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!
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. )
Well, I guess I should make my commitments, huh?
This month I am:
* Writing five 100 word stories a week for StADaSep17
* Putting out five prompts a week and one podcast
* Continuing to rack up words/scenes for my novel in progress (I may have to come up with a proper goal for this)
* Keeping up to date with the Jerry Jenkins Your Novel Blueprint Course that I’m taking (I’m behind, because of last month’s hectic but fabulous family holiday)
* Not being derailed by back to school, family visits, or other challenges
* Writing fiction first thing in the morning before I do anything else
Good luck, everyone!
This month I’m aiming to write a story for each of the Story-a-Day prompts, as well as do more revision on my story collection.
Excellent. Glad to have you back, Joe.
Are you planning on releasing the short story collection yourself, or shopping it to publishers?
This month, I am planning a story a day, but I’m not setting a length minimum, so just whatever I write gets done. I’m saying I’m gonna be chill this month (since it’s my birthmonth) but ahahaha, I keep signing up for fandom writing exchanges, send help.
There is no help for you. Sorry. 😉
Good luck with the September writing and do have a fabulous birthmonth (I’m a big fan of stretching out birthday celebrations as long as possible!)
I started well last month with 10k words in 10 days, but life got chaotic and I crashed and burned shortly after that. Better than last month, but still far from my goal.
I’ve been thinking that maybe word count goals don’t work very well for me. This month I’ll focus on the projects and let the words take care of themselves.
My #1 goal for September is to do StoryADay with May rules: one story per day (no minimum word count limit), no rest days, no excuses.
That should take up nearly all my energy. If I have time, though, I would also like to finish the first draft of an academic article and write weekly blog posts.
Wish me luck.
Excellent. I love the fact that you are not letting the missed word count goals derail you and are, instead, trying something else. Word counts can be useful when you have a deadline, but perhaps you DO need to focus on ‘getting to the end’ or something like that.
“No rest days, no excuses” can definitely work for certain personality types. Good luck!
Hi, all,
During August, I wanted to finish the current draft of my WIP. So, I pretty much did, although a lot of not in the way I originally intended. The ending is in need of some additional scenes, but I realized I needed to sort out the structure leading up to it first.
I also wanted to finish the 2 short stories I had in process. I finished one (and submitted it).
For this month, I am going to do September story a day. I want to use the prompts for science fiction stories (about 750 words for a short story or an outline).
And I am going to continue to work on the novel (draft 2!), both continuing to work through it structurally scene by scene and by taking an online class on the ‘first 50 pages.’
And I want to finish the short story I didn’t complete last month (for an anthology that does not have a deadline yet).
Good luck, everyone!
Congrats on getting to the end of the first draft. I think you can solidly call it that, now that you’re going back to rework it. And well done on getting that story out (good luck!)
Looking forward to hearing how the revisions go, as well as the StADaSep17 writing!
My SWAGR goals for September:
-Write a scene each day for my novel manuscript, except on Thursdays. On Thursdays I will do one of the following:
-Work on my mailing list
-Write a blog post
– Revise and submit a short story.
-Start a new short story
A short story I wrote in June has been accepted, and I’m waiting for it to be published. I’ve submitted a story I wrote for StoryADay May, and I’m waiting for responses.
Congrats on having the story accepted! That’s excellent.
Ooo! Do let us know where we can find the story when it comes out. Congrats!!