Daily Goals Progress (Accountability and Encouragement!)

we're snowed in till the plows come. i should be writing but my brain isn't cooperating. Have been exchanging stories lately and the comments have my brain weasels working overtime. Maybe time to read a little instead? 

716 today for a total of 5229. Not quite on target but the end of another chapter.

1413 today for a total of 6642 and another scene done. I'm closing in on the end of this novel (I hope).

Not really much writing going on. Work world and the slush window opened so doing those things. Hope everyone elses targets are coming along!!

Nearly mid February and I'm exhausted. I haven't written much, only a couple of bad flash. I read and read and read though: crits for quite a lot of flash pieces and beta-reading for a novella. Just received half of my monthly slush (50 stories) and read a dozen between yesterday and this morning. I feel I have no head space anymore for my own writing. No creativity, no motivation. I think though that, as January went quite well, only now do I get this start-of-the-year slump. It should all come back when sun and warmth make a return in a few weeks--fingers crossed. A bit of outside time, some gardening, having lunch on the terrace, some quiet time to laze in the sun with a book that would be (for once) for own pleasure and not as a writing-related task.

Whishing you lots of words and inspiration ❤️ 

Posted by: @hannya

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Nearly mid February and I'm exhausted. I haven't written much, only a couple of bad flash. I read and read and read though: crits for quite a lot of flash pieces and beta-reading for a novella. Just received half of my monthly slush (50 stories) and read a dozen between yesterday and this morning. I feel I have no head space anymore for my own writing. No creativity, no motivation. I think though that, as January went quite well, only now do I get this start-of-the-year slump. It should all come back when sun and warmth make a return in a few weeks--fingers crossed. A bit of outside time, some gardening, having lunch on the terrace, some quiet time to laze in the sun with a book that would be (for once) for own pleasure and not as a writing-related task.

Whishing you lots of words and inspiration ❤️ 

I've thought about reading slush just to get the experience of seeing what it's like. But I'm worried of this exact thing. With my already limited writing time, I'm afraid every minute of extra time would get eaten up reading other people's stories, and there would be zero time left for me to write my own. I have no doubt the experience would be eye-opening and instructive. But given the choice between the two, I'd rather spend my time writing. Maybe some day though.

I have two goals for 2025:

1) write stories
2) submit stories

I've written three so far this year, but two are micro-fiction. And I have eleven out circling the cosmos looking for a planet to land on.

Posted by: @morgan-broadhead

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I've thought about reading slush just to get the experience of seeing what it's like. But I'm worried of this exact thing. With my already limited writing time, I'm afraid every minute of extra time would get eaten up reading other people's stories, and there would be zero time left for me to write my own.

This can be true, unfortunately. But it depends on the mag. Some do not ask for much reading, others are more demanding in terms of volume and timeline. The length of stories, in my opinion, can be a dealbreaker.

I feel fine with Factor Four most of the year, and right now it's difficult not for the volume, but the lack of focus due to being mentally tired. 50 flash is not that much once you get the hang of it--as in: feeling those stories that might work for this specific editor and the vibe of the market. In 2 weeks, that's about 3 to 4 a day (so max around 15 to 20 pages daily, often less).

When reading for Translunar, this is so much more intensive. I feel that if the mag goes with limited windows (instead of opening all year round), the pressure is so much more. If you want to send a response in an acceptable timeframe, you need to read a lot in very little time. And Translunar goes up to 5k stories: those take time to read (then again, it's such a fun mag lol)

I must say I'm a big fan of reading slush. Apart from right now (because of personal circumstances) I love getting up with a coffee and a dive in my pile of stories. I would always encourage people who have a few hours a week to try if they'd like to, even for a short time. But first, it's important to agree on the commitment requested by the mag and put limits that are comfortable for both sides. Once in, though, it can be bliss: so many great stories to read, the community with the editors and other readers, the joy of having a piece you slushed being published. And as a learning exercise, it's great, for me anyway.

But as you say, if you're a writer, it's important to have priorities. And in my view, priority should be our own pieces before other ones. If slushing prevents you from writing, then I don't think it's worth it.

Starting my day! Wish me luck. I have 2 days before me that are more relaxed. Today, I intend to slush-read 10 flash, beta-read one chapter, and then WRITE. My own words. Or edit some pieces close to be submission ready!

I'm so excited 😍 

Posting here for accountability. We'll see how it goes lol.

@morgan-broadhead re: the power of slush, I acknowledge it takes time. But I think its like compound interest - so worth it! Reading inspires me to write myself. Yes, theres a limit beyond which reading takes all the time, but in reasonable doses I tend to find my writing productivity actually increases

Posted by: @hannya

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The length of stories, in my opinion, can be a dealbreaker.

