There’s an uneasy feeling at home in my stomach as I write this, call it nerves or excitement. I’ve always wanted to be a author, so why does making a very conscious effort to do that very thing feel so scary? I’m thinking it has something to do with you guys. Never before have I taken my stories to an audience like this, never before have I had a methods of accountability. Maybe the realisation that I can be an author is a tad overwhelming for me, I guess I never expected it to happen.
Yet here we are, no one is making my fingers press these keys.
As mentioned in my last post, I’m bring my blog back to its core themes faith, recovery and writing. If you’re reading this, then you’ve made it just in time for me to kick-start something cool for you guys and terrifying for me.
Monthly writing goals.
Yup, I am writing a book and you guys are joining me for the ride.
How this is going to work is quite simple.
At the start of the month I will set myself a series of goals all based on my book. I’m thinking 3 minimum is a good number, but that is completely flexible. I will them openly publish those goals to my blog you guys to see.
So far that doesn’t sound too bad does it?
The real challenge for me is that along side writing these goals every month, I’m also going to honestly review the previous months goals. That means if I don’t do them you guys will all judge me (isn’t that fun?).
So understandably there isn’t any review this month as this is my first goal setting post. But I think I will review my writing progress in general so you all know where I’m at.
August Goals 2018
- Finish the chapter I’m writing– I’m currently stuck on the first chapter of the book. I have written more than one chapter (I can feel your judgments through my screen), but I like to write ideally in chronological order, and to do this I need to finish chapter 1.
- Name my MC (main character)- You read that correct my protagonist doesn’t have a name yet or a gender. In all of my writing I simply have refered to them as MC. I plan to go back when I have a fitting identity for them and amend it. The main reason I haven’t pinned them down to an identity yet is because I’m unsure of a particular plot point. However, the first few chapters don’t revolve around this plot point yet, I saw no reason for my productivity to be held up so I carried on writing without my MC being set in stone.
- Have 2 writing sprints– I am not a constant writer at all. I am easily distracted by YouTube and my Nintendo Switch. However, I can write in sprints. For those of you who don’t know a writing sprint is where you plonk yourself down infront of your laptop and write for a set period of time. You write as much as you can, no editing, no looking back. You just write. I am going to do two this month, one that is 15 minuets long and one that is 30. This is more so I can work out what time works best and how long I need to spend editing afterwards.
So those are my goals for this month. I am really looking forward to how this accountability thing works out. As mentioned before, this is my first month so I have no goals to review this time. But as I said, I’m going to give you a brief insight on where I am in the writing process.
Progress so far…
I’ve set out to write a Novella (a book with under 40,000 words in it). The main reason I’ve choses such a small word count is because I just want to get my first draft done. I’ve outlined my book and found that I only had about 10 chapters worth of ideas. Instead of trying to add random words in, to make up a healthy word count, I’ve decided to just run with it for now with the intentions of expanding the plot once I’d finished. However, as I’ve been writing I’ve found that I’m getting more ideas and more plot points. All of this will help me take off the cap of 40,000 words and go the full way.
I’ve loosely got themes, laws, society and a general feel for the world I’ll be writing about. I’ve decided to write what I like to read and go down the fantasy route as secretly (don’t tell anyone) I love fantasy books. The story isn’t set in our world, but there are a few inspirations from English history I’ve nabbed. Not to mention, the people in the world don’t have technology as such, but science exists alongside magic. All in all, I’m creating a new world with a few home comforts and familiaritys.
So that’s all for today guys.
If you’re a writer yourself, please do say Hi. It’s been harder than I thought to connect with other writers in the community.
I hope you’re looking forward to next month where I’ll be reviewing these goals. I’m going to try extra hard to start as I mean to carry on and do all three targets. If you’d like to keep up to date and follow my writing journey make sure you subscribe.
Happy writing all.
