The Writers Aspirant Accountability Thread

November goals:

1. Write a new flash story.

2. Edit V42 Q1 piece, incorporating feedback from beta-readers (thank you!)

3. Read. Read. Read some more. Get some slushing done. Have been falling behind with this.

Don't want to be too ambitious this month - Thanksgiving and all that.

@gideonpsmith Amazing!

My goals for November:

1) Finish Draft 1 of my new novella

2) Finish self-editing of Draft 3 of my novel for Superstars

3) Finish alpha reader edits of my 4th Dragon Monarch novel

4) Keep short story submission count at approximately 20

5) Attend and speak at Loscon for my second year.

Lots to do!

Hello Everyone!

My name is Andrew Williamson, from the UK, and I just introduced myself in the appropriate place. I'll repeat some of it here because I love the idea of being held accountable.

I made my first submission V41Q4. I found out about WotF when my son-in-law, Sam Kemp, was one one of the V35 illustrator winners, but I've been self-gatekeeping for over five years. Now I've done it once, I plan to do the right thing and enter every quarter.

I won the 2000 AD Writing Competition (a live pitch in front of an MC, three judges and a theatre audience), and my comic strip story was published in 2000 AD Prog 2023 in March 2017. I thought that my foot was firmly in the door jam but, in the end, I just stubbed my toes. One day!

Recognising that I may not make a career from writing, I joined the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading, where I am now an Intermediate Level member. I beta read V39 and V40 and I've started on V41. I absolutely love this anthology. Such a high standard every year.

Posted by: @gideonpsmith

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Posted by: @ease

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Posted by: @ease

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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...)

I was right, I couldn't fix 12,000 words of dictation. I did fix 2,500 though. I also dictated 14,000+ by getting other free software; it's worse than my preferred app, but it's free and with no limit. I'll come back with November goals after some navel-gazing.

 

Why do I have to keep pointing out October isn't over yet! You still have time 😉 . That's just 9500 more words in 2 days when you did 2500 in 29 days 🤡 

Narrator: He did not fix 9500 more words.

In actual fact, I went camping sans-technology for 5 days, and have been working like a madman (18 hour days between real work and fixing the HVAC at home) since, so I've already missed the first week of November.

October went well, so I'm going to aim for similar-but-more:

• Translate 2500 words of dictation into good prose
• Dictate 2500 words
• Stretch goal [might need  December as well]: Stitch together 10 episodes of a serial into one story

Loving the flood of goals that came in from y'all, and...

  Welcome Andrew!  

You're on my list now; prepare to be very mildly nagged every month, to encourage you on your writing path. That's an ambitious set of goals for November, I wish you the best of luck with them! And thank you for helping the last couple volumes (especially V40) be as good as they could be.

Fantastic results, all. You proved once again that we're not aspiring writers, but wonderfully talented actual writers. 

But that doesn't need to stop us from aspiring to achieving more 😀 

November goals:

1. Write a new flash story.

Success! And it was submitted and already accepted for publication Though it's technically microfiction rather than flash, I think flash is an umbrella term so I'm counting it.

2. Edit V42 Q1 piece, incorporating feedback from beta-readers (thank you!)

Success! I spent most of my writing time yesterday working on this piece, changing some of the structure and incorporating feedback. Ended up adding about 450 words to the piece.

3. Read. Read. Read some more. Get some slushing done. Have been falling behind with this.

 Success! I have been doing more reading, some shorts, but also some craft book pages, and I have been doing slushing for CRES.

So, as I've finished earlier do I get brownie points? Or maybe just the rest of the month off @ease ?

Sadly, even I know that's a 'no'. There is always more reading that could (and should) be done. Not least of which is the huge bolus of stories that need beta-reading for WOTF that just arrived! Oh well, guess I've got my work still cut out for me

Anyone else with a mid-month check-in?

Posted by: @gideonpsmith

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November goals:

 

1. Write a new flash story.

Success! And it was submitted and already accepted for publication Though it's technically microfiction rather than flash, I think flash is an umbrella term so I'm counting it.

2. Edit V42 Q1 piece, incorporating feedback from beta-readers (thank you!)

Success! I spent most of my writing time yesterday working on this piece, changing some of the structure and incorporating feedback. Ended up adding about 450 words to the piece.

