This monthโs Serious Writerโs Accountability Group is the perfect opportunity for you to list your goals (and personal rules) for this yearโs StoryADay May. Donโt be shy. Tell us what youโre going to do this May!
Did you make a SWAGr promise last month? Donโt remember what you promised to do? Check out the comments from last month.
And donโt forget to celebrate with/encourage your fellow writers on their progress!
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Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months
- Finish novella โ Maureen
- Write two short stories. โ Jami
- Write 10,000 (fiction) words this month. โ Julie
- Work on a series โ Brick
- Track my time and see whatโs getting in the way of my writing โ Alex
- Research the market โ Jami
- Writing the synopsis for my novel โ Misa
- Finish one story draft each month โ Carol
So, what will you accomplish this month? Leave your comment below:
(Next check-in, 1st of the month. Tell your friends. )
Donโt 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.
Good for you. Glad the April story went well.
I am not a morning person (!!) but I will say if there is any way you can make your daily pages a priority before the rest of the day gets its hooks into you, it may help. I feel much calmer when I have spewed out me morning pages!!
My goals for April were to write one first draft of a short story and to write my daily pages every day. I completed my April story early in the month, April 4. It literally flew off my pen during a daily pages session. It was therapeutic subject matter and gave me a sense of release to have it on paper. I typed it in the laptop and printed it off, that was freeing. I had a tough time keeping up with my daily pages. In fact, it has been a full week now with no pages. My schedule with family, work and personal commitments has been overwhelming. I feel the hole it is making in my mind and I intend to write daily pages tonight before I go to bed. That being said, another daily pages session produced a complete story. I will consider it my May story so I am ahead of my goal for the year. Good thing too because May is promising to be very busy as well.
Goals for May
Write at least one more short story. I am going to use as many of the prompts as I can to get some stories done this month. Anything I finish will be bonus material. My goal here is to finish everything I start before starting anything new.
Write my daily pages every day going forward.
This is my first time at this rodeo! Iโm going to write a story every day for the month of May. Wish me luck, and good luck to all!
So this is the first time I am doing this challenge. I was quite excited when I heard about this actually. So this is my goal for the month of May.
. Write a story a day with the writing prompts given. Donโt know what I will do with the material I write. I just want to write. ๐
. I also have to finish the second draft of my feature film screenplay.
Deep breath. Jump.
Glad youโre here and I love your line โdonโt know what Iโll do with the material i write. I just want to writeโ. I feel the same way, most of the time!
๐
I didnโt even know there was goal setting happening. I wasnโt paying attention! Iโm really excited to do this.
May goal:
Write every day for Story-a-Day. Iโve been really haphazard about my writing for quite a while, so Iโm not going to pledge to complete a story every day, but I am going to pledge to start one every day. If nothing else, Iโll come out of May with 31 story starters.
Love it! We do this goal-setting part every month, year round, Kim, so we can keep you accountable all year.
I set a target of 10,000 words for April which was a bit optimistic. Iโve sent off one of my competition entries a few days ago, which was a reworking of a story from about 3 years ago and Iโve also reworked another story from about a year ago and read it out at my writing group. Probably around 4,000 words. Iโve been outlining the chapters of my novel in preparation for my weeks retreat and Iโm in the process of sketching out another of my competition short stories.
Looking forward to the Story a Day challenge. Iโm away from home for next three days, but I intend to produce something each day, even if it is a bit sketchy.
Malcolm! Youโre early!
Good luck with the contests and with replenishing that bank of short story.
Happy travels. Keep that notebook close by!
Hi everyone, this is my first time doing StoryADay May but I think itโs exactly what I need. Iโve just finished doing Camp Nano and I reached my word count but I didnโt necessarily finish the stories I started. I have a problem finishing things so that that is expressly part of the point of StoryADay May is very good.
I think I am going to do a story every day except Sunday. And if it is still too overwhelming Iโll take Saturday off too, but Iโd rather not. I am also doing NaPoWriMo and I would like to continue writing at least one poem a day.
Iโm hoping to concentrate on flash fiction which I am also new at.
Hi Tamara, and welcome!
I definitely recommend pushing yourself then adjusting the target if itโs unworkable. Just keep turning up at your desk/notebook/computer!
Flash is not always faster than a short story, of course, so if you find yourself rambling on past 1000 words, donโt worry. But do get to the end.
I have too many writing projects with deadlines looming to promise myself a story a day. My goal is to write at least two pages every day, and hoping to do much more on some days.
Iโm hoping to work my way through these commitments so I can get back to the freedom of writing for fun!
OK, well, weโll take two pages a day! Or even one. Or even sitting-down-and-making-some-notes!
Good luck!
Hi, all, Iโm new to stating my monthly goals (but Iโm thinking it will help), although Iโve done Story A Day May before (some years more successfully than others!).
Iโm currently writing a novel (a mystery that I consider to be the first in a series), so I thought I would use the month to write stories that are: 1) backstory anecdotes to fill out my charactersโ personalities; 2) outlines of future books and short stories in the series; and 3) outlines of some books from the fictional series the protagonist loves and frequently refers to.
I figure that should keep me busy.
And thank you so much, Julie, for doing this again!
