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Posted by Jennifer on Feb 9, 2011 in
Challenges,
Goals,
Writing 
HI, all! Jennifer here!
Well, I'm happy to report that I'm doing great on my Book in 3 Month Challenge! Granted I had a wee bit of a head start, but so far I have a good chunk of my manuscript written–35% to be exact. 
You might not know it, but I'm remaining calm and collected about this. Thus, the "logical and calm" word count meter below.
Checking in with my critique partners and posting our daily word total has really kept me from slacking. (Somewhat, anyway) I find when I'm writing, it helps to take small breaks every 30 or 40 minutes, where I quickly check Twitter or email, throw a load of laundry on, or make myself a cup of tea.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As far as P90x goes, I can't believe this is week FIVE already. I am definitely noticing a difference in what I can do now from when I first started (which wasn't much) LOL
The Yoga X was my most dreaded routine. Not because it took up an HOUR AND A HALF of my time but because I found it the most impossible, ridiculous exercise routine on the workout plan. And now I can say that after all this time…
I finally did a session on Saturday and actually enjoyed it. I know. Weirdo-rama. But I bought a yoga block on Amazon and that really helped a lot with some of the moves.
Just like in my writing, where I'm checking in and comparing goals, I'm checking in with my hubby on the P90x plan as well. It really helps to have someone doing it with you because whenever I'm tempted to just skip a day, I have him giving me a look and guilting me into doing it. (The hubby is much more goal oriented than I am) So I'm grateful to have someone else suffering with me. LOL
Accountability. That's the key word that's really really me reach my goals this year. And so far, so good.
Do you need that extra "push" like I do? How do you reach your goals?
Jennifer fancies herself a more prolific writer than she really is and has an unnatural tendency to use words like "fancies" and "prolific" when describing herself. Please feel free to check out her ebook, The Role of a Lifetime from Samhain Publishing and her recent Avalon romance Georgie on His Mind--where she promises she didn't use either of those words in her stories.
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Tags: goals, Jennifer Shirk, work in progress, Writing
Posted by Cyn on Jan 6, 2011 in
Challenges,
Life,
Publishing,
Writing …what?
So often, we set ourselves up with impossible goals, especially at the beginning of each new year.
With that in mind, here are my 2011 goals:
Blog every day.
Um…and that's it. That's enough. Just trying to think of 365 things to write about is enough to drive me nuts. (Not that it's a far ride or anything.)
I'd love to say that my goal is to finish a few books, get a few contracts and have more releases. Yes, it would be nice, and yes, I have ambitions to do those things. But, I think–for this year, anyway–I'd rather not be mean to me.
In fact, that's my unwritten goal (until now) for 2011. Be nicer to myself. Cut myself some slack. Realize I'm not super-human. And be kind. Not just to everyone else, but–to me. Because, damn it, I deserve it.
After all…I have to blog everyday.
Cynthia Selwyn (aka C.D. Yates) is the trapped-at-home mom of three and wife of one. When she's not hanging around with her Critters, she's editing for one of several e-publishers, writing erotica for Breathless Press or trying to get her characters (and her four-year-old) to behave.
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Posted by Bethanne Strasser on Nov 22, 2010 in
Challenges,
Goals,
Writing It's that time of year again…
New Year's coming and changes are inevitable. My husband is leaving for a long time. [
Oh crap. I just got a little teary-eyed.] I want to get ready for something NEW–new experiences, new emotions to deal with, new schedules… more time to myself, more time for my work. But I need to clear my desk of any current projects.
So I've come up with Pre-Goal Goals… New Year's Resolution Resolutions. 
With two novellas, both rejected by two different publishers, I'm going to finish some revisions and edits first, then attend that Swingers party with them and send them both off to the other publisher… ha!
GOAL: January 31st, complete revisions and edits and submit
If I can get those submissions out the window, my new year looks good for the next big project. I've been putting off starting another single title. Gun shy, if you will. The last one I did went through agent submissions and failed, not miserably, just in the normal, this-is-life kind of way. 
But I do need to get off my hesitation and have another go of it.
No matter how many novellas I sell, I'll never find myself on display at B&N if I don't write a full-length, Single Title novel and submit it.
Would love to hear how you're getting ready for the New Year. Or do you sit back and wait for the new year, using the new year as a chance to clean house? Tell me everything!
Mother of FIVE smarty-pants and married to her Love for twelve years, Bethanne spends her time writing stories that always--without a doubt--end happy.
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Tags: Resolutions, revisions and edits, Romance, Writing
Posted by Bethanne Strasser on Oct 1, 2010 in
Challenges,
Goals,
Research,
Writing I recently took an online course on time management that used the Four Quandrants featured in Stephen Covey's book, First Things First.
I'm on a deadline, so this seems like something I should take to heart. What about you? Have you been on deadline or just plain dead on your feet, trying to figure out what is the most imperative task at hand?
Highlighting the four catagories for my own use, I find that I'm not always keeping my time management in sync with my goals.
Where do I spend the most time? 
In the not important URGENT catagory. Interupptions, emails, kids… Okay, so there are times for the kids to be in Quandreant II, but there are other times, the kids don't have to be there. Next, I'm in quadrant four with my busywork, my book reading, and my favorite shows.
