The Writers Aspirant Accountability Thread

As I was a little late declaring Sept ones (and I just happen to be up) thought I would put report in for Sept on time!

September goals:

1. Spread out my blog posts. Ironically the complete opposite of the last few months. But I realized that writing blog posts is easy. There's no rejection. And so I am putting more energy into that and not writing fiction which is the goal. So I aim to post one blog post this month and exercise the self-control that its not my focus for the month. Fiction will be.

Success. I exercised the self control to only do one blog post his month. It did take control - I could see my blog view numbers declining and I was itching to maintain them, but no, I focused on what is most important to me - fiction.

2. Write another new flash fiction piece

Success. I feel like an infomercial but I wrote not one, not two, but three, yes you heard me correctly, three stories and all for just three easy installments of the bargain price of... well, a couple of coffees. It actually turned out to be two flash and one short story.

3. Submit my Q3 elsewhere. Wotf might not have liked it, but I believe in this piece. So I'm going to send it elsewhere, not leave it on the hard drive, which is where most of my wotf entries remain.

 Hmmm. Succesful failure? In that I successfully sent it somewhere else...and they also rejected it lol. So, really ... failure?

Regardless, I'm happy with my month. 3 stories written, i sent stuff out. I had an acceptance, just not the one I wanted/thought, and I spoke on some panels at flights of foundry con. So I'm going to celebrate this as a successful month /p>

October goals? I think I need more time than the clock just turning midnight into October 1 to come up with good ones, so I'll be back with those.

The September results are in. Let's see what fabulous prizes I've won!

• 6,000 words on my longer work in progress 
  • ~4K / 6K - 👎 
• Finish a draft for Q1, 2025 from one of the 3 pieces currently hovering somewhere between "once upon a time" and "the end"
  • Completed one long piece that went a lot of directions I didn't expect. - 👍
• Keep at least 5 pieces out on submission as close to at all times as possible
  • 4 quick rejections made this one tricky, but it went well enough. A couple of these would definitely need more polish before I considered sending them around anymore. - 👍 

And the grand prize for 2/3 is . . . More writing in October! 

New Goals:

• 13,000 words on my WIP
• Keep my grubby mitts off that draft from last month. I have a bad habit of editing too soon and not making the deep changes necessary. I have to freshen up these eyes.
• Keep 3 pieces out on submission. If passion returns for those 2 that aren't quite up to snuff, maybe they'll reenter the rotation.

Very quickly checking in.

September goals were:

• Rewrite novel - getting out of Chapter 3 would be nice LOL. Nope
• At least one new story drafted. Yes
• At least one story edited/polished. Three
• Keep on submitting, let's say minimum 5 at a time (more and more stories are finishing their sub lives and end up in the trunk, so I don't have enough left in stock). I have 10 right now!
• Submit for Q4. Yes
• Submit to Apex, gosh, fingers crossed I can manage something. YES (but it was a struggle and maybe I shouldn't have, wasn't ready)

Other things that happen: my held piece for that pro-market went flop. From personal R I got, the slush readers loved it (2 loved it, 1 liked it apart from some stuff that I've now edited) but the editor not at all. That was disappointing, I apparently didn't manage to get to him (and I wonder if he actually felt offended, it sounded like that, gulp), and now it's another year before it might open again.

October goals:

Well, so far nothing. I'm clearly doing too much. I start my day at 5:30am and I work and read slush, then work some more then read more slush, and then I have family and kids, and then more slush and beta-reads/crits for friends, then it's night time and I'm exhausted. Not only exhausted, but stressed, like I can never do enough. I sub-ed to Apex and Apex Flash on the last day, during a coffee break between 2 meetings, and I had no time to properly do the last chechking pass (and I messed the formatting, sure, lol) nor the previous polishing, word-level pass. This is no way to submit and I'm ashamed of myself. Do I need a break? I'll let it all sit this week and I'll see what I do next. If ever, I'll post objectives later.

Meh.