3. Read. Read. Read some more. Get some slushing done. Have been falling behind with this.

 Success! I have been doing more reading, some shorts, but also some craft book pages, and I have been doing slushing for CRES.

 

So, as I've finished earlier do I get brownie points? Or maybe just the rest of the month off @ease ?

 

Sadly, even I know that's a 'no'. There is always more reading that could (and should) be done. Not least of which is the huge bolus of stories that need beta-reading for WOTF that just arrived! Oh well, guess I've got my work still cut out for me

 

Anyone else with a mid-month check-in?

 

So, final update for the month - 1,2,3, all achieved (yay) and then, the 3b I mentioned - finishing the most recent bolus of beta-reading for WOTF - Success!

So, now the rest of November truly is chillax time - time for Thansgiving prep and cooking, as well as (hopefully) a little relaxed writing/reading time.

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans, and Happy Thursday to the rest of us!

Posted by: @toddjones

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November 2024 Goals:

• Review/Edit several stories for Story Unlikely Submission - In progress, but not completed
• Complete draft for part 2 of Semi-Finalist WotF story - Didn't work on, putting on hold
• Start a new story for Q1 WotF - Started, but not sure it's right for WotF (started another story, just in case)

December 2024 Goals:

• Review/Edit/Submit three (3) stories for Story Unlikely submission
• Finish/Submit a new story for Q1 WotF
• Spend time with family

I declare November over for me. I knew it would be a bad month, so I didn't set objectives. As expected, I didn't accomplish much. Motivation and inspiration have dried out, but sometimes the well needs to be empty for it to be refilled down the line. I didn't give up though, but the lack of outcomes, even at draft zero level, made it a difficult month for my overall mental health.

November (no objectives set):

• I did sit down everyday at my laptop. Watching a blank screen is fun, lol.
• I got a HM, which was a nice surprise. I didn't think that story will make it that far.
• My couple of held stories ended up in form rejections. That stings.
• For 2024, I'm at 81 submissions. I'm happy with this number. No less than 5 subs out at any time.
• Words wouldn't come, so I edited a lot, but badly. Will have to be redone.
• Read LOTS of slush. Like so much. This was part of why I couldn't write for weeks. Reading others' stories takes a lot of your own energy and creativity on the spot (even though it's temporary).

December:

• I'll sit down everyday at my laptop. Let's put some words on that blank screen.
• Submit something to WOTF, not sure what yet, but I've got options that need some edits.
• At least one new story drafted.
• Keep on submitting/resubmitting. No less than 5 subs out.
• Thrilled to have been asked to participate in the selection/edit phase for one of the mag I read for. I want to learn as much as I can from the editors as to how they handle these final steps, and I'll help as much as I can.
• Plan for 2025. I'm a mess as a rule. But being a mess doesn't work anymore as I progress.

Posted by: @m-norris

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November goal:

NaNoWriMo. Very simple. 30K-50K words, whatever I can do. December I’ll dive into novella revisions for Q1. 

I’m amazing. (And so are all of you! Don’t forget how important it is to remind yourself of that when you’re feeling frustrated!)

 

Compleate! 50,026 Words on a new project. We’ll see if I ever pick it up again and finish it, but for now I’m glad I could get the real of forced daily progress. Great learning experience. 

December goal:

Write and submit a Q1 Novella, write in time for a few critique swaps if possible.

I have an outline, but I haven’t started writing. So basically we’ll see how this goes. It’s a simple goal though, which is how I like it. Just one thing to concentrate on and work toward. 

December goals:

1. One new story. Probably flash.

2. Finish up zero-draft of Q2V42 submission

3. Read - no doubt will get final bolus of wotf beta-reading to do but if not received will slush for CRES anyway

4. Finish one of the many craft books I've picked up and started but not completed

5. Spend more time on the above 4 goals than on checking submission grinder, my email, this forum, discord, etc in some unending death spiral 😉

Sounds like a lot. It is. Especially with Christmas, New Years, my son's birthday, a work trip, and a couple of job interviews already scheduled in there. But December is stretch goals month 😉

Posted by: @marius

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New goal: finish the outline including external and internal conflicts, and write bios for at least 4 major characters

I delivered, and then some! I created the most detailed outline of my life, did bios on 10 characters, wrote the first 3000 words and then re-wrote them to find an attractive and fitting tone of voice. I'm really happy with the result, feel very motivated to actually finish the damn thing. I also managed to write a WotF entry, but I think it's too controversial to be a winner. In more ways than one. I personally do like it, so we'll see.

