October was a busy month. I really wasn’t ready for what came through the door, which is why posts began to fade away. This weekend, I pretty much unplugged, forgetting to schedule this post before.
November has arrived, and that means NaNoWriMo is here. My fingers are itching to type away, yet I am resisting.
At the beginning of the year I set myself four goals: track my daily wordcount, write a minimum of once a week, “sort out” Resilience, and submit my manuscript to someone by July 1st.
So, how did I do?
i. The Daily Word Count
I reached the 100 days mark on my #writechain commitment; writing at least 286 / editing at least 55 words a day. I stopped upon reaching 100 days, because the challenge did what it needed to: taught me about my process. I also made a major decision about not completing NaNoWriMo this year.
This month I wrote 14,014 words, and I tracked these each day I wrote.
Kindling: From 36,275 To 37,606
The Felled Gods: From 11,470 To 21,653
Short Story II: From 0 To 2,122 [Submitted]
Narrative Piece: From 0 To 371
ii. Write Once a Week
Check!
iii. Work on Resilience
Resilience is now unlikely to be worked on this year. It’s occurred to me today I should probably have substituted this goal back when I first began ignoring it, but since it’s only 2 months until the new year, I won’t change it now.
iv. Work Towards Submission by July October May2015
I’ve been playing with the idea of short stories (something I actually wrote posts about back in early 2013 — about how they ‘weren’t for me’.)
Well, I’ve been challenging those thoughts. I’m currently still on track to submit one of my novels by next May.
Do you remember last month, I had Sekrit Project I: From 4,094 To 4,520 [Submitted] in my projects list?
Well, it’s been accepted. That’s my first short story publication. So technically, I submitted and had a piece accepted by October.
Details to follow. ^_^
v. Read 24 Books
I aimed to read two books a month. I’m still behind, but managed 6 books across September and October. My current read is a long book, but I’m making progress.
This Month’s Score: 3/2
This Year’s Score: 18/20
~
In Other News
* I officially submitted an application to a funded PhD programme. I don’t think I’ll get through, but am hoping for an interview; just to get a bit of experience of them. (I’ve had one funded-PhD interview before; but it was a particular route and title.)
* My short story was accepted into the anthology Twice Upon a Time. More details to follow.
* I began drafting another short story, which I then submitted too. I’m trying to start a habit of pushing past the fear of rejection.
* I’ve been editing Kindling as well as drafting and planning The Felled Gods. Really enjoying the variety, using the short stories as ‘time off’ from the big stories.
* O.H. had his first night shifts, which led to my sleep and work schedules shifting. I’m still trying to get back into my usual routine.
* I updated my About Me page to better reflect where I am.
* In fact this month was pretty stressful and mental-health-pressuring due to non-writing factors. Adding to that combination of stressors, (lots of different things) the PhD, two novels and short story submissions, I’ve been exhausted. Looking forward to November perhaps being a gentler ride.