• 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

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I did not have a good week this week at all. We had so many lightning storms. I did not want to risk having the computer on with all of the storms this week. As such I was only able to get one scene written (on Saturday). This was mostly a "transition" chapter anyway so I did not have much outlined for it yet. I only have one planned scene to write so I may be able to get that done including the upcoming week's goal. I have some sizable scenes for the next chapter so I'll see if I can get those done. I bought a laptop so that will help should we have more storms in my area.

Due to the storms I was at least able to finish Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker. That will no longer be a distraction come this next week.

My goals for next week:

• Chapter 6, first draft

I can only hope this next week will be better for me.

It was stormy here too, though I did work a lot on CtD. I found out I was missing an element, and also that I had to strengthen one of my charactors motivation, so that's been really fun.

I came up with a cool(IMO) short story idea, which I am ploting out right now. That might distract me from novelland for this week. We'll see though.

The novel has been completed. I've not been able to come up with an agent query letter and synopsis that I like, so I made up for it by researching potential agents. Progress, in any form, is still progress.

Current: My supposed "main project" is still on hold.
Goal: At the very least, I want to finish at least one scene.

I thought about one of the scenes during my commute the other day. Does that count?

Current: I have two science fiction novels and one mainstream novel that are currently on hold.
Goal: One of those three novels is regaining its active status this coming week.

And the winner is: one of my SF novels! At least, that's my choice for the moment.

UPCOMING WEEK
Current: Working on the agent cover letter and synopsis for "Metzgerhund Empire"
Goal: Submit my proposal to at least one agent. More is better.

Current: Resuming work on my SF novel
Goal: The trick here is that the later chapters heavily involved a theoretical physics concept that I'm still learning about. The smart move at this point would be to put the manuscript away for a while and continue my studies, so that's what I am going to do.

Current: Resume work on my "main project"
Goal: I just recently came up with an enhanced idea for this project, so I'm expecting to complete a good chunk of it within the next week.

S!
S!

Edited because dyslexics really shouldn't be allowed to use UBB tags.

Last week's goals:

Do two of the critiques I had signed up for. I actually did four critiques and I'm working on a fifth. It's either feast or famine. For a while there wasn't anything that I felt I could critique productively, then all of a sudden I had six in my inbox. I'm down to three, now.

Continue world building for Dreamer's Rose.

I haven't so much worked on world building. I did do a little writing on the beginning of the story and some outlining for complications and motivations of secondary characters later on.

Keep the writing muscles flexed by working on another short story, The Spirit of the Lion, which is partly based on a chapter from Book One.

I did this and put it up in Fragments and Feedback.

As before, find, research, and submit my query for Book One to five more agents.

This one I only half did. I've got a list of six more agents partially researched. But I've decided not to send out any queries this week. Instead, I'm going to go back and work on the query letter and synopsis again. They're obviously not doing their job. I'm up to six rejections, with eight still outstanding.

So much for last week. This week's goals:

Continue work on Dreamer's Rose. Book Three has started to pull at me, but I'm resisting. I need to make some big changes there and letting it boil for a while will help. The problem is I haven't really gotten back into Dreamer's Rose. I need to submerge myself in that for a while. I'll probably get into it faster if I let myself into the story. Then, once it's the object of my imagination 24/7, the world-building will come. The first few chapters take place in a small area, anyway. I don't need to know what's happening in the rest of the world for a little while.

Work on the synopsis and query letter for Book One. I know these can be improved.

The short story, Dragons Are Forever, is about as ready as it's going to be. So, I need to send it out, too. After I tweak a couple of small things. Since it reads YA, there aren't as many markets to send it to. But, if I never try . . .

last week's goals: I don't think I actually made any goals last week, although I might be mistaken

I did manage to combine two minor characters into one slightly less minor character that is a lot more interesting. The up side of this is that both of the original characters were based on actual people I used to know, and the new character is no longer so obviously recognizable. I've never done that before, and it bothered me much more than I thought it would. Note to self: don't try that again.

I don't know how to post in bold, or italics.

Yes, I am that lame.

quote:

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I don't know how to post in bold, or italics.

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To create bold text, surround the text with [ b ] and [ /b ] (without the spaces).

To create italic text, surround the text with [ i ] and [ /i ] (without the spaces).

I think you can also "edit" my post (the pencil icon) to see the text and how I did it here.

EDIT: minor changes.

quote:

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*HTML is OFF
*UBB Code is ON
[IMG] UBB Code Not Allowed!

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I am now officially freaking awesome.

Thank you for helping and not pointing and laughing.

At least where I could hear it.

Off to check if it works.
~Sheena

woot!

• Need to come up with a list of scenes for WOTW. I've actually decided to solicit the help of a "plot consultant" with this one. Not something I'd normally do, but I had a couple friends consult with this particular woman who were very enthusiastic about her and said she really helped them clarify their story. We'll see how it goes. I desperately need help for this piece.

  I'm working on this. I have until Monday.

• Need to decide on center most conflict/ premise for T.
  Did not do.
  
• Need to finish snowflake method for TWOH.
  Did not do.

  Goals for next week:

• Finish scene list.
• Continue working on snowflake mehod. I think I can do this without accessing my old files.
• Do plot analysis on Donna Tartt's The Secret History.
  

* What were your goals last week and did you accomplish them?
5 chapters were supposed to get through first edit. 3 out of 5 ain't bad considering that I also had to knock my way through a brick wall (real, physical brick wall) of the house to replace a hose faucet, then repair the wall.
I also wanted to keep up with crits and managed to do so.

* Describe what you worked on.
The first edit amounts to changing tense and dividing chapters at better places. That's a fairly mechanical process and far more work is needed.

* Set goals for next week.
A deeper re-work of chapter 1 is in order. See below.
The prologue will get attention, too.

Setting goals can be difficult sometimes I know. I'm using trial and error to determine how much I can get done during a week. Currently I try to write one chapter each week. So far I've had decent luck with that (except for last week because of the storms here).

I've found that I can write an average of 750 words or so in the time I have set aside for writing, which I use to do one scene. Sometimes the scene is longer. This allows me to write three or four rough draft scenes per week depending upon what else in life I've got going. Together this ends up to be a decent rough start for a chapter.

If you have a specific time each day that you have set aside to write then setting goals becomes easier. You use that time to determine how much you can write in a single sitting. Once you know that you can better determine what you can accomplish each week. I have found, for me, that after some consistent writing the amount I get done increases because it does get easier. The more you practice the easier it is.

goals I didn't do any of them since I was on a staycation. My sister was in town from Michigan and I took off work and was vacation, but I didn't go anywhere. This week I will do much better though.

-Start Chapter two of TG, and do more character development since I didn't do it last week.

-Edit Chapter three of SS

-Actually mail my WotF entry

quote:

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Of all the socks being worn by the whole blasted procession, mine were the only ones that were soaked.

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Anyway, the long and short of it is I didn’t do anything I had planned. I’ve been thinking a lot about novel structure. I’m not sure what to do at this point. I see that my book doesn’t follow the traditional three-act structure. But I’m not sure how much that matters. I’ve previously just intuited these things. What have others encountered? Do you consciously think about structure or do you use instinct to just let it happen?