Welcome to the Serious Writers’ Accountability Group!
Post your goals for this month and let us know how you got on with last month’s goals.
Leave a comment below telling us how you got on last month, and what you plan to do next month, then check back in on the first of each month, to see how everyone’s doing.
(It doesn’t have to be fiction. Feel free to use this group to push you in whatever creative direction you need.)
Did you live up to your commitment from last month? Don’t remember what you promised to do? Check out the comments from last month.
And don’t forget to celebrate with/encourage your fellow SWAGr-ers on their progress!
Download your SWAGr Tracking Sheet now, to keep track of your commitments this month
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Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months
- Finish first draft of story and write 3 articles for my school paper. – Courtney
- Write on seven days this month – Clare
- Extend my reading and to read with a ‘writers eye’- Wendy
- write 10,000 words – Mary Lou
So, what will you accomplish this month? Leave your comment below (use the drop-down option to subscribe to the comments and receive lovely, encouraging notifications from fellow StADa SWAGr-ers!)
(Next check-in, 1st of the month. Tell your friends!)
Reflection
• I wrote at least a drabble every day in the month of May. In the last couple weeks of the month, I found time to write longer pieces of flash fiction with lengths of up to 860 words.
June 2020 Goals — I’m sure some of these will have to move to July.
• Post my June 2020 SWAGR goals. It’s June 13 — better late than never.
• Get to the end of my tentative timeline for my novel.
• Participating StoryADay Critique Week.
• Craft the submission emails for the poems I will submit after I move. I want my bio to be accurate when I send it along with my submissions.
• Request the pamphlets and the books that might help with my novel research.
• Revise my friend’s favorite StoryADay stories and research homes for them.
• Submit the stories to their first potential markets.
Last month’s goals as written, not so much, but I did submit writing samples of THE THING to two PLACES, and I need 5,000 more good words on it in the next couple weeks.
Last month I fulfilled my commitment to write every day in my journal. This month I want to do the same (although I have to say “most” days as I already missed a day, but that’s okay) and begin re-reading my memoir in progress to see what else I need to add.
Glad you’re being compassionate with yourself about that missed day. It’s going to happen and it’s important to keep moving.
Hope you find lots of good fodder in your re-read!
This was my first StoryADay May and really got so much from it. Thank you, Julie!!
My goal was to finish 21 short stories (10 or more from prompts given) resulting in at least 3 pieces I could later expand or edit for submission.
I also planned on completing the second edit of a novel.
I completed 21 using 6 prompts and have 7 pieces to work with – yay! I did not get to any novel editing.
Goals for June are to spend a couple hours each day finishing that second edit and then working on these short pieces.
That’s really impressive! Well done! So glad you had a good time 😉
Hi everybody!
My writing goals are:
1.) To open a completed work that I never published and add more to it, and publish it as a novella to begin a series.
2.) Complete 1 writing prompt a day.
3.) At the end of the pick one that can be continued.
I love these goals. They seem challenging yet manageable.
May Goals:
– Complete each day of Story a Day with either a plot outline or writing practice. [Mostly completed. Got tired and distracted in week 4.]
– Work on artwork (draw/color) for at least 15 min each day. [Totally forgot]
– Keep submitting one of my completed stories to magazines. [It’s in a queue]
June Goals:
– Triage Story a Day output into stuff to keep working on vs. stuff to forget.
– Finish 1 very short (1,000-1,500-word) piece from my Story a Day drafts, probably for submission to Daily Science Fiction.
– Set up goals and prep for the Clarion West Write-a-Thon starting on June 20.
Keeping my June writing goals light to take a break between Story a Day and the Write-a-Thon. Story a Day was great! I wrote about 9,000 words, which I’ll take as a win because I started a new job at the same time. This challenge was very helpful in getting me to establish a writing routine that works with my new work schedule.
Wow, you managed that on top of a new job? Impressive!
I think it’s a great idea to keep the June goals light, but aim for consistency (not my biggest strength!). That’ll help cement the lessons you learned in May.
My May Goals were:
1. Write every day for SADinMay – I managed 16 of the 31 prompts, 3 that I feel are pieces with a beginning middle and end. Considering other issues IRL during May, I’ll take it as a win.
2. Continue editing one of my YA Fantasy novels – didn’t touch it.
3. Continue rereading/light editing another one of my YA Fantasy novels, for continuity and to pick up writing it where I left off – I mucked around with this a tiny bit.
JUNE.
1. Reread all prompts that I did to choose which ones have a chance to be continued. Out of thise picks, take two to work on in June, and one to work on for the showcase.
2. see #2 above
3. see #3 above.
I concur: 16/31 prompts written to, is a definite win. (How many stories did you write in the months leading up to May? Just sayin’…)
I love that you’re going to pick out two prompts you didn’t work on for this month. Keeping some fresh work going, along with your revisions/older projects is pretty wise!
