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
- Write a story a day in May – everyone!
- Revise at least 10 short stories – Iraide
- Write two short stories. – Jami
- Attend one writers’ conference – Julie
- Write fable for WordFactory competition – Sonya
- Re-read the backstory pieces I wrote in May and see if I can use them within my novel – Monique
- Research the market – Jami
- Focus on my serial – Maureen
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!)
Just found this site and love it, thank you. I am just starting to finally put theory into practice, so here are my goals for a brand new newbie, at 47, yup coming in late to the writing game.
1. Write and finish one story this month
2. Write every day, even if it’s just one word
3. Read at least three short stories a week
Welcome, Chad!
Make sure you find some way to stay accountable. It’s tough to write a story every day (don’t kid yourself!)
And remember StoryADay September is coming, when there will be another crew of people coming through it with you. But reach out to the community here if we can help.
6 Days past the end of May, and I have to be honest the ideas are still flowing.
This month I am taking a focus on reading, I hope to produce at least 1 short story.
In the meantime, I did Post today. One of my inspirations on spoken word Shane Kozycan and a link to the attempts I have made at poetry. https://afstoryaday.blogspot.com
I’m so glad to hear this! I love hearing when the StoryADay Effect keeps rolling.
I’m reading a lot too. I’m diving into EscapePod (speculative short story podcast) to keep me consuming stories even as I try to repair the havoc wrought on my house while I neglected it for StoryADay…
In June, I will review my 31 writings from May and see how they fit into a novel.
I will write 1 to 2 hours every morning on work days.
I will write 2-4 hours on my days off work.
I will learn to write in the 3rd person.
In June I will write one new short story and submit one story to a market (minimum)
I will critique a whole bunch of stories
I will read 15 published short stories
May Goals: Do Story A Day.
What Happened: Attempted 21 prompts.
Result: Got 15 full drafts. 6 half drafts to develop
June Goals: 1) Develop 1 story fully. 2) Regular Weekend check-ins to gauge difference between fantastic ideals and reality. 3) Write regularly.
My May goal was to write everyday and have a pile of at least 4 stories I want to develop/revise. I ended up with 8. In June, I plan to get at least 2 ready to send out and research markets. I plan to continue writing every day and finish 2 more from my pile.
I haven’t commented here before, but I’m excited to get involved!!
My goal for June is to publish a blog post at least once every week on my website.
In May I did Story-A-Day.
For June:
1. Write one hour each day.
2. Revise 2 stories from May.
3. I have a Writer’s Digest Calendar that has a prompt every Tuesday. I’ll start writing a story using the prompt on Tuesday.
4. Write a story with a Wednesday prompt from the emails Julie sends every Wednesday from the Story A Day website.
5. Start collecting 3 sparks each day.
In May, I wrote at least two new poems and revised and submitted at least five more. So far, two have been accepted for publication. I also published two blog posts, one of which was featured on a Website other than my own.
In June, I commit to revising and submitting the rest of my “old” poems.
I will also publish at least one blog post and contribute one post to the site that featured the blog post in May.
My goal for May was to write a story a day for a total of 31 stories. While I didn’t quite make it, I got close enough (30) to be really happy with it.
My goal for June is to revisit my Camp NaNo project from April and finish it as prep for Camp NaNo in July since I plan to work on the sequel to the April project as my July project. Hopefully, I can take the momentum from StoryADay to finally finish a NaNo project beyond just the word count.
I also plan to enter the NYCMidnight Flash Fiction challenge which will give me a prompt and 48 hours to write a short story (1000 words) to qualify for the next round. It sounds like a really cool contest, and thanks to StoryADay, I have the confidence to try and compete in it!
My May plans were Story A Day, doing some thinking on a couple of longer short story ideas, and more blog posts. I didn’t manage much in the way of blog posts, but I wrote 31 stories and did do some thinking/planning on the other ideas.
For June my plans are:
1) Polish 5 or 6 of the stories I wrote last month and submit them (they’re all flash fiction length).
2) I really like one of my May stories and I think it will be either a novel or novella. I’m working on developing it further.
3) Keep working on those longer story ideas from May.
4) More blog posts, especially on my Rendezvous with Rama re-read (which is taking way too long).
Good luck, all.
Although I didn’t commit to my goals here in writing/commenting, I managed to achieve them – well, all the red reminders on my calendar. Okay. I have some left/ongoing I knew would tale longer.
June aims:
IWSG monthly post
WEP/IWSG Challenge – Flash Fiction with theme ‘Caged Bird’
Reviews of the six books read in last quarter
Finish novella entitled ‘Kindled Casket’
Revise and submit novella ‘Azure Spark’ to editor 1.
This was a fun experience, and pushed me to write every day. I had been focused on a novel I am creating, and although I would write for a few hours every day, new stories crept into my brain, ones that didn’t fit into my novel. So I wrote according to the prompts and viola!
For June, I entered a short story writing contest and am editing my story (actually, stories). Fingers crossed!
You can check out some of my past stories here: https://mikeyent.com
Thanks!
My goal for this month is to sort out the organised chaos that is my short story pile. Basically, I need to do this because they seem to be in various areas within my study. It would be good to at least see what I have got and to plan what I will be doing with them.
I will work on story catching again.
Making them up from scratch is too hard, and less fun, than hanging out where the stories are and taking them down.
Coming up, one month of neighborhood festivals, garage sales, late night convenience store forrays, and small town lunch counters.
Want to write a story each day. Goal of one a week, I have to make money, too, and nobody pays for a first draft.
I wrote about what I learned from this year’s challenge here:
https://medium.com/@tammybreitweiser/what-i-learned-from-writing-a-short-story-every-day-2976ddb217d2?source=friends_link&sk=7adb97ab5fa1f49ea8f5e5e60399ee31
May: 31 stories was the goal and I accomplished it!
I submitted several stories last month as well.
June:
My goal is to dedicate one hour a week for the month of June to revision of my novel.
I also want to go through the September Storyaday drafts and revise one (May is too early for me – they have to marinate)
I will send out 5 submissions to various markets for the month. ( I have a couple rejected stories to revise
again and then send back out).
2 Medium posts a week (transitioning from blog)
Get my butt to 1 in real life writing meeting
My goal for June 2019. I will be reading through my StoryadayinMay stories and aim to extend and complete one each week.
Thank you all again. I find your posts very motivating.
Last month: Story a Day in May! Woo! Plus, I wrote my 5k story, started a novel, and did several short fanfics.
This month: Do research/write more on novel; work on my 10k Big Bang and 5k Little Bang; work on several exchange fics. Also, read. That took a hit during this last month, but I want to read more this month.
My goals for June are to finish my second draft and to start outlining a new novel project
Andrea, I went to your site and was knocked over by Fat Woman. “I quake with the knowledge that people have eyes…” You wrote what I didn’t know I felt because I was too busy feeling rage.