• What were your goals last week and did you accomplish them?
• Describe what you worked on.
• Set goals for next week.
• Did you learn something during this week?

Here is a list of things that you can do each week as we work on our novels (suggestions welcomed).

• Writing on a novel
• Characterization
• World Building
• Relevant research

=-=-=-=-=

Last Week's Goals

I wrote THE END this week. Well, at least for the first version of this novel. I have a few possible endings and I wrote THE END for the original version. I will let it sit for a bit while my wife reads it and see how she feels about this ending. I may still write those other scenes I came up with for the other endings just in case. For now though, I'm happy to finally be done with my first book in 13 years or so.

The book is only 51,000 words right now, but it has severe White Room Syndrome, so I have plenty of room to enhance the setting on this one. In addition, I did little internal dialogue with the view point characters as they analyze their situations. I need to do a lot of that because all I really have is the core conflicts.

My goals for next week:

• Write scenes

Not sure what I will want to do next week. Either write those scenes for other endings or do some basic outlining for the next book idea. I have at least two at this time. I have a fantasy and a science fiction idea. I should do both if I'm to continue treating this as a career rather than a hobby. Just because I wrote THE END, it doesn't mean I can take time away. I really need to keep this momentum going.

What did I learn this week?

I learned that I can really do this. Yes, the book is far shorter and truly incomplete, but at least I know I can get the core plot done. Now, I need to see if I can flesh this thing out and come out with something resembling a full novel.

Last Week's Goals:

On the Shelf:
THE SHAMAN'S CURSE
THE IGNORED PROPHECY

DREAMER'S ROSE: Continue to let it rest.
Easy goal.

MAGE STORM: Keep no less than six queries out at any time.
Yes.

SEVEN STARS: Let it rest.
Another easy goal.

BLOOD WILL TELL: Start working through the revisions suggested by the latest readers.
Yes, but it's a good thing I didn't set a more specific goal. 'Cause it's going really, really slowly. Like glacially slow. Then again, real life has not been kind to my writing time or focus this week.

OTHER:
Update my blog twice a week.
Yes.

Next Week's Goals:

On the Shelf:
THE SHAMAN'S CURSE
THE IGNORED PROPHECY

I'm jotting down ideas of how these two might be changed.

DREAMER'S ROSE:
Continue to let it rest.

MAGE STORM:
It's probably time to take another look at the query before I send any more out. Only one request for partial so far, so it's not doing the job I want it to do.

SEVEN STARS:
Let it rest.

BLOOD WILL TELL: Start working through the revisions suggested by the latest readers. Try to figure out a way to actually start making progress.

OTHER:
Update my blog twice a week.

As for me, I'm still editing.
I'm nearing the end and getting ready for alpha readers. Always a tough place to be as the novel is as perfect as I can possibly make it, and it will remain so until the feedback starts coming in.

Then it's imperfect and I have to work on it again to get it back to perfect.

Last week:
My goal was to figure out my plan and start following it, and write every day, which I did I let THE NULL PROPHET rest, and started pre-writing for a completely unrelated novel with the (very) tentative working title MINDWALKER. This is the first time I've had two projects going at once, so I'm interested to see it works for me. So far, it's been extremely successful at pulling my mind away from the resting book.

This week:

THE NULL PROPHET: I'm going to let it rest for at least another week before I start trying to find readers.

William how many did you do before the start of that 13 years?

Meanwhile.

I wrote on "Storm Born" got my hero out of Fairy and on the way he did a favor for that unicorn. Now he's headed for his fight with the werewolf even though he doesn't know it yet.

I've done only a little on "New Mage". I need to get her home and back to that Power cult meeting so she can figure out the guy put a Trick on her. Than discover he is the main bad guy. Still not sure how to use that griffin she made friends with. If I can get him back from the Treehouse.

Am spending a lot of time on revising "Bright Lights". The first two chapters anyway, which I want to finish before Tuesday. I went back over three and four and will be splitting Two into halves, that would make five chapters done. Need to get a up to two page synopses thing written too.

My goal for the week is to finish those five chapters in Bright Lights. And double spell check the thing.

The book I just wrote THE END for is only 51,000 words because I have severe White Room Syndrome. However, this is still an accomplishment for me because it's "done" and I can revise it to get all of the setting and other descriptions into it. Hopefully, on the next book, my first drafts will have less White Room Syndrome and will be quicker to revise.

For me, rather than post again how I didn't make my goals, I'll say what I did get done.

Evangeline: Wrote some good stuff. When I first started my second novel (eleven years ago), after revising the first book Qurav, I realized my writing was crap. So since then I've always told myself that whatever I just wrote will be crap when I go back to revise. But...honestly I think I've graduated to mediocre or perhaps tedium, but not crap anymore.
Introduced the Guardian Candidate 41. It was great, a background stock character turned out to be fun to write and really laid the groundwork for how 41 is viewed by most of the characters.

New Arbor Day: Spent at least half my mornings line editing. I think I'm doing good at not over editing, but I can't stop now or half that book would have a certain polish and the other wouldn't. 305 pages to go.