@hannya hey @hannya sounds like you know this, but you're doing too much. I also slush for a magazine (by the clues in what you say above, quite possibly the one you subbed to) but slushing is meant to *support* our writing, not defeat it. its really easy to burn out slushing. think of it as a marathon not a sprint. be kind to yourself and remember to make sure you also have bandwidth for your own creative time

Didn't have a particular goal for september, but I sub'd three short stories to writing contests and wrote a synopsis for a novel. October's going to be all about the novel and my goal is to write at least 15.000 words. I hope more, but I'm also busy with house renovations and have a 2 yo running around, so I'm trying to be realistic here...

Posted by: @toddjones

September 2024 Goals: Update

• Update Q3 WotF RWC and submit for Q4 (I said I wouldn't resubmit old stories moving forward, but this story needs a proper ending and I failed to do that.) - COMPLETED
• Complete a new story for October submission to Flame Tree Publishing  (Edgar Allan Poe-ish style story) - DRAFT COMPLETED
• Complete draft for part 2 of Semi-Finalist WotF story - FAILED
• Updated Existing Stories and Submitted to Apex and DreamForge (Stretch goal)- COMPLETED

 

October 2024 Goals:

• Complete a new story for October submission to Flame Tree Publishing  (Edgar Allan Poe-ish style story)
• Complete draft for part 2 of Semi-Finalist WotF story
• Start a new story for Q1 WotF

I had a goal to submit a story for Q4 which I did.

I want to spend October playing with new and old ideas, and see if some of my half started stories could find a new direction or fresh perspective. I shall focus working on the aspects that have been my biggest problem lately, clarity and setting.

Also I'd like to re-work the opening scene for my Q3 RWC story, but I'm not in a hurry to do that.

Also I'll try to remember every day that it's October! I love October!

I love when I'm late (this is true, but also a lie. I deplore being late, which is unfortunate, because making me late is the Life Goal for all four of my daughters, and they are more successful than I am) because I get such a surge of pride when I finally get to this thread and see so many people self-reporting! 

I've said it before but it bears repeating: y'all freaking rock.

Apologies for the formatting, I wrote this outside of the forums to ensure I didn't lose my progress mid-message, and some formatting got butchered. I'm not doing it again. 😜 

Posted by: @gideonpsmith

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  1. Spread out my blog posts. 

Success. 

2. Write another new flash fiction piece

Success. I wrote not one, not two, but three stories

3. Submit my Q3 elsewhere. Wotf might not have liked it, but I believe in this piece. So I'm going to send it elsewhere, not leave it on the hard drive, which is where most of my wotf entries remain.

 Succesful failure? In that I successfully sent it somewhere else...and they also rejected it lol. So, really ... failure?

Regardless, I'm happy with my month. 3 stories written, i sent stuff out. I had an acceptance, just not the one I wanted/thought, and I spoke on some panels at flights of foundry con. So I'm going to celebrate this as a successful month  

What a fantastic month! Three stories! Stuff sent out! Panel speaking! AN ACCEPTANCE?! If I had a 'mood board' for role models I'd be pinning a photo of you-in-September on it.

Posted by: @mulch

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The September results are in. Let's see what fabulous prizes I've won!

6,000 words on my longer work in progress 
~4K / 6K - 👎 
Finish a draft for Q1, 2025 from one of the 3 pieces currently hovering somewhere between "once upon a time" and "the end"
Completed one long piece that went a lot of directions I didn't expect. - 👍
Keep at least 5 pieces out on submission as close to at all times as possible
4 quick rejections made this one tricky, but it went well enough. A couple of these would definitely need more polish before I considered sending them around anymore. - 👍 

And the grand prize for 2/3 is . . . More writing in October! 

New Goals:

13,000 words on my WIP
Keep my grubby mitts off that draft from last month. I have a bad habit of editing too soon and not making the deep changes necessary. I have to freshen up these eyes.
Keep 3 pieces out on submission. If passion returns for those 2 that aren't quite up to snuff, maybe they'll reenter the rotation.

