Words written YTD: 59,195 on two and a half projects (Paranormal Investigations novels, a prequel short story that didn't really go where I wanted it to, and Novel Wars (my Nano)) - that's right, I managed a full month without writing. It was awful.
Writer-ly things accomplished: Not a blessed thing, unless you count realizing that not writing is not OK.
New books read: Pounce (aka a book of kitty pictures that needs to be available at all times); January/February 2016 Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction; When Books Went to War (I know I've already reviewed it, but short summary, I loved it); Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife (not my favorite Mary Roach, but interesting for all that); The Prophecy Con (Book two of Rogues of the Republic aka Fantasy A-Team); Lumberjanes #22-23; Pirate King (Russell and Holmes take on the Pirates of Penzance, which left me humming the Major General's song); and Beekeeping for Beginners (Russell and Holmes, the early days).
Old books re-read: The Jennifer Morgue & The Fuller Memorandum (Laundry Files 2-3); Grave Peril (Dresden Files 3); The Arctic Incident (Artemis Fowl 2); Searching for Dragons (Enchanted Forest Chronicles 2, which still holds up beautifully).
Well, if nothing else, I certainly read more this month. Now, on to the 2016 goals that I'm pretty sure I missed:
- Complete draft of book 2 of Paranormal Investigations
- Due: March 31, 2016
- Q1 status: I should really restate this as "fill in the gap between books 1 and 2 of Paranormal Investigations", and it's still in process.
- New due date: July 31, 2016
- Q2 status: This is the goal for this Camp Nano, so we'll see if we can actually finish filling the gap this month.
- Q3 status: Ish? I've reached a good stopping point and realized that enough changed in book 1 that book 2 basically needs to start over again. I'll call this one complete (as restated in Q1), with redrafting book 2 as the plan for Nanowrimo
- New goal: Complete draft 0 of book 2 of Paranormal Investigations
- New due date: December 31, 2016
- Q4 status: AHAHAHA no.
- Complete draft of Church of Books
- Due: September 30, 2016
- Q1 status: I haven't even touched this one in a while. I'll keep the date as is for now.
- Q2 status: Same as Q1
- Q3 status: Yeah, that didn't go according to plan. I've spent the year focusing on PII, so this one is off to the side. This will get moved to next year.
- Q4 status: See Q3 update.
- Complete edit of Paranormal Investigations
- Due: December 31, 2016
- Q1 status: In process
- Q2 status: In process
- Q3 status: In process (so many notes on my draft 0 of book 1, many of which involve asking Past Stephanie just what the devil she was thinking)
- Q4 status: made it through draft 0 of book 1, but haven't had the wherewithal to go back and start fixing things.
- Complete draft of one of the works started for a Nano
- Due: December 31, 2016
- Q1 status: In process, as Paranormal Investigations started as a Nano
- Q2 status: In process, looking better with each day of sitting and actually getting some words on the dang page
- Q3 status: I'm going to call this complete, with PII book 1 as a complete draft 0. Go team me!
- Q4 status: Done!
- Complete at least one Nano
- Due: November 30, 2016
- Q1 status: COMPLETE!
- Q2 status: Trying for number 2!
- Q3 status: Didn't make number 2; revving up for number 3
- Q4 status: Well, I made it for one.
- Submit at least one story for publication
- Due: December 31, 2016
- Q1 status: I have ideas, ever so many ideas...keeping the date as is for now.
- Q2 status: I may come back to the short story I was fiddling with post-Camp Nano, or I may try for something completely different. Who knows? Not me!
- Q3 status: Uh, we'll see. I haven't even thought short fiction in a couple of months.
- Q4 status: And again, AHAHAHA no.
Clearly, setting these kinds of big goals just isn't working for me. I need to break things down into manageable chunks, else everything's going to be "AHAHAHA no" next year.
- PII book 1 editing
- Go through notes on at least one scene every two weeks, incorporating changes and noting bigger changes for later
- Novel Wars drafting
- One character study per month, including interviews, background, list of favorite books/least favorite books, and for the novelists, best writing atmosphere
- Other drafting
- Read through existing works in progress, choose one to work on for each Camp Nanowrimo (April and July)
Looking at it like that, I think it's doable. For now, at least. We'll see what the first quarter of 2017 brings. (Incidentally, anyone else super gun-shy about the new year? I'm almost afraid to say "Happy New Year" in case 2017 hears me and takes it as a challenge.)
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