Okay, we are already well into April, but I still wanted to make this post. Reviewing the past month and looking forward and goal setting helps me remember what is important. There were some really interesting things that happened in March and it is cool to remember them.
Writing:
To recap my March goals they were:
- Fix the muddle in the middle – I completed this much faster than I expected. I planned out what I want the middle to looks like, but I’m holding off re-writing until I finish editing the beginning. Going through the beginning is going to effect the middle.
- Release the beginning to Beta Readers – I released the first chapter to my Alpha readers (who are awesome). Then I got derailed and haven’t released more….
- Knock out the rest of my global edits list – Not completed, are being completed as I go through the manuscript chronologically.
The big realization I had this month was that I had enough of a grasp on the story that what I really needed to start doing was edit it scene by scene. Sometimes I look at the morass of words that constitute my story and wonder if they will ever makes sense. So it was a nice relief to realize I’ve actually made progress.
I’ve started going through the book in chronological order and editing it on the scene level. The process has been rather illuminating. I read the book all the way through in December, so it hasn’t been that long since I’ve read the whole thing, but already so much has changed. Its kind of cool.
Some things last month went faster than I expected. Liked the muddle in the middle that really only took one really good planning session to figure out. And some things are taking longer, like editing chapter 3, because that is where I’m currently stuck.
April Goals:
- Edit 10 Scenes
- Post 4 Blog posts
- Keep up on Social media (2-4 posts/week)
- Release scenes to Alpha Readers
- Take a 2 week break
I think my list is a little ambitious, especially since we are a week into the month and I haven’t gained much traction, but hey, we’ll see.
Reading:
I didn’t realized I had read this many books until I was finding all the titles. I read a lot of old favorites this month with a good sprinkling of new books:
Dick Francis’ Refusal – Felix Frances
Alanna, the First Adventure – Tamora Pierce
In the Hand of the Goddess – Tamora Pierce
The Woman Who Rides Like a Man – Tamora Pierce
Lioness Rampant – Tamora Pierce
Tempest and Slaughter – Tamora Pierce
The blue Sword – Robin McKinley
Tropic of Serpents – Marie Brennan
Every Heart a Doorway – Seanan McGuire
Down Among the Sticks and Bones – Seanan McGuire
Tricks for Free – Seanan McGuire
The Year of Less – Cait Flanders
Misc:
Other things that happened this month that have been interesting: My company moved. I played with legos. I had some really unproductive times. The ocean was flat. O’Neill started going to doggy daycare. And, I took a singularly beautiful dawn hike.
ONTO APRIL!!