Yay! Congrats on sticking with the accountability your first month. 4k out of 6k ain't bad when you finished a whole 'nother story, especially a long one. And keeping 5 pieces out is really impressive. I used to aim to keep 1 out at all times, but have failed repeatedly. 13,000 is a lofty goal! Do you have an outline supporting your endeavors? And yes, definitely try to let your draft marinate. I think Stephen King recommends 6 weeks? Obviously it differs for each person/story. Sometimes I can forget a story in a week, other times I come back to it a year later and still remember every word.

Posted by: @hannya

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Very quickly checking in.

September goals were:

Rewrite novel - getting out of Chapter 3 would be nice LOL. Nope
At least one new story drafted. Yes
At least one story edited/polished. Three
Keep on submitting, let's say minimum 5 at a time (more and more stories are finishing their sub lives and end up in the trunk, so I don't have enough left in stock). I have 10 right now!
Submit for Q4. Yes
Submit to Apex, gosh, fingers crossed I can manage something. YES (but it was a struggle and maybe I shouldn't have, wasn't ready)

Other things that happen: my held piece for that pro-market went flop. From personal R I got, the slush readers loved it (2 loved it, 1 liked it apart from some stuff that I've now edited) but the editor not at all. That was disappointing, I apparently didn't manage to get to him (and I wonder if he actually felt offended, it sounded like that, gulp), and now it's another year before it might open again.

October goals:

Well, so far nothing. I'm clearly doing too much. I start my day at 5:30am and I work and read slush, then work some more then read more slush, and then I have family and kids, and then more slush and beta-reads/crits for friends, then it's night time and I'm exhausted. Not only exhausted, but stressed, like I can never do enough. I sub-ed to Apex and Apex Flash on the last day, during a coffee break between 2 meetings, and I had no time to properly do the last chechking pass (and I messed the formatting, sure, lol) nor the previous polishing, word-level pass. This is no way to submit and I'm ashamed of myself. Do I need a break? I'll let it all sit this week and I'll see what I do next. If ever, I'll post objectives later.

Meh.

Yep, I'd say I agree. You might be doing too much. You're volunteering for slush (amazing), helping friends (amazing-er), putting words down (amazing), submitting TEN stories (amazing-er), working (eh, we all have to do it), parenting (amazing-est!), and *feeling ashamed* after all that!? Give yourself a break! You sound like Superman being disappointed he can only lift five skyscrapers. I can't give you any practical advice (time-management is not a strength of mine. Really, it's more like my kryptonite), but do some soul-searching and work out how to look after yourself, at least a little. And congratulations on all the achieved goals! Don't sweat the singular non-success. It'll get done when you need it to.

Posted by: @marius

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Didn't have a particular goal for september, but I sub'd three short stories to writing contests and wrote a synopsis for a novel. October's going to be all about the novel and my goal is to write at least 15.000 words. I hope more, but I'm also busy with house renovations and have a 2 yo running around, so I'm trying to be realistic here...

Welcome Marius! You've made a commitment, so you're on my list now! Prepare to be (incredibly mildly) nagged at the end of month/beginning of the next.15,000 words is a lotta words! I wish you the best of luck with it, the house renovations, and the ever-running 2 year old. Where do they get their energy from? Pretty sure if we put all the 4-and-unders on treadmills they could power the world.

Posted by: @toddjones

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September 2024 Goals:

Update Q3 WotF RWC and submit for Q4 (I said I wouldn't resubmit old stories moving forward, but this story needs a proper ending and I failed to do that.) - COMPLETED
Complete a new story for October submission to Flame Tree Publishing  (Edgar Allan Poe-ish style story) - DRAFT COMPLETED
Complete draft for part 2 of Semi-Finalist WotF story - FAILED
Updated Existing Stories and Submitted to Apex and DreamForge (Stretch goal)- COMPLETED

October 2024 Goals:

Complete a new story for October submission to Flame Tree Publishing  (Edgar Allan Poe-ish style story)
Complete draft for part 2 of Semi-Finalist WotF story
Start a new story for Q1 WotF

Ooh, excited to hear how you get on with that EAP story! #BaltimoreNeverless. And great work with all those submissions. Best of luck for your October goals! A finished story, a finished draft, and a WIP is a great place to be. Want to edit? Hit the draft. Want to write? Hit the WIP? Want to bask in glory: finished story!

