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 everyoneâs doing.
(It doesnât 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 donât 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 âwriters eyeâ- 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!)
Well, Iâve almost officially lost my mind, so at least Iâm done on that goal.
Iâm kidding. I got more than just that done. I still have a bunch of fics to work on going into January, but I just got a new Chromebook and that should help a lot.
Goal: Finish all December fics on time.
Make it to next year.
Make it to next year is, indeed a worthy goal. We would miss you!
Oo, happy news on the new Chromebook. I imagine it’ll all clean and running quickly. How lovely!
Sad to say. but I did not set any writing goals for November and…
can you believe I didn’t write.
What a block!
For December, I plan to write 30 minutes e-v-e-r-y day.
You do you, but consider setting your December goal to be âI will open my current project every dayâ and decide how many âstreak fixesâ youâll give yourself.
By lowering the bar and allowing for imperfection youâre much more likely to train your brain to look forward to your writing time.
Also: when will you do this? âEveryday right after I…â
(For the reasons behind this, have a listen to episode 150 of the podcast https://StoryADay.org/episode150)
Iâm cheering you on!!
Last month I participated in my own version of NaNoWriMo. I set a goal of 30,000 words because I knew 50,000 was just gonna stress me out and Iâd fail. I met my goal though, by making it a priority to write at least a thousand words every day, even if it wasnât working towards my novel. I learned so much in the process! For December Iâm going to put my novel aside to work on some blog posts, short stories or pieces to try and get published.
I love it! Well done, and I love that you know what youâre focused on this month!
Hi,
this is my first writing accountability post. What I intend to do this month is to choose the topic, research and write the first draft of a short nonfiction book (up to 25000 words).
Oof! Thatâs a lot! I like your ambition. Do you have a compelling reason to finish this month? If not, do you have a secondary threshold that you can call âsuccessâ even if you donât get the full draft done? (Me, Iâd choose: research and create an outline/table of contents)
Hi Julie,
thank you for your feedback.
I already have an outline and table of contents, which I drafted in a morning: I am really in love with the topic, and have plenty to say.
My reason for wanting to finish the first draft early is that I have time during the Xmas holidays, but, yes, I may have to write into middle January… you are right! đ
I achieved all my goals except one:-
* I still need to attempt an ending for my novel.
New goals for December:-
* Decide which section of my novel to redraft next and do it!
* I intend to continue to read daily but with my writerâs eye. I find it helps to make notes of page numbers and brief notes when the author âwowsâ me with a description or a piece of dialogue. Sometimes itâs the skill they use to move their story on. I must attribute this new habit to Julie because doing âStory Sparksâ taught me the value of noticing detail and jotting it down.
* Carry on with daily âStory Sparks â . Easy to do because I LOVE doing them and they really help my writing. Iâve filled my first notebook.
* Iâve identified a character in my novel that I intend to use as a villain. I want to create a character profile on him and bring him to life.
* Research the era and the culture that my âvillainâ comes from as itâs part of a back story in my family saga.
* Write several synopses of my novel to determine the best one.
I love this report, Wendy AND that you’re doing your Story Sparks faithfully!
Thank you Julie.
I really owe a great deal to your tips and support. You have moved me on so much with your videos and challenges. Story sparks changed my writing âđź! X
I managed almost 53,000 words last month for NaNoWriMo and more importantly I donât plan to shove it beneath a pile never to be seen again. I also worked out my writing goals for the next year but may tweak it to simplify.
This month I plan to work through the I, Writer course; organize my nano and make a reverse outline.
Courtney! Well done!
Looking forward to having you in the I, WRITER course, and I love the idea of a reverse outline. Someone said we tell the story multiple times, but the first draft is just us telling the story to ourselves.
Busiest season of the year for my work = drop in writing productivity. đ
Iâve had the same goals for two months now, just rolling them over. đ
I have accomplished two, but have two bigger ones yet to complete. This month should slow down and Iâm doing a staycation/shelter in place voluntarily starting in 2 weeks, so hopeful I can finish my list.
Send 3 stories out into the world – contests and/or publication
Finish at least one more short story
Complete at least one blog post (work related)
Complete and send my monthly newspaper column – this one I do do every month since there is an editor expecting it! đ
Write and send out my monthly newsletter (work related)
I’ve been more conscientious about devoting time to writing – even if it’s just plotting or researching. I used the Story Framework to write two stories and enter them into different contests. I polished up a third story and submitted it to another contest. I’ve begun outlining another short story using a board game called Mystery – Motive for Murder.
For December, I’ve got several plot ideas to work on. And I have a very old set of stories that need polishing before publishing them in a short story collection.
Great to hear this update, Joe.
I’m looking forward to your short story collection. So glad the framework is helping!
Managed to write every day through November! Achieved more than 50,000 words. I am now wanting to continue and finish my novel,first draft and to organise some of the chapters into a better order. There are benefits to lockdown, I’ve never managed such sustained periods of writing before đfewer distractions by far. Thank you for the encouragement to write daily and to sustain it over 4_6 week periods, I feel so privileged.
That’s fantastic, Lesley! So glad to hear it.
I want to write at least 1.000 words a week. So all in all, around 5.000 words in the month of December.
I love this goal because it takes the long view and seems manageable. Do let us know how you got on.