ROW80 2015 Round 1 Wrap-up

This is the final week of ROW80 Round 1. Time to reflect back on my goals and report the overall progress for the round! Below you'll find my original goals in black, changes in red, and progress in blue.

Creative projects
I have SO MANY WRITING PROJECTS I want to get done this year: two novels, a collection of short stories, and 2 books of poetry. Because I still have not figured out how to clone myself, I must work within normal human parameters - for now - which means breaking it down into manageable chunks. This round I worked on a novel under my pseudonym (codename WIP1) and a collection of short speculative fiction stories under my own name (codename SF). Goals:
1) Finish drafting and editing WIP1. Beta draft of WIP1 complete, feedback received, and I'll be done with the next draft by the end of next week, at which point it goes to my line editors. Round 2 starts April 6th, so I'll still be finishing up this book.
2) Finish writing the 1st drafts of the stories for SF & begin to revise them. I finished first drafts of 3 more stories and made progress on a couple more, though they haven't reached first-draft status yet. I plan to work on one more first draft in the next round, but I'll be focusing mainly on my book of dream poems and my pseudonym's projects for the rest of the year.

A less-than-productive week

My energy has been ZAPPED this week, not only by last weekend's festivities but also by mega-allergies and a family emergency on top of all I originally had planned (i.e. editing and coaching work, business envisioning work, pseudonym's branding process, revising a novel). The result was that I spent a lot of time just trying not to feel tired and the rest of the time - and what little energy I had - doing work for clients.

The good news is that I feel like I'm snapping out of my energy-drain and have a good plan for the coming week that involves resuming my ritual of getting out of the house for 2-3 hours every morning to go write in a coffee shop or the library. I'm not exactly sure why it helps me feel more energetic and focused to do this, I only know that it does, and I haven't done it in something like three weeks. Time to rectify.

Now for this week's...

ROW80 Update

"A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life."

[Note: This update only includes the past week's tasks and the coming week's tasks. If you'd like to know how they relate to my goals for this round, you can read my 2015 Round 1 Goals post.]

Creative projects
Past week's tasks: Finish re-reading WIP1, making notes & formulating revision plan Mon-Tues; Wed-Fri begin carrying out revision plan. On Monday I decided that re-reading WIP1 would distract rather than aid me at this point in my process, so instead I formulated my revision plan and began to implement it. However, due to the aforementioned factors, I got no further on the revision for the rest of the week.
Coming week's tasks: Email line editor to see if I can have an extension; if not, rework revision plan to fit two weeks. In either case, continue WIP1 revision.

Book betrayal: A post about social politics in fiction

When I was a freshman in high school, my friend T. and I were invited to a "pizza party" that turned out to be a Christian youth group meeting wherein the leader sermonized at us for half an hour about the evils of homosexuality and the inescapable damnation of homosexuals. (For the sake of getting to my writing-related point, this is the short version of this story. If interested, you can read the longer version on my other blog.)

On some level I blamed myself. At the age of fifteen, I knew already that almost nothing in this world is free; if someone you don't know very well offers you pizza, they're bound to have an ulterior motive. On the other hand, the guy who'd invited us hadn't been completely honest, either. I felt like he'd purposefully withheld information from us, which meant that we couldn't make an informed decision.

I felt duped. Manipulated. Betrayed.

I had a similar experience last week, when one of the books I was reading for fun betrayed me.

Draft done, what's next?

Photo by Rick Campbell

Hooray, I did it! I finished the next draft of my pseudonym's novel (codename WIP1) on deadline! It seemed kind of touch-and-go there for a few days - I got behind schedule and then needed a day and a half to recover from my time with the Weimaraner puppy - but I pulled it off. Go, me.

So what's next? The book is with a group of beta readers for a couple of weeks. When I get their feedback, I'll give myself a week to read and think about it before I spend a week re-reading the book and making revision notes to myself. Then three weeks to make revisions, then another round of developmental feedback with line editing, then copy editing and self-publishing.

During those three weeks of revising WIP1 I plan to spend the entirety of my writing time on that project, but until then I'll continue to work on the short sf stories and resume my research on self-publish print-on-demand options.

The other major thing on my mind, as a result of New Year's reflections and some conversations with another coach/editor, is some visioning work around my coaching and editing business. More on that below in this week's...

ROW80 Update
"A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life." 

Predicting productivity, adjusting to challenges

This week I've encountered a couple of challenges in my writing life that have led to lower productivity levels than I anticipated. But really it all boils down to two skills I want to strengthen: the first being my ability to anticipate challenges and set realistic expectations, and the second being my ability to adjust to unexpected challenges.