How can I [we] learn to utilize time management?
For me, Identification is key. I'm not the most disciplined person, but I fare well as long as I acknowledge my needs and my shortcomings.
As my goals change, so does my catagorizing. Right now, I might stick finishing my WIP up there in Important/URGENT. Perhaps it's not life-threatening, but in perspective…it's way more important than what's going on with my FACEBOOK account. \
Mother of FIVE smarty-pants and married to her Love for twelve years, Bethanne spends her time writing stories that always--without a doubt--end happy.
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Anybody with two eyes and a decent web browser can see something is happening around here at Passionate Critters. Book release upon book release, promo tours followed by book trailer parties…the ladies are on fire! Words are flowing, contracts are getting inked. Things are happening!
In a perfect world, I’d announce my recent agent acquisition, or the foreign rights a film company snatched up last week.
Not so, dear readers. I am writing to you from a most discouraging, though very necessary place: the wastelands. This is the “neither here nor there” place we all need to travel on our road to publication. It’s where your best friends get a burst of energy and sprint into that glorious book deal while you curse like a sailor (or a Marine, in my case) at your blinking cursor. It’s the place where you follow your crit partners around the web and cheer them on through their cyber book tours, while you scribble and bleed red all over your pages, crossing out entire sections at a time and throwing objects at the wall while you try to untangle that unholy mess that is POV (and it’s demon sister, Deep POV). It’s the place where the critiques coming your way aren’t, well, the most encouraging. “Back to basics,” “strengthen the writing,” and “tighten the pages.” *sigh*
It’s where you cross out that “query Agent X” on your calendar, because you realize you, and your story, just aren’t ready yet. It’s where you put on them big girl panties and stop comparing yourself to others, wishing you told stories like they tell stories.
Sitting in the wastelands by choice is about giving yourself the right to suck at writing for a minute or two, the whole time knowing that you’re about to roll the sleeves up and get to work at fixing whatever it is that isn’t working in your writing career—books, workshops, online classes, endless rewrites, killing off characters you love, vent sessions over coffee, more time critiquing and helping others…whatever it takes.
If publication is like reaching the Emerald City, the wastelands is that creepy forest where the trees throw apples at you and your story, pointing out your weaknesses and forcing you to rethink, rebuild, and re-create. Return a stronger writer with clearer goals. Return to the yellow brick road with a purpose.
So to my PCers who’ve celebrated HUGE victories lately, I am so, so proud of you. And to my fellow (temporary) wasteland visitors, when the mean trees throw apples, make applesauce, girl. (Or make like the scarecrow and thumb your nose at the thought of stopping too long to wallow!)
On with the words…
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Posted by Silke on Jan 2, 2009 in
Challenges,
Life,
Writing 
I thought Bethanne made a pretty good post reflecting on what she has achieved. I wish I’d managed half as much!
My little list is much shorter, I assure you. Though I didn’t get pregnant in… ever. 
Still, her list prompted me to wonder… what do I want to achieve in 2009?
Apart from the obvious — to have a book bought, and published.
I’d like to be more assertive. I really suck at it, I think.
So what kind of resolutions do writers generally make? Write more, read more, submit, query… We all make those resolutions, I’m sure.
A friend of mine once said: "A New Years Resolution is a To-Do-List for the first week of January."
Considering that’s about as long as most people stick to their resolutions, he’s probably not far off.
Here are some of mine which may not be on the general "Writers Resolutions" list.
- Critique more. (I have been terribly slack!)
- Be more helpful. (I think sometimes I could help more. I’ll make a point of it this year.)
- Be more open to other people’s writing. (I’m talking genres. I hate chick lit, for instance.)
- Be more vigilant when it comes to the tone of my critiques. (I can sound very very harsh without meaning to.)
- I need to query and submit the books I write. (Yeah, yeah, I know… but it scares me.)
- I need to finish the damned things, too! (Well, one is, but I need to finish the other one.)
- Get more organized. (I’m the queen of messy desks!)
- Write at least 250 words a day, every day. (It’s not a lot, I can do this! More if I can, but never less.)
- Keep my darn blog up to date! (Wow I haven’t blogged much there at all lately!)
- Stop procrastinating and finding excuses for why I couldn’t write. I’m only lying to myself, after all.
So… there you have it.
But my Number 1. resolution isn’t on that list.
It’s "Be nice to everyone, regardless. Don’t whine, don’t complain. Shed the old negative self."
It’s a tall order, believe me!
Silke writes paranormal romance, and knows a thing or two about things going bump in the night. Although it is usually her, creeping to the kitchen at O' Dawn Thirty to score another cup of coffee.
She grew up in Germany, but her home of choice is in the UK, where she lives with her partner on the outskirts of London.
Her first book Smitten is now available from Decadent Publishing.
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Tags: Lists, New Start, New Year, Resolutions
Posted by Nadia on May 14, 2008 in
Challenges Steve Martin on his novel: “I think I did pretty well, considering I started out with nothing but a bunch of blank paper.”
Romance writer Nadia Lee blends elements of paranormal, fantasy and science fiction into her works. A former management consultant, she has lived in four different countries and speaks 2.5 languages. She writes contemporary romance under the name Angelle Trieste.
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Tags: Fast Draft