This, this and this! Ten times over. I used to slush for a magazine where everything was 4.5-8k *and* we provided feedback to the authors. Some days it was fine, some days it was so, so hard. These days I slush for 2 magazines, one that has an upper limit of 3.5 k, which is about right I think, and the other which is all <1000 word flash which is just pure fun as it just makes the process simple - you *know* you can finish a 1000 word story when you start it, no matter whether good bad or indifferent. But if its 7000 words you can get 3000 words in, be completely lost and then making it the rest of the way through is a chore.

Posted by: @hannya

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I must say I'm a big fan of reading slush. .... I love getting up with a coffee and a dive in my pile of stories.

 

Bliss!!

Posted by: @hannya

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Starting my day! Wish me luck. I have 2 days before me that are more relaxed. Today, I intend to slush-read 10 flash, beta-read one chapter, and then WRITE. My own words. Or edit some pieces close to be submission ready!

I'm so excited 😍 

Posting here for accountability. We'll see how it goes lol.

so you posted for accountability.... so what happened? Did you make it? 😉

@gideonpsmith Hahaha.  Well not really 🤣 

I went fine on slush and beta reading. Own projects not at all. I tried editing, but brain-fog took over. Today I'll try again. Been drowning in rejections this week, which means I have a bunch of stories I could throw back into submissions. If I can sub 2 or 3 today after light edits, and update my follow-up table that I haven't touched for a week, I'll be happy. Because tomorrow is weekend frenzy again!

But I feel good. I haven't felt that good for weeks

2105 over the past couple of days for a total of 8747.

Posted by: @hannya

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@gideonpsmith Hahaha.  Well not really 🤣 

I went fine on slush and beta reading. Own projects not at all.

I count that as a 10 out of 10! At least one of the goals should always be considered just "extra credit" 😉

I've had a *really* hectic week 'life wise' and so, suffice it to say, no writing has been accomplished. Also because of that I have not been on here to read or post and so was expecting to come in and find dozens of daily updates from other people to comment on and enjoy and cheer on and to inspire me to get writing and - horror! (lol) - I find the last post was by me a week ago.

Come on people - we can do this together!  

Lets make some short term goals. Not monthly. Just for the next few days. And come in and cheer eachother on through them

Mine:

This weekend, FINISH the non-fiction piece I pitched a month ago and send it in. It was due yesterday 🤫 and I'm usually really good at keeping to deadlines and committments but just with 'real life/real work' this week hitting the fan as it were, this has been missed <<shame>> so thats my goal. Whats yours? Lets help eachother hit them! 

I have decided to make my weekend goals a little more ambitious as the finishing something I committed to feels too inevitable.

weekend STRETCH goals:

write another flash fiction

submit two pieces

ok, everyone. Please ping me periodically over the weekend and keep me accountable on these!

I had a bit of a health scare at the beginning of the week so haven't got much done. All clear though, so back in the saddle. 

Today I wrote 2408 words for a total of 12577 this month. I'm still aiming for 20k though.

1832 words today. But I think I'm done for the day

1546 today for a total of 14123.  Slowly catching up.

@gideonpsmith seems like you take on serious goals on the weekend just like I do. I just got rejected for an anthology and motivated me to finish two other shorts and get them submitted this weekend as well.

You got this.

@davidjvowell I take on goals but do I achieve them? Not so far, but thank you for the accountability shout out! So far this weekend I have been working through some slush for one of the magazines but my own writing has been on hold. Time to try and turn that around!!

well it might have been "time to change that" but apparently I'm still living in procrastination city. 

0 words 🙁

Okay, so I was clearly over-ambitious for this weekend! The only goal I successfully achieved was I did finalize my draft for the non-fiction piece I pitched last month and which was due to the editor this weekend. It's ten minutes before midnight and I just submitted it.  Yay!

Wrote 1300 on my query letter / proposal yesterday. Fixin to finish it today. (The draft. Then get eyes. Then finish the book. Haha)

rejection after 134 days from Nature Futures in my email today. At least it was the highest tier rejection. Also, I re-read what I submitted as my non-ficton piece last night and the good news is, it was decent. I hate waking up and re-reading something and going "What did I send...?" as the fatigue of midnight let me hit submit 😉

Work today, but we'll see if I can get some words down too

No words down so far, but I did manage to edit one piece which ended up 20 words longer so I guess, maybe a few words anyway, I submitted that to one of my usual targets and then another piece to a random magazine

In the end managed to submit 7 total yesterday - 1 new piece and 6 older pieces that I have had doing the rounds. This morning was able to get 500 words down before work.

3029 today for a total of 17152. I need just over 2800 tomorrow. I'll give it my best shot.

2927 for a total of 20079, and I did a blog post.