What did you write last month? What will you do in February? It’s time for the February Serious Writer’s Accountability Group!
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.)
Don’t remember what you promised to do? Check out the comments on previous SWAGr posts.
And don’t forget to celebrate with/encourage your fellow SWAGr-ers on their progress!
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Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months
- Complete a draft of a story – Ashley
- Write 1 blog post a week – Cris
- Write 10,000 (fiction) words this month.” – Julie
- Read a new short story every day.” – Julie
- Track my time and see what’s getting in the way of my writing – Alex
- Revise two short stories and research possible markets – Jeannie
- Schedule “me time” to recharge my creative juices – Jeannie
- Finish one of my other short stories and send it out – Maureen
- Write at least 500 words a day on any project – Maureen
- Write 1,500 words a day on my book. On weekends … write 2,500 words a day – Jeffrey
- Writing the synopsis for my novel – Misa
- Finish one story draft each month – Carol
So, what will you do this month? Leave your comment below:
(Next check-in, Feb 1, 2015. Tell your friends. )
Don’t forget, if you need inspiration for a story you can still get ALL THE PROMPTS from StoryADay May 2014 and support the running of the StoryADay challenge at the same time. Give a little, get a little 🙂 Click here.
I submitted two 2,000 word stories for competitions and reworked one of my Story a day in May stories. Originally for the 640 word prompt, I think. It is now just under 1,000 words. I’ve started on my 2,000 worder for the BBC competition, but haven’t much time to finesse it.
I’m due to have a cataract operation next week, so I’ll be out of commission for a few days. Still got another two short stories I’m trying to finish; one by end of February (submission date 1st March) and another for early March which I will be reading out at a writer’s event. I think my novel will not see much work this month, but I’ve signed up to a five day course in May for working on your work in progress. So I’ll need to do some prep work before then at least.
I wish you a speedy recovery from the operation!
I am so happy that you’re checking in every month, AND chugging along nicely. Always working. It inspires me!
Good luck with the challenges, work and prep this month.
I’m very late to this party, but I’m here now!
I’ve got lots of projects going, but here’s three I want to focus on especially:
Revise “Slow Jazz Awakening,” the compiled version of the first three of my Star Trek: Enterprise fan fiction stories I wrote on May 1-3, 2014, for Story a Day May.
Submit “SJA” to Ad Astra.
Review character and background materials for “The IDIC Romance”, in preparation for this year’s Story-A-Day May.
Not THAT late… 😉
Glad to hear you’re prepping for May already. Keep up the good work.
Because I am still a high school student, it is quite hard for me to find a lot of time to write.. but I still want to write so.. These are my goals.
This month I will
– Do at least 4 prompts for my tumblr project
– Finish and edit the short story i have started a year ago
– Doing more editing, especially for my novel
I can imagine you are slammed with work, but you’re doing yourself a real favor by figuring out how to fit writing into your life NOW. Busy times will come and go, but trust me, with a job, friends and family, you’re never going to be truly un-busy 🙂
Get that short story finished! (Even if you have to leave the editing until next month). And good for you, for working on a novel. What kind of story is it?
Like Maureen, I had a ‘bunch of stuff came up’ kind of month, but I did manage to knuckle down and do some writing, both during the “stuff” (it was a welcome escape) and after I got the “stuff” resolved.
Here are my January promises and how they went:
*10,000 fiction words — I did manage this. It came in chunks and lumps, but I hit 13,330 words.
*Finish the climax of the novel — I did not do this, but I planned and reread and made notes and set myself up to finish it in the next week or so.
*Read & log 15 short stories — um, this did not go so well. I did read a few short stories.
*Write on Wednesday Prompts for the site (and USE them, for fun writing exercises) — well, I queued them up, but I didn’t use them. I need to do this next month. I want to set a good example and encourage everyone here to chip in a quick’h’dirty Wednesday story to get the muscles moving for May.
In Feb I will:
*Write 10,000 words of fiction
*Finish my novel’s story and begin rewrites (my critique group is expecting to receive it in early March. Eek!)
*Read and log 15 short stories, really this time.
*Write On Wednesday prompts: write them and use them
*Finish up two articles for Flash Fiction Chronicles and submit them.
I think that’s quite enough to be going on with!
That was a lengthy list for a short month!
Well, got up and going here: https://shannonblood.wordpress.com/ for the Multimedia Comm class and here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/442648505890961/ for the Persuasion class. Plus a couple of essays. The essays were the easy part. I have a long way to go being comfy with tech stuff, I think. The “pain” article you posted earlier, Julie, has some good reminders about just getting going and sticking to it. Next Sunday is a monthly writer’s workshop in the area, and as a reward for my good behavior, I am taking those 4 precious hours on Sunday and doing creative writing only!!!
Well done on getting that blog up and running.
I love essays. I’m so much faster, writing essays than fiction 🙂
And yeah, that article on the Pain of Disappointment vs. the Pain of Discipline really hit home for me. I’m not particularly good at routine or perseverance (The fact that I’m turning up here six years after starting StoryADay May is largely thanks to YOU GUYS being here). But I’m trying. Getting started is the hard part.
Now, enjoy your Sunday write. Don’t get distracted. Fiction on!
New to the site (and abandoned the craft sometime after college), but back and eager. Finished NanoWriMo in November and did some light edits/brainstorming.
This month I plan to:
Read a short story a day with a writer’s eye.
Write two short stories.
Research the market.
Jami, welcome to the site and back to the wonderful world of short stories 😉 Great to hear you’re starting a reading program. I find that really helps. Two more tips: capture Story Sparks every day (just details from life, not outlines); and finish your first drafts as quickly as possible. Wishing you a creative month!
Hm… a bunch of stuff came up last month, but I still managed to get one short story written and I’m halfway through the romance novella. This month I’m going to be aiming for:
– finishing that novella
– doing light edits
– finding good places to send the couple short stories I have
– and get a start on rewriting a novel that needs it.
Excellent stuff!
Working on a series called Transitional Delusions.
Love a series! Makes it a bit easier to start each new story, don’t you think? Good luck!