Posted by: @tiinag

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I had a goal to submit a story for Q4 which I did.

I want to spend October playing with new and old ideas, and see if some of my half started stories could find a new direction or fresh perspective. I shall focus working on the aspects that have been my biggest problem lately, clarity and setting.

Also I'd like to re-work the opening scene for my Q3 RWC story, but I'm not in a hurry to do that.

Also I'll try to remember every day that it's October! I love October!

Great work submitting to Q4. I'm proud of you. Submitting is hard!
For October, consider refining your goals. Not for me (seriously, no shade from me if you don't) but for yourself. When goals are clear, achievable, and desirable, they're way easier to succeed with. What does playing with new and old ideas really mean? Do you want a finished draft out of it? A finished story? Ten pages of exploration written? Again, no pressure at all, just something to think about.

And yay for October! I completely agree with the love. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, the temperature is perfect for being outside, and it includes my wedding anniversary.

Posted by: @tj_knight

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Final tally - 29k in Septembergust!

Today I am at 79k, so I'll offer my goal of reaching 100k by the end of Octomber.

Holy moly, 29k in a single (or double? Doesn't matter. Impressive regardless) month!? Amazing. I have no doubt you'll hit that 100k by Hallonksgiving.

@ajschultz6, @clfors, @writhmic, @pdblake, @annax, @kz_richards, @joel-c-scoberg, @storysinger, @physa, @pegeen, @kent, @jeschleicher, @sconn, @ericstallsworth, @olivia-ava, @abeona, @bon, @thewritingwolf, how did your Septembers go? In what amazing ways are you going to kick October's butt?

Posted by: @ease

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September Goals:

• Get something finished for a mid-September workshop. Probably that Ashes chapter or my 'short' story (which spans 14 billion years!) Success! Finished, critiqued, revised, and submitted my 14 billion year story!
• Regardless, get both finished by the end of September. ABJECT FAILURE - I think I edited a single line of my Ashes chapter? I didn't have a lot of keyboard time 🙁
• Revise and submit an Alien Crab story that just got pooh-poohed by BCS. Success!

It's not much, but I'm working at least one weekend in September, probably two. 

Make that every freaking weekend except for the one I went to a writing convention! Yikes. It was not a good month for writing for me. Other than rushed editing before rushed submissions, I didn't get any keyboard time all month. I did manage to dictate ~12,000 words though, so that's something.

October goals:

• Translate 2000 words of dictation into good prose. (I really want to make that 12,000, but I just don't think it's plausible).
• Dictate 2000 words. (I want to make it 10,000 but I'm not sure I have enough dictating time left on my free software, and I'm cheap...)

And that's it. Even more meager than last month, but you guessed it: I'm working this weekend! And every other minute of my existence, apparently. (I complain, but I am house hunting right now and trying to earn all the overtime I can, so this 'misery' is self-inflicted... except for the weekends. Those I was not given a choice about.)

My September goal was to write and polish my Q4. Success!!! But I’m experiencing some super burnout right now. I think I’ll spend October getting my stories submitted. Out of the 17 stories I wrote over the past year, only five are in slush piles. I’d like to get that number up to at least 10. 

October Goals:

- Outline my Q1 story. Start it if I have nothing else to write.

- 7 Days of writing for 1 hour or more.

- Complete WotF online workshop.

I’m honestly so proud of myself for submitting Q4, that’s harder than I remember it being. Like, holy cow, I’m sharing a piece of myself with a bunch of strangers who won’t tell me it’s great! Good thing I’m so amazing.