New goal: survive the darkness here in Sweden, enjoy the holidays, and write... *throws a random number in there* ...10.000 words of my novel.

Posted by: @adrian

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November Goals:

1) Work on outline and write a first few pages for a novel idea that's been kicking around for a while. Nope.

2) Get a first draft of my WOTF story. Barely.

Don't feel like my Nov was that productive. #1 didn't happen at all, sadly. #2 just finished yesterday and is still in pretty rough shape and longer than I was hoping for, at 11k ish words. At some point, I've got to figure out how to properly do the 'short' in 'short story' 🤣 

Nice to hear other folks are plugging along as well. Good luck to everyone in their Q1 entries this month! 😀

Dec goals are likely to be limited. Not much writing time. Really just trying to get my Q1 entry into something resembling presentable shape and get a critique, if time allows. 

My November goal was to add 30k to the novel and write every day. I managed a tad over 46k and did write every day. 

Goal for December is to do the same again, though holidays may mean a few days get skipped. 

Success on all my November goals.

• Make a revision plan for the Q1 story and start on a second draft.
  • 👍 - I got around to completing a second draft
• 12,000 words on anything. Q1 second draft. Longer project. Random story that popped up last month. Freedom!
  •  👍 - 12,204. That got close
• Read at least 15 minutes every day. Some hiccups in my routine last month really threw my reading off, and I have to get back on it.
  • 👍
• Send those 2 stories I'm most confident in back out if either of them gets rejected.
  • 👍 - I did a good job keeping submissions out this month.

I'm going to give myself a slightly lighter December due to the holidays and a lot of travel.

• Complete the Q1 story.
• 11,000 words on anything.
• Finish a draft of one of the new stories that cropped up last month. Hopefully one can be a story for Q2.
• Keep up with my current reading and submission rate. Keep out the 3 stories that are circulating and crack open a book at least once a day.

Posted by: @joel-c-scoberg

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November goals

• Jody got back to me with comments on my WotF story, so the priority is to get a revised draft back to her ASAP.
• Write 10k words on my novel
• Submit three short stories

I had a mixed November owing in part to hectic work and family commitments. But:

• I edited my WotF story and it is now off to beta readers (some have you guys have already been sent this, thank you to those who have already reviewed it and thank you in advance to those yet to do so). I've just sent back my logline for the story too, and with my bio in as well, I am hoping a final story package is on the horizon and ready for Vol 41  
• I wrote about 5,000 words on my novel. So, not as much as hoped but not too bad either. It is looking very unlikely I will have a draft before Hollywood (which was my original aim), but you never know.
• I didn't submit any short stories last month (though I still have two out on submission from October)

December goals

• Write 10,000 words on my novel
• Submit three short stories

In November I wanted to pick which story to focus on for Q1 and then actually focus on that, I did.

I also hoped to have a full draft and got close but not quite, it needs one more scene.

I am starting to see the story taking shape, but it needs a ton of re-work. This one is quite challenging for me, but I'm committed. It might end up crappy and odd, but the very least I'll learn something. And there's still plenty of time to make these characters and setting come to life! 

Goal in December is to submit a story for Q1. In the end-of-year madness if anything else gets written, it's a bonus.

AH! December! Hello, there. Um, so I definitely didn’t meet my November goal to outline and begin writing my Q1, but not for lack of trying. I outlined several stories and decided none of them fit the market. However, I am hopeful that my latest outline has potential. December’s goal is obviously to write, polish, and submit that story before the deadline. 

My primary goal for Nov was to reach 120,000. Made it to 116,000.

But I had the foresight to set a double month goal of 140,000 by Dec 31. 😉 

I'm currently at 118,000 so things are looking grim, especially since I'll be going on vacay 12/29. Though if I'm close, I'll find a way to get those final words in.

And because I'm always going on about this, I'll post what I'm currently reading (Any other takers?).

Current book: The Forever War by Joe Hadleman