since I’ve been doing some batch cooking.

Time Limits Didn’t Work Out That Well

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My attempt at writing for 10 minutes a day didn’t work out too well.  I got writing done, but I found myself wandering over to the internets and doing random stuff. 

I think I’m going to go back to word goals, at least for now.  So I’ll write 125 words for 5 projects. 

My character profiles are mostly done- I answered what I could, and I’ll let the rest come to me.  Now that I know a little more about the characters, I think I might revisit both plot bunnies, and see if I can come up with anything.

I’ve started 6 Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII by David Starkey.  It’s 765 pages, not counting footnotes or the index, so it’s going to take a while to get through it.  I can handle only so much reading before everything starts running together.  He came across as a little arrogrant in the introduction, which I hope stays in the introduction. 

I’m still nowhere close to having an idea for my historical fiction, so I’ll stick to just researching for now.  Hopefully something will come to me.

Surprisingly, I lost one pound!  I was so excited yesterday when I saw that, because I was expecting to gain weight or stay the same.  Hopefully, I can keep it up, and try not to eat to make myself feel better.

Writing Can Be Hard

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It was a struggle to write last week.  I’m not sure why, but it happens.  I managed to work on something different almost every single day, but I had to force myself to get it done a couple times.  It was a good reminder, though, that writing isn’t always easy, and sometimes I don’t want to write.  But I usually feel better after I write, so it wasn’t a total loss.  Plus, the fact that I’m still writing 5 months after the end of November is a pretty big accomplishment.  Ususally my writing is limited to the month of November, and while my pace has considerably slowed since then (no more 5000 word days), I am still writing.   

Not taking a break helped.  The couple times I tried to work on anything NaNo-related, I always waited at least a month before going back to working on it.  And it failed.  I still have some momentum going which is keeping me going. 

I’ve had no problems researching my historical fiction, although it’s pretty much been reading about Henry VIII at this point.  It’s been helpful, because it gives me insight as to what life was like when he was king.  But it’s been slow reading, because I’m taking notes as well.  Plus, it’s a little tedious, but thankfully not as bad as when I read Wars of the Roses.  That was tedious, but I’m totally willing to read it again, mostly because I’m considering doing something related to it.  Plus, it sets up the Tudors, so it’ll be good to have that background, even if I never use it. 

I managed to write during the morning, which worked really well.  It was nice to get it done early, and know that it was out of the way.  

I think I’m going to try something different this week and write for 10 minutes 5 days this week, plus finish up my character profiles.

I’m slightly frustrated that I gained 3 pounds over the last week, but it wasn’t a surprise because I ate way more than I needed to.  It’ll be hard to not turn to food as a way of dealing with things, but at the same time, I really need to change that.  There are better ways of coping than to eat.       

To all the mother’s out there, Happy Mother’s Day!

So Now What?

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I’ve been reading The Lady In The Tower: The Fall Of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir, which is about the last 3 months of Anne Boleyn.  It’s pretty interesting, and so far, the information is relatively new to me.  I’m finding that the more I read, the more vague ideas I get.  I might need to read about the ideas I’m interested in, but for now, I’ll stick to a general overview because getting different perspectives would be really helpful.  Besides, I need to remind myself of the different things going on.

Writing’s going okay- I went a little over 175 for a couple of the things I worked on, and wrote almost double what I expected for the 3rd project.  I had to re-read my snape and tonks story and my draco and hermione story, since I had completely forgotten what they were about.  They’re pretty short, so it didn’t take too long.  I also had to re-read the NaNo from a couple years ago, but I decided to read the last few pages of it instead of reading the whole thing.  I think I’ll work on 4 novels this week, and write 125 words for each of them.  Plus, I’ll continue working on my characters.  I definitely want to be working on something pretty much everyday, but I don’t want to overwhelm myself or anything, so I’ll attempt to slowly increase the number of things I work on every week.  The number of words might change week to week, depending on my mood, and what I think I can handle.

I’m back to using sparkpeople.  I’ve used it off and on for the last few years, and have found it to be a great resource…when I don’t get bored with keeping a food/exercise journal.  For a free weight loss website, it’s actually really helpful, and has a lot of information on it.  I tend to get bored with the food and exercise journal aspects after a few months, hence why I’ve used it off and on.  Going to the gym yesterday was a struggle, and I was debating whether or not I should go, because I was still really tired.  I got more than enough sleep, but apparently not as much as I needed.  I ended up going, mostly because it’s on my way home from my writer’s group.  Unfortunately, it didn’t give me the energy boost I thought it would, but at least I can say I went.

Have a great day!

I Hate Lemon Meringue Pie

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It’s evil.  Very, very evil.  At least I tried making it, but sadly I failed.  The lemon wasn’t lemon-y enough because I forgot to add lemon juice.  And the meringue was not cooperating either, because it was not doing what it was supposed to.

So I gave up. 

That’s right, I gave up.  And I was so frustrated that I almost started crying.

And then I was like, why am I crying over a FREAKING PIE?  I mean, it’s a pie.  I’ve never made pie from scratch before, so of course there’s a chance it’s not going to turn out right the first time I make it. 

I think the whole crying thing is probably because I’ve had a weird week, and a pie not coming out right was the final straw in a way.  But I will try lemon meringue pie again one day, and I’ll get better at it eventually. 

I ended up buying a lemon meringue pie, because there was no way I was going to feed the pie I made to people. 

At least the cupcakes turned out okay.

Have a great day everyone!

Just Plodding Along

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I’ve been surprisingly productive this week. 

I read 3 books, am reading 4 others, and wrote 553 words.  And I have 3 (mostly) complete character profiles.  So what if I only went to the gym twice? I still have today to go, and I probably will.  

There isn’t really anything else I can add, since I’m achieving the goals I set.  But it feels great to actually accomplish something. 

Next week, I will:

  • write 175 words for the 3 novels I haven’t worked on yet- I have 2 other fanfics that I started years ago, plus one of my old NaNo’s that are on my list of things to work on, so it might help if I actually work on them.  And I’ve decided that I’m going to slowly increase the number of words I write each week.  It seems like I write more than the goal I’m setting, and I’d like to write more, so hopefully slowly upping the number of words I write each week will help me find something that works really well.   
  • go to the gym 3 times- 3 seems minimal, but it works for me, and I don’t want to overdo it.  Plus, I do some stuff at home too, so it all balances out.
  • finish 2-3 books- I’m reading 5, so finishing 2 or 3 of them shouldn’t be a problem.
  • start the character profiles for the 2 characters in one of my other plot bunnies- hopefully taking a look at them will give me a better idea of what I actually want to do with the story.

Hopefully, I’ll continue to write and read and all that good stuff.  Oh, and relax.  Maybe I need to start meditating or something.