Great job everyone who worked toward their goals!

Posted by: @ease

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For October, consider refining your goals. Not for me (seriously, no shade from me if you don't) but for yourself. When goals are clear, achievable, and desirable, they're way easier to succeed with. What does playing with new and old ideas really mean? Do you want a finished draft out of it? A finished story? Ten pages of exploration written? Again, no pressure at all, just something to think about.

No shade taken, I totally get where you're coming from! I understand that these strict goals work for a lot of people, and I'm in awe of all of yous! (Seriously I don't know how you all do it, I get tired just reading some of your months haha).

For me, the purpose of the goals are to keep me writing and learning the craft. When I impose strict rules like '10 pages of this' or 'have 2 stories send out', I lose that. Instead, I get stressed about the goal, and in order to force it, I might just forget why I'm writing. I lose the joy and I stop learning.

The true goal--to become a better writer--is always in the heart of it, and it has taken me a looooong time to learn how to best utilize my brain.

I used to try to force myself to do everything the way it's 'supposed' to be done, and I kept failing, then burning out. Then I learned that I'm autistic. Finally, I could figure out how my brain works and how to accommodate its needs. In the case of writing, it means playfulness and joy always comes first. That's why my goals every month are kinda vague or 'soft' as I like to call them (Doesn't mean I'm not serious about the craft, or that I'm not working on it!)

I hope that even without the hard, numbered goals, I am welcome in this thread. I know it may not seem so, but it does help me stay accountable to myself! Plus everyone is so lovely and supportive of each other, who doesn't want a piece of that?

Also, I do appreciate the advice, truly! I just need to take what works for me, and leave what doesn't.

I apologize for rambling on, but I figured maybe I'm not the only one who needs this kind of approach? Anyone else with a brain like a stray cat that needs a lot of space and treats? 😀 

Posted by: @tiinag

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I just need to take what works for me, and leave what doesn't.

Amen! Don't we all. And of course, you will always be welcome in this thread. Everyone is!

Oh, Septembergust is a single month. As is Octomber.

Septembergust is what happens when you write your September goals and call them August's goals and Gideon calls you out on it. Now he's spawned a trend. I may even use these months in my post apocalyptic story because who has calendars?

I'll start by mixing the first two:

January.

Hmm. That didn't work. Let me try reversing them:

February.

Damn...

@tj_knight I don't mind Fenuary, but Jabuary sounds hellish. Is that when covids mutating so fast you get a different vaccine every day of the month?

I'm still here and last month, despite an abscess and a power cut, I managed to complete a first draft of a novella. It needs another POV weaving into now to make it novel length, but that's on the back burner for a while so I can let the muse work on it for a bit. 

This month I aim to write a short and, as a bonus and if I get that far, get on with a few chapters of a novel.

I currently have covid and feel like death warmed up, yet I've managed (thanks to a covid induced fevered dream) come up with a piece of flash today, drafted, edit and submitted.

Okay, I have mulled....

October goals:

1. Write a flash piece

2. Do three writing exercises. I have to make this explicit as the temptation when I sit down is always to write a 'piece'. Doing a 'piece' is always alluring as then I have something concrete at the end rather than a, probably unusable, hanging paragraph or page or two. I want to consciously focus on some craft exercise though so I'm going to make that a goal so I do it.

3. I have a few older pieces that I now understand what went wrong. So I will take ONE and either edit it, or re-write it, using that knowledge, rather than let it die an idle death on my harddrive. I'm nervous about this goal. I don't much care for revising or revisiting. I usually prefer to waste my time on completely new adventures. But I am *told* this can sometimes be a useful learning exercise even if you still never use the piece. October seems like a good month to find that out.

Posted by: @gideonpsmith

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I usually prefer to waste my time on completely new adventures.

Gideon Phyllis Smith! Cleanse your mouth (read: fingertips) of such rubbish! I've read some of your new adventures and they have been anything but a waste of time. 