To get more concrete about it: I'm house-and-dog sitting for some relatives this week. Although I give myself a pat on the back for anticipating decreased productivity on the day of the drive from my current residence to theirs, I failed to anticipate the amount of work a partially trained, 6-month-old, HIGHLY energetic Weimaraner would take. She's basically a toddler on crack: constantly wanting attention and playtime, virtually impossible to exhaust. I'll spare you all the details since this isn't a dog blog. The point is that I failed to anticipate it, it's going to affect my productivity this coming week, and now I'm struggling with the second thing: adjusting my expectations.

Other things I (re)learned related to my writing process this week:

• Even in a stable environment, it's difficult to predict how much I'm going to be able to do. Work on WIP1 has been going more slowly than anticipated this month, and I've had to accept that my write-a-short-story-a-week schedule, while admirable, was overly ambitious. Maybe if my entire block of writing time for the week were dedicated to just one project I could meet the goals I'd set for myself, but sometimes my head just moves more slowly than at other times. It's not that I've been feeling sluggish, though that has definitely happened to me in the past. More that my brain is in some kind of intense mulling-things-over phase. So back to that whole adjusting-expectations thing.
• It's easier for me to hear and incorporate developmental feedback when I'm still in the shitty first draft stage. Once I get to a draft that feels more or less done to me, I don't want to make major changes.

New goal: get rejected

Several unexpected and exciting things happened this week, one of which was that my mom told me about this NPR story about a guy who, in order to get over his fear of rejection, makes it a goal to get rejected in some small way every day. Which got me thinking about the fact that I haven't done much (any?) submitting in the last six months, and hence have neither had my work accepted or rejected for a very long time. I think I'm going to make it a goal to get work rejected by 20 editors this year. The beauty of this goal? If I send out 20 submissions and 2 of them are accepted, I have to send out more submissions and get rejected at least twice more to meet my quota.

I have too many other things on my plate right now to dive into this goal immediately, but I'll start submitting poems (and stories?) this summer.

Related to that, I've also semi-decided to query at least one of the books of poetry I'm putting together this year instead of trying to self-publish absolutely everything. I'm mostly in it for the experience of querying, which I'll be able to use to both empathize with and advise my coaching and editing clients, but if someone ended up accepting the book, that'd be pretty darn cool.

As for the other exciting things that happened this week? They are mentioned in my...

ROW80 Update
"A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life."
 

Addicted to reading

I'll just read a few chapters and then go to sleep so I can be rested and ready to tackle my to-do list tomorrow, I said to myself at 10:30pm on Tuesday night.

The next thing I know, it's 2am and I'm 216 pages into Abbadon's Gate. I texted my brother to let him know I was hooked on the book he'd loaned me, and then I considered putting it down for the night. But I can't stop now; he's still on the alien space station! I felt a sense of responsibility to the characters at this crucial plot point, as if Holden's success with the station was contingent on my decision to continue reading at that moment. Just one more chapter...

If I hadn't fallen asleep while reading I probably would've read all night, and then all of Wednesday would've been a wash instead of just the morning. I suppose it's good that my body overrode my mind on this one.

As it was, I spent Wednesday morning sleeping instead of writing, and then I spent the rest of the week feeling like I was trying to catch up and doing a poor job of it. Despite this, I made good progress on most of my goals this week, the exception being my creative projects. (Figures.)

ROW80 update
"A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life." 

Here we go again

It's 2015! Happy New Year, ever'body!

It's also the start of a new round of A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80). I love the beginnings of things, don't you? There's something magical about the possibilities inherent in beginnings. New goals, a clean slate, nothing messed up yet. ;*)

A clean slate

I'm also feeling energized by my reflections on 2014 and all the amazing, life-changing things that happened this past year. I sold my house and traveled for four months; made new friends all over the world; started learning tai chi; tried sensory deprivation floating for the first time; celebrated my 2-year anniversary as a self-employed individual; self-published two books; worked with four wonderful coaching clients, some of whom achieved their coaching goals and some who are continuing the partnership into 2015; and edited seven books, at least four of which are now published. How could I not look forward to seeing what 2015 brings?!

ROW80 2015 Round 1 Goals

Gift ideas for you(r beloved reader/writer)

Like many people, I have a complex relationship to holiday gift-giving. Certainly I appreciate gifts when they're thoughtful and useful, but for me, gifts do not equal love. For whatever reason (genetics? social conditioning? abnormal brain chemistry?) it's just not something I care about. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, I'd much rather have someone's time and attention than something they bought for me in a store.

Giving gifts can be tremendously fun, but only under the right circumstances: I see something that reminds me of someone, I'm reasonably certain they will appreciate it and that they wouldn't/couldn't buy it for themselves, and I can afford to spare the money to buy it for them. This idea of having to run about frantically trying to buy something for everyone in my family/friend circle/neighborhood because of holiday tradition is both stressful and, it seems to me, unnecessary. And then there's that whole pressure to be a consumer, which I don't buy into (pun intended)...

