You’re back! Or you’re here for the first time. Either way, good for you!
Welcome to the Serious Writers Accountability Group, where we post our goals for the coming month and ‘fess up to how much we wrote last month.
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 second Wednesday 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
- “I’m going to write every morning from 6-7 AM.”
- “I’ll write 250 words a day, minimum.”
- “I’ll write 10,000 (fiction) words this month.”
- “I’ll write one full story and revise another.”
- “I’ll write four stories and submit one story to a publication.”
- “I’ll outline that presentation I’ve been putting off working on, and create half of the slides.”
- “I’ll track my time and see what’s getting in the way of my writing.”
- “I’ll keep a journal to track my resistance to getting the work done.”
Still not convinced? Check out Melissa Hoffman’s Guest Post on what an accountability buddy can do for your writing life.
So, what will you do this month? Leave your comment below:
(Next check-in, October 11, 2014. Tell your friends. )
Good stuff, How about some deadlines on that novel or the competitions?
Hi Julie,
I’ve checked back on my original objectives and I seem to have fulfilled two out of three!
Firstly I was looking to work up some of my May story a day stories. I’ve done about four of these now, some of which I have entered in competitions. This ties in my second objective which was to enter a few competitions and get my work ‘out there!’ So far, I’ve submitted one of my earlier stories for a radio programme (not heard anything yet), two of my May stories have been entered into magazine competitions and I finished another May story which I revised quite heavily and hopefully that will appear in my writing groups anthology in the near future.
Going forward I have identified a number of forthcoming competitions and I am starting to develop new stories for these.
I’ve not progressed my half finished novel, but this remains an objective. Ideally I want to put a structure in place so that I can work through it on a chapter by chapter basis.
I did nothing in August. Between work, home and studying I didn’t have the inclination to work on anything even though I had plenty of time.
I’ve decided that in September that I am going to try edit one scene (at least) a day for my first completed novel. Also possibly finish the short story I started in June.
And find a good online critique group.
Good for you Meg. Let us know how you get on. I’ve heard good things about Scribophile (in fact I believe there’s a StoryADay group there)
OK, I’ll go first.
August was a tough one because of travel and vacations and kids (tiny, time-sucking monsters, why? Why?), but here’s what I got done:
– Submitted two 15-page samples of novel-in-progress to critique group (complete with summaries of ‘the story so far, that really helped me get back into it)
– A few more (4?) episodes of my ForgeTown serial novel (http://www.julieduffy.com/category/writing/fiction/forgetown-follies/)
– critiqued a full novel for critique partner (useful lessons for me in that)
– working on an article for Flash Fiction Chronicles series on Genre (see past installments here: http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog/tag/julie-duffy/)
Next month:
– Am getting back to my 10000 words a month pledge and am pushing forward on the novel.
– Would like to do some short story writing for themed anthologies and contests too, but we’ll see.
– Critique a full novel for another crit partner
– Submit 15 pages to critique group
– Attend StorySlam and maybe participate.
How about you?
I’m coming from a full stop, so my goal is to write 4 short stories this month, and create writing time in my week.
One a week, then? If you need an extra boost, check out the free email series I put together with Gabriela from DIYMFA.com: 7DayStory.com. Walks you through the process of writing and revising a story in a week.
Thanks – I will check these out!