• 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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Last Week's Goals

I did not do well with my goals for last week. I did some general outlining, but no world building for the scenes I would like to write in my next writing experiment.

Yesterday I came to the conclusion that some of the sub-plots I have did not feel right. So, I took the main character's primary goal and listed out the conflicts against that goal. I reviewed all of the other conflicts to determine whether I really needed them. I had one inner conflict that I determined was not strong enough because the choices the main character had were not mutually exclusive. The main character could have both choices come true without consequences. I felt that was not strong enough of a conflict. I will likely remove that from the novel.

Now that I have the specific conflicts that go directly against the main character's primary goal I can focus on those conflicts and the related scenes. This may mean removing some other conflicts or scenes but hopefully this will tighten up the story.

My goals for next week:

• Outline Focused Conflicts

For this week I need to focus on the specific conflicts I wrote out last night. These will be the central conflicts and I should not need anything else. If I do add anything I will need to fully determine what those conflicts add to the story.

What did I learn this week?

I think I learned that I can't just throw conflicts into an outline and have a good story. These conflicts must be related and put the character through difficult decisions. Having a conflict where the character is in a "win / win" situation does not build conflict. I need to better analyze the book's conflicts to ensure I have conflict that puts the character into a difficult situation.

Oh, and discipline. I STILL need to learn that.

DREAMER'S ROSE: Finish up the new section at the beginning and start work on the revisions.
Not quite. But I am getting there.

THE SHAMAN'S CURSE: Let it rest a little before trying to cut some more.
Easy goal.

THE IGNORED PROPHECY: Make the revisions as the critiques come back.
I'm still in the middle of the last critique because I'm trying to decide whether to delete something. It doesn't come to anything in this book, but will be important in the fourth book, if I ever get there. Is that reason enough to keep it? Hmm.

BLOOD WILL TELL: Work on the synopsis some more and start sending out some queries.
No to the synopsis. Yes to the queries.

SEVEN STARS: Let it rest. Keep making notes as things occur to me.
Easy goal.

OTHER:
Update my blog and try to keep it updated at least once a week.
Try to polish up "The First Flame" (which really needs a new title) and start sending it out.
Yes to both.

Next Week's Goals:

DREAMER'S ROSE:
The same goal as last week.
Finish up the new section at the beginning and start work on the revisions.

THE SHAMAN'S CURSE:
Let it rest a little before trying to cut some more.

THE IGNORED PROPHECY:
I've got a chapter exchange going on this one. Make the revisions as the critiques come back.

BLOOD WILL TELL:
Work on the synopsis some more. Send out some more queries.

SEVEN STARS:
Let it rest. Keep making notes as things occur to me.

OTHER:
Update my blog and try to keep it updated at least once a week.

Something new. Quarterly Submission Stats:

THE SHAMAN'S CURSE: 23 rejections. Currently retired for a thorough overhaul.

BLOOD WILL TELL: 4 rejections, two queries still out. Send at least 3 more queries today.

"Mage Storm" (formerly "Mage Cinders") rejected twice, but only at the best places. Out on a third submission.

"The Bard's Gift" (formerly "The First Flame") out on it's first submission.

Edited to add:

"Dragons Are Forever" rejected twice and permanently reitired. I've done better work since.

I'll mark that as a successful week, though not as successful as I'd have liked.

Goals this week: 150-200 pages of APtW edited, and scenes added and in proper chronology; finish editing pass on WotF HM; critique on chapter for another friend; bang out more on TMC outline; elaborate on BA.D. premise to build toward outline; add another 1500 words to new story.

1) Finish C.I. story - Yes! And it got second place in the competition (which sounds more impressive than it really is, since there were only 16 entries, but still....)

2) Finish WotF story - Yup, got it off just before the deadline. Phew!

3) Keep plodding away on the revisions for TGS - I'm getting closer and closer...

Goals for this week:

Written / Projected - on a week by week basis
171 / 250
177 / 250
180 / 250

Did write a short story however, so at the very least, writing happened. =)
Plus I've been able to critique a few short stories from other Hatrack members which always teaches me something bout my own writing.

Axe

Finish third draft of SF.
DONE!!!!! WOO HOO.. I finished the third draft of SF last week. I do need to go back in and add extra scenes for an additional POV character. I'm doing that this week. Not sure if that is draft 3 or not. I'm not counting it...LOL
So SF right now is 75,000 words and I expect the extra scenes to add 5000 words. 80K, or 400 pages.

Next/this week
finish adding those POV scenes and let the draft sit. I've got a week's vacation coming up and I am planning to plot a new novel during that week. I've got an idea for a YA .....

I hope to have a beta reader take a look at SF while I'm gone, too.

My goal of adding 2000 words a day to my novel is a bit unrealistic, I've decided. At times, it's sporadic and I'll go on a creative vein, knocking out about 3,000, and some days, I barely come up with 500. Oh well.

I found out one of the most powerful tools for breaking through writer's block today, at least for me personally. I know what type of books I want my novel to feel like, and I know the atmosphere that I want to create. So, I picked up "Gerald's Game," by Stephen King, "The Rainmaker," by John Grisham, and "Maps in a Mirror: Tales of Dread," by OSC.

Many of these stories contain elements of feel and style that I would like to establish in my own novel, and as soon as I put the third book down, I came up with 1,500 words in less than an hour.

In the upcoming week, although my goal of 2,000 words is unrealistic in my current state of mind, I am determined to achieve this goal on a 24 hour basis, consistently. To do so, I need to read more. It's as simple as that. When you read good writing, you're more prone to CREATE good writing.

Characterization:

I have three main protagonists, and each of them are drastically different from each other, although their lives share common factors that are out of their control. My first character is dark and prone to corruption, and his progress throughout the novel so far is mixed. He should be getting more evil and twisted, and yet sometimes I find that I'm writing his part a little more compassionately than it should be. I have to watch this in the future.

My second character is a contrast to the first in both archetype and spirit. He does not clash with my first character yet, although it will happen soon in the novel. The book is not "good vs. evil," as both of these characters share the same goal. I need to develop his goodness more thoroughly while making a successful comparison between the two.

The third character is very human and a very accurate mixture of the two, and I actually feel like he's right on track... thank goodness.

Last Week's Goals
* Write for the novel every day.
* Finish the fire scene.
* Outline the novel by season so I'm no longer confused about what seasonal details to include in each scene.

Last Week's Activities
* Wrote for DeCo every day. (One goal accomplished!)
* Worked on the fire scene, writing one line at a time. It's still not finished.
* Started the seasonal outline.
* Researched Department of Defense internships, U.S. military age restrictions, and the layout of a certain Army base.

Sometime during the week, I decided to increase the main character's age at the start of the novel by two years. This changes his perception (requiring rewrites of scenes) but may add credibility.