Diatribe aside, I know that many people truly enjoy giving and receiving gifts at this time of year. That it is, in fact, important to many people. People who don't share my cynicism and lack of romanticism about the gesture. If you are one of those people, this post is for you, for here I have compiled lists of books and one writing tool that you might consider purchasing for a beloved reader or writer in your life.

And if you're not the gift-buying kind, you can always pick up one of these items for yourself. Perhaps at the library? ;*)

Continuing the good progress

This week has been a good mix so far of business and pleasure/social life, thanks to reconnecting with an old friend. A while ago I decided to stop working 10-12 hours a day and stick to 6-8 a day, which has left most evenings free to hang out with family, go to shows and relax. What a difference it makes to my energy levels!

On that note, it's time for my weekly check-in about my own writing process and projects...

ROW80 Update
"A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life."

Show up to writing 2-3 hours/day.   
Mostly on track. Which is to say I continue to show up to writing every day and accomplish things, which feels really good. This week so far I've had a breakthrough about my pseudonym's WIP and am *this close* to being done with the short story I've been editing. I  have also written a short creative nonfiction piece about having dinner with a friend I hadn't seen in a long time (an exercise in writing a scene from daily life and something I'd like to do more often), a short poem, and some random fragments that happened to float into my head.

Be an active ROW80 sponsor.
On track.

5 Tips for Surviving a Public Reading

After not having read my work in public for almost a year, I'm doing a reading tomorrow. Some friends and I organized this event when we learned that Tuna got bumped from his slot in the Rain or Shine reading series - which he'd been looking forward to for over a year - for an improv comedy troupe. Lame. "We don't need them," I said. "Let's put our own reading together." So we booked a room at TaborSpace, created a Facebook event, and invited just about everyone we know.

I have to admit, though, I wasn't super excited at first about reading again. For the last few months I've been having a crisis of confidence regarding my work, and I'd lost touch with my sense of playfulness. But the process of putting together my set list for this reading helped me reconnect with it, and I ended up writing a couple new silly pieces that I really like. They won't win any awards, but they'll be fun to share on Saturday. (It helps, too, that people have asked me to read certain pieces again. Nothing like taking requests to boost one's confidence.)

"Are you nervous?" people are asking now when I tell them about the reading. Not yet, but I know I will be when the time comes. Which is why I've put together this list of five strategies I've used to help me get through a public reading (when I'm doing the reading, not just attending one). It's always good to have a reminder.

5 Tips for Surviving a Public Reading

Awakening narratives

Over the last year or so I've started to notice a recurring narrative in some of the books I've read, one that I'm calling the awakening narrative.

The awakening narrative has at its core this story: protagonist (usually female) becomes aware, usually with help of one or more men, of innate spiritual/supernatural abilities that she had hitherto not suspected or had used in a sort of accidental way without understanding them fully. Over the course of the books (usually a trilogy) she learns more about her abilities and becomes one of the most powerful people around. Through the developmental of her talents, she becomes the key to some kind of huge change in her world, whether a shift in balance of good and evil or a complete paradigm shift or the revealing of hitherto obscured truths that change everyone's understanding of the world.

Examples of the awakening narrative:

• The Touchstone trilogy by Andrea K. Host
• The All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness
• The Farseer trilogy by Robyn Hobb (male protagonist)
• The Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones (currently at 7 books)
• The Hot Damned series by Robyn Peterman

On being a reader-editor

In the last few months I have recommended the same few books to a couple of different people, each book for its own reason.

One of these books was traditionally published, and the other two self-published.

Two of these books I recommended because they're well-written, well-edited and contain some intriguing metaphors that I find personally meaningful. One of these books I recommended as a good example of a story that has serious flaws - it needs developmental as well as line and copy editing - but is nonetheless entertaining and has (in my opinion) some worthwhile aspects.

Does it surprise you to learn that the one book that needs serious editing - that I consider worth reading despite its myriad flaws - is the traditionally-published one? It surprised me when I realized it.

Happy New Year! (and stuff)

Happy New Year from Sione & Milton

It's the year 2014, and if you add up the numbers (2+0+1+4) they equal seven, and someone once told me that's good luck, so I guess we'd all better prepare for a lucky year this year.

Some people like to set New Year's resolutions. Not me. My New Year's resolution several years ago was to never make another resolution again because I never stick to them, and I've stuck to it ever since. Oh. Wait. Hmm...

Well anyway, instead of making New Year's resolutions I like to have goals. What's the difference? you ask. A resolution is a commitment to doing a certain thing, e.g. Go to the gym 3x a week or Stop swearing in front of the kids, whereas a goal sets an intention in a general direction and is subject to change as my needs/perception of reality changes. Yes, perhaps it is splitting hairs, but it makes me feel better.

My goals this year, in approximate order in which I hope to achieve them: