Every month we gather here to discuss what we’ve achieved and commit to making more progress in our creative lives in the coming month. We call it our Serious Writer’s Accountability Group or SWAGr, for short! (We’re serious, not sombre!)
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!
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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. )
Don’t forget, if you need inspiration for a story you can still get ALL THE PROMPTS from StoryADay May 2016 and support the running of the StoryADay challenge at the same time. (I’m really proud of this year’s collection!) Give a little, get a little 
Click here. Now only $2.99
My goals for November were to finish an article for a magazine (which I have done) and to take part in NaNoWriMo while also attending the Writer Unboxed UnConference in Salem, MA.
I did start a new novel and got lots of writing done in the first week of November. The second week was a challenge and I’m traveling next week, so this might be one of those years when I don’t win NaNo. I’m going to keep working on the new story though.
I haven’t been checking in much. I started a new job last July and I am just now settling into the adjustments it has made necessary. I have been writing though.
In October, I completed a revision of a short story I have been working on for some time. My finished draft goal for this year is 6 short stories, so far I have completed 1. With the work in October, I am nearly finished another one, and I began working on a third one. Having never actually revised any of my work to a finished piece, I feel like I bit off more than I knew with a goal of 6 finished short stories. I am growing as a writer every time I sit down at the page, and that is my ultimate goal.
My goal for November is to finalize my revisions from October and to revise another piece to final draft. I am excited to be able to attend Wordsfest in London, Ontario tomorrow. It will be a chance to be around writers and soak up some inspiration.
OO, I hope you had a good time at Wordsfest. Being around other writers is so affirming!
I loved this: “I am growing as a writer every time I sit down at the page, and that is my ultimate goal.”
Learning what’s possible and how the ebb and flow of life affects us, AND coming back to the page, is the only way to do this. Good for you!
I wrote a bit more on my short stories, but didn’t finish one. Phooey. On the bright side, part of the reason I didn’t get a ton accomplished was that I’ve gotten a second part-time job, which is difficult time-wise but very good for my life in general atm. And I did do some NaNo prep.
So, my November goals are –
– NaNoWriMo! I’ll attempt to write a full first draft, but I’ll be happy if I just ‘win’. This is a very important story to me and it’s good to finally get it out, but difficult too
– If I wind up having extra time+energy, I’ll try to draft a short story. But I won’t beat myself up if I can’t get that done.
– Also, lots of work.
Congratulations on your new job! It’s tough to adjust to such a big change, good for you that you stuck to your writing in any way.
Congrats on the news job. Keep those words flowing! Remember, an important story might need lots of discovery writing and false starts. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t feel like you have a perfect draft at the end of the month. Just as long as you keep writing…
Hello,
to get me started, write one story per week in November.
Hi, all,
I totally got distracted by the beginning of Nanowrimo.
So! My October plans were:
*finish the mystery novel and submit it to a contest: I did this! Yeah!
*outline my “Moon-Mars cargo pilot sucked into accompanying a group going to Enceladus to colonize it” story for Nano: I did this, too.
*really, truly work on the political thriller screenplay (second half of the month, after the mystery novel is done): Didn’t get to this, which wasn’t really too surprising all in all.
For November:
*the main thing is Nanowrimo. I’m 4000 words in and the story is going well so far.
*write some blog posts that have been sitting half-written for a few weeks.
*at least think about story ideas for a couple of deadlines coming up in December/January.
I think that’s more than enough 🙂
Good luck with the contest!
Congratulations on entering your work to a contest! Best wishes for Nanowrimo.
How’s NaNoWriMo going?
I like your plan to ‘think about story ideas for Dec/Jan’. There’s a lot of thinking and playing that has to go in before you can really write a good story, I think…