@pdblake I'm sorry to hear that life continues to deal you such a challenging hand, but brilliant work making lemonade out of those sour lemons. Assuming the novella is over 17k words, and thus ineligible for this contest, would you mind sharing what it is about? And the flash? And the novel?

@pdblake I’m sorry you’re sick but also very impressed you wrote and submitted a flash through the COVID brain fog. Bravo!

Posted by: @ease

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Posted by: @gideonpsmith

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I usually prefer to waste my time on completely new adventures.

Gideon Phyllis Smith! Cleanse your mouth (read: fingertips) of such rubbish! I've read some of your new adventures and they have been anything but a waste of time. 

I have been called many things, but Phyllis is a new one

But to clarify, its not that I necessarily think my finished pieces are a waste of time. I guess one *could* make that case given they don't end up published lol. But I don't, as there have been a couple (far from all) that I am quite satisfied with, enjoyed writing, and I like now that they are done. So, in terms of artistic creation, worthwhile, even if not commercial/externally validated in any way!

What I was mainly referring to is the excess or trimmings. Not every story is good. Not every story gets finished. I have entire cemeteries of non-working tales on my laptop, folders and folders of unmarked graves of things that weren't working. While they might be necessary to get to the 'good tales', they are in some ways the extra wasted time that wasn't spent on the main story, that I spend on new adventures.

But regardless, thanks for the vote of confidence! We all need those sometimes. Certainly, I would never tire of hearing it

@ease I'll tell you what novel is about when I figure it out myself. 

The novella is about a minstrel who accompanies an aging knight to make up a song about his last quest. It involves a cursed girl and a dragon which isn't what it seems. The other POV will be the dragon. 

The flash is weird. I woke up last night, stumbled to the loo in a fog and dazzled myself with the bathroom light. When I got back in bed I could still see the afterimages, but only when I closed my eyes. Then I finally fell asleep and had a weird dream about a beach. So, I ended up with a story about someone who got something in his head at the beach and can only see it when he closes his eyes. It's all set in the doctor's where he is being diagnosed but flashes back to his trip to the beach. 

Well done everyone. Some very motivating examples.

My Sept goals:

1) polish my Q4 entry (finished as part of my Aug goals) and submit - DONE.

2) Get 3 of my old WoTF entries into circulation elsewhere - DONE, (but). I had five out at once at one point. I have however realized I have to change things around a bit, since I ended up getting 3 straight days in a row of rejections at one point and it threw off my actual writing. I was doing okay with one a week, in the past, but that drum beat was a bit much. I recall an episode of 'Writing about Dragons and Sh**' where someone suggested having a separate email for responses that you just check once a week, so you don't get thrown off on the other days, which I've decided to try.

My Oct goals:

1) brainstorm and create a skeleton outline for my next WoTF story.

2) get 3 stories in the mail for other markets

3) try the new process of only checking writing responses once a week, with a new email.

Posted by: @adrian

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3) try the new process of only checking writing responses once a week, with a new email.

It's interesting as someone suggested this to me just last week and it was a lightbulb moment for me - a solid 'yes!' I believe that will help

@adrian That is a genius suggestion!

@kz_richards I agree - and I plan to try it. Though I think its main purpose will be in preventing things from popping up as I have gmail set to 'notify'. I think there is approximately a zero percent chance that I will be able to resist checking the other email account daily, rather than weekly though. But even not having unexpected depressing messages would be a bonus to the mental health

@gideonpsmith So true. What I’d need is for someone to set up notifications such that acceptances get pushed and rejections do not. Then I wouldn’t be tempted to check. Maybe.

@kz_richards well the other thing I saw suggested was having someone else be the one that received emails. But I can't even imagine trusting any of my immediate family to do this - my boys would just forget to tell me about a critical acceptance to respond to or something lol

Posted by: @gideonpsmith

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I can't even imagine trusting any of my immediate family to do this - my boys would just forget to tell me about a critical acceptance to respond to or something lol

Yup, it's a delicate dance. 😀