My personal goals for November, and how they changed:
Goal 1: make 50k (well, duh. It is NaNo).
Goal 2: rewrite from scratch the first novel I ever wrote, 25 years ago.
Both of those were in place by November 1st.
Goal 3: get far enough ahead in word count not to have to write on Thanksgiving (11/22) or
Goal 4: the day of the Seattle Marathon (11/25) (even though I was only doing the 1/2--walking 13.1 miles takes a while [3:38:02, unofficially]).
I hit both of those.
Goal 5: write the daily 1,667 on Thanksgiving anyway.
Hit that one, too (by 12 noon, even).
Goal 6: write on marathon day, too.
Hit part of that. I wrote 1k words that day; didn't have the stamina for 1,667.
Goal 7: come up with a main character that didn't belong on Kristin Nelson's list of over used YA fantasy tropes.
I did this, too. However, I wasn't about to start all over with my NaNo novel at that point, so I made notes. Wrote a bit of beginning and a couple snippets of conversation. Counted them toward my NaNo goal.
Goal 8: since I hit 50k early, keep going and keep updating.
No brainer, that.
Goal 9: (made about 6:30 pm this evening): post an extra 1k words without counting notes for rewrite.
Goal 10: (made about 8:00 pm this eveing): hit 55k without counting notes.
Well, it's 9:45 pm on 11/30/07 (well, it was when I started to plan this post) and I made 'em all. Ten changing and evolving goals.
What were yours? Did you make them all?
Seaboe
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Seaboe
"We are such stuff as dreams are made on." Wm. Shakespeare
56,910 / 50,000
Nov 30, 2007 - 23 13
Great goals, Seaboe.
Mine were a little different this year.
Goal 1: I decided to create a skeleton outline of what was going to happen, and then make up everything as I went. This is in stark contrast to the past three years in which I've had detailed outlines of every bit of action and dialog that would take place. It was much harder, but I did succeed in spite of staring at a page that just said Chapter Thirteen for the better part of two days.
Goal 2: Come in as close to 50,000 words with a finished book as possible. I don't know if you count 56,910 as close to 50k or not. Last year was 77,000 and the year before was 86,000, so I'd say I sure came a lot closer.
Goal 3: Don't write at work. Well, I didn't have much choice on that one. This month has turned out to be one of the busiest Novembers at work ever, and they are usually a little hectic. I might have plugged my thumb-drive into the laptop once or twice, but it was nothing like writing over every lunch and break as it was last year.
Goal 4: Accomplish enough on Friday's (I took a vacation day every Friday) that I don't have to worry about missing a day or two when I have family obligations or simply no idea of what to write. I'm pleased with this one. I've actually had a couple of conversations with my wife this month.
So, yes, I think I'll call this month a success. This might not be the best thing I've ever written, but it has some real possibilities. I think I publish this myself on-line and see if I can get any sales.