May marked my return to writing fiction and I produced 6 short stories and I am more than 5,000 words into a novella. Every idea I had stemmed from a writer’s prompt you provided. I have submitted one short story to a literary magazine and I am looking for markets for three others that I wrote with your excellent Story-a-Day program. It is June 1 and having written every day but one in May – Mother’s Day – I have been at the keyboard all afternoon. I started a writing routine and my wife of 45 years is pleased to see me back at it again. I intend to continue using your resources. Thank you Julie.
This is fabulous, and I’m particularly please to hear your writing is inducing marital harmony. Sometimes we forget that the people we live with LIKE to see us doing things that make us happy 🙂
Waiting for my editor to get back to me with a critique of my MG novel, I finished a story to every prompt in May (except the darn epistolary thing, which became a May 30 letter every 5 years over 90 years – to be completed; halfway there at 1991!) After an exhausting year of querying, this challenge restored me to my writing. Firing on all cylinders!
In June, I’ll
– edit & submit synopsis & 20 pp. of the MG to an interested agent
– write from daily prompts at least 5 days/week, & input the May stories
– use editor’s critique of YA novel to revise from 98M to 70-80M words
– enter more competitions
– finish writing PB with my son
Thank you so much, Julie!
That all sounds like awesome progress. Virtual high five from a person aspiring to productivity!
Sorry about the monster epistolary thing. I would say you get credit for that even though it’s technically not finished 😉
I am SOOOO pleased to hear that the challenge has revived your love of writing. That querying process can be SO draining…
* High Five *
I missed adding goals for May as I was distracted by the release of the IWSG Anthology Voyagers: The Third Ghost on May 5th: https://rolandclarke.com/2020/05/05/celebrate-voyagers-release-day/
The Anthology features one of my shorts, and I was busy promoting the book in April and June.
Anyway, my goals for June 2020 are:
IWSG Monthly blog post on June 3rd
WEP/IWSG bi-monthly flash fiction on June 17th
Continue the ongoing revision of my police procedural Fevered Fuse following beta-reader feedback
Oh! Congrats on the anthology. That’s exciting.
I love these goals!
I participated for the first time in the StoryADay May prompts, and I loved it!
I didn’t write a story each day, but I did do more writing than I had in a long time, and I found it really helped and inspired me. So here I am again …
My goals for June are these:
1. finish revising a story I did last year for a new market; and
2. write the first drafts of 2 additional stories.
(I know … these don’t sound like overly ambitious goals … but with a full-time job, and with a part-time second job that will have a large time commitment between now and June 11), that’s a fair bit of writing for me!)
Thanks to all of you (and especially YOU, Julie!) for doing this and helping all of us achieve our goals!
Congrats! I definitely call “did more writing than I had in a long time” a solid win!
And, actually, I was thinking that revising a story and writing two new ones DOES sound fairly ambitions. I know that, coming out of StoryADay, it seems laughable, but it’s A LOT of work to turn out two new drafts!
I wrote on all the prompts for May! I had to catch up a few times, but I made it. My first time with StoryADay May and I really enjoyed writing on something different every day. For next month, I want to concentrate on one or two to flesh out into a whole story.
Fantastic! I always tell people not to worry about catching up…unless that makes it more fun for them, and it sounds like it did, for you!
I’m so glad you had fun. Did you find any similarities in amongst those ‘somethings different’ every day?
I love that your goal is to flesh out your favourite couple of drafts. An excellent goal for the post-challenge period.
My goal for June is to write at least 100 words a day in my book.
I don’t have a lot of time this month, so I want to focus on consistency.
This is an extremely worthy goal. Consistency is huge.
I wrote 27 stories in May because I took Sundays off. I feel proud of myself because I am not a “finisher”.
This month I am going to spend one hour a day on writing-related activities, mostly rereading stuff I have written and making notes for editing. I have never reread anything I have written so this will be a real challenge for me.
That’s fabulous! Good for you!
And remember, we’re harder on our work than anyone. Remember to celebrate the good with the “needs work”!
Hi, all,
My plan for May was to:
*write a story every day – Did that!
*rewrite my cover letter & resubmit my novel – Did this, too! (It gets easier each time.)
*figure out what to do with a few longer stories – Did some work on this.
I also submitted 3 pieces (2 flash fiction and a poem) and attended several online writing events.
For June, my plan is to:
*review my May stories & choose 3 to edit & submit this month
*I have 2 longer stories & a possible interactive fiction piece that I’m dwelling on
*decide on next steps for my first draft novel from April Camp Nano.
Also, I’m involved in the planning of a LGBTQ+ sci fi & fantasy virtual convention happening in June, so that’s coming together right now.
Have a good month, everyone!
You have a full plate!
My goals for June 2020 are:
* Edit my third draft short stories and enter two of them in competitions.
* Read the two books recommended by the tutor of our local writers group.
* Continue to work through my Creative Writing Course handbook.
* Complete the existing chapters of my novel.
* Identify gaps in my novel and work on building the back story.
Awesome! Good luck with all that!