Iโve done a lot of writing since I was on here last. Some of my short stories have been published on Kindle and in paperbacks. I still have a few shorts from last time that i havenโt done anything with. But this May I plan to replenish my short stories. I hope to write a little longer stories instead of flash all the time, but donโt know if thatโs possible for me and still squeeze thirty one stories in. Weโll see.
Iโm looking forward to this challenge especially since I couldnโt do it last year.
Thanks, Julie for hosting this again.and making it so fun. Writing should be fun as well as productive. ๐
Yay! Welcome back and congrats on the writing successes (and thanks for the kind comments).
Hey, if your aim is to write longer stories and you need to adapt the total-output to fewer than 31 stories, then go ahead. Can you finish a longer one every other day?
Hi Monique! Glad to see you here in the SWAGr group. Sounds like we have some similar aims. I tried writing backstory stuff for my novel universe last year and didnโt consider it a success at the time, but it did help when I got back to the novel(s). So I wish you success and patience!
So, last monthโฆ I came up with stuff to do without remembering that I had a surgery appointment later in the month. As it turns out, I donโt work well under stress of surgery. But hey, I managed to write scattered 25k of fiction over various projects, and one of my stories got named a Story of the Week by i09, so the month wasnโt a total wash.
This month Iโm probably not going to be doing strictly a story per day โ my short stories often take 2-3 days to write properly. But I will:
โ write one short story per week, a la Bradbury
โ build up my blogging skills โ actually write a post per week
โ finish plotting and character-building for a serial Iโm launching soon, โMostly Dead Girlsโ
Ah, we live and learn, eh?
And I would call your progress much better than โnot a total wash!!
I discovered the Bradbury Story A Week idea after I had started StoryADay May. In retrospect, itโs a much more sensible idea, and I recommend it heartily. But I think thereโs a place for a little insanity for those who are inclined, once a year ๐
Good luck!
I miiiiight have a small perfectionism problem. ๐
I actually really want to try the proper Story-A-Day May sometime โ just both Mays since I found it have been booked with other projects I need to spend some time on in advance. Ah well.
Hey use it however it helps until you find yourself with a clear May!
My goals for May 2015 โ (2) story drafts each week. That will give me (8) rough drafts to work with. Iโve decided to reasonable goals for myself, as a story-a-day, tantalizing as that is, will just not cut it for me. ๐
Wishing everyone here Good luck, Happy Writing, and BIG THANKS to Julie for getting us all set up for a great May of writing !
P.S. โ Love the May prompts KINDLE book, well worth the money.
Hi Carol!
Aw, youโre sweet. Thanks for the comment about the Kindle book. I love hearing that itโs helpful.
I love your goals, too. If you keep that pace up throughout the month, youโll be creating a fabulous habit!
Well, since Iโm the โbrainsโ behind this, I suppose Iโd better commit to writing a story a day in May, eh?
So thatโs what Iโll do.
My plan is to
*write some more episodes of a serial I started last year (http://www.julieduffy.com/category/writing/fiction/forgetown-follies/)
*write some Christmas stories for release in November (I did this in 2013 and it was fun! )
*write some other holiday/themed stories for submission to markets that like holiday/themed stories.
*perhaps write some short stories set in the universe of my novel(s) to add depth, spark ideas for them, and potentially work as stand-alone pieces.
Last month I promised to:
* Write, promote and release the 2015 StoryADay Writing Prompts ebook DONE!
* Solicit guest prompts from established writers, to go up on the site DONE!
* Clean up the site and open it for registration DONE!
* Spam the heck out of the mailing list. DONE!
* Interview writers and guest post on other sites to raise awareness of StoryADay May (our sixth year!!!) DONE!
Oooh, I like the way you broke down what kind of stories youโll write. I think Iโll nick that for my May Plan ๐
Well done on achieving all the April goals โ sounds like a lot of work!
Iโm hoping having specific stories planned will help.
And yes, Iโm fairly exhausted. Iโm probably the only person around here whoโs looking forward to writing a story a day as a *break* from what Iโve been doingโฆ ๐
My goals: a story a day (first time doing the challenge!) and finish revising a series of short stories Iโm indie publishing. I can do this!
Welcome, Leslie! Yes, yes you can. And if you trip up from time to time, just keep going!
Thanks! ๐
Iโve been a Nano Rebel the last few years by writing short stories so this should be an easy adjustment ๐
Famous last words ๐
Hehe possibly! ๐
So, hereโs what I said last month:
My big goal for the month: Finish my CampNaNo novella โ 20,000 words โ and publish a 100-word story every day on the blog (oh the insanity!).
I finished the novella last night, and I wrote a 100-word story every day. Well, okay, Iโm still working on todayโs, but itโs going to go up soon.
May goals:
โ write a story a day (obviously!); use one 100-worder a week as opening for a longer story
โ print out and read through novella; take editing notes
I am in awe! Go YOU!
I just finished the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. In May, oโcourse, Iโll do a (VERY short!) story a day on my blog.
Do you take June off, or do you have a challenge lined up for every month of the year? ๐
Thank you, Marian! Iโm still a bit amazed I actually did it, tbhโฆ
Looking forward to reading your stories ๐
Wow. I have a good feeling about your May goals, Sonya!
Excellent! Thank you, Julie ๐