Writing in 2009 and looking to 2010

As I look over my records for 2009 I find myself pleased with my results even though I fell short of my goals. 

One thing to consider last year was that a number of major things occured on the personal front.  My oldest son, John, graduated Magna Cum Laude from Freed Hardeman University and was married the following month. I've had issues with medication which led to problems at the end of 2009 I am just now recovering from.  Don and I still care for his parents in our home, and we've had people moving in and out for various periods of time.

So, how'd I do in 2009?

• My total word count (new fiction) for 2009 was 172, 810.  While this fell short of the 200k I aimed for it was still more than the previous year.
• I wrote 11 short stories, same as last year.
• I finished one novel and started another one.
• I did participate in Nanowrimo, but failed to hit 50,000 words.
• I kept up with my weekly column in the Highlands County News Sun despite all the personal stuff.  I consider that a victory.
• I wrote at least 500 words/day for 147 days straight.

Would I have liked to have done more?  Sure.  Did I sell anything?  Nope.  Some of that's not in my control, but I could (and should) be sending out my manuscripts in a more timely fashion.  A quote of Issac Asimov is appropriate here: "You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer." 

So, what do I want to accomplish on the writing front in 2010?  Here are my goals.  Notice that selling something isn't a goal, because I can't MAKE anyone buy something.  But these goals should increase my odds...

• 200,000 new fiction words for the year.  I was close in 2009 - I think I can do it.
• 20 short stories for the year.  Almost double my output from 2008 and 2009.
• I'd like to beat my writing streak of 147 days.
• Get everything out in the mail some way, some how.  The goal is to get this done by the end of February.  Once everything is out, turn things around within 48 hours.
• Finish my current novel and complete a second novel.
• Participate in Nano and succeed this year. 
• Keep up with this blog at least once  a week.
• Continue to improve the column.  Also, put together a collection of past columns and try to sell it.

Those are my goals for 2010.  Will I succeed?  We'll see when we come to 2011!

The Importance of a Streak

I've been working on a streak of writing 500 words a day. I sought to do it so that no matter how little I was able to get done on the writing front, I'd know I got at least something done on the writing front.

I'd kept the streak up for 48 days when today happened. It was one of those days where for a variety of reasons I had problems doing anything remotely productive. I was a mess mentally and emotionally.

I was tempted to not bother. No one else would care. Not doing those words wouldn't spell the end of my writing career. It's just a number.

But after you write 500 words a day for 48 days, it's really hard not to. It's hard to turn your back on.

And that's the value of a streak for me. It's what keeps me writing on a day like today, when I ask myself why I bother. When I don't feel like it. When I think I'm never going to succeed.

Tomorrow will hopefully be brighter. Tomorrow I hope to have my optimistic outlook and confidence back.

But today I wrote 544 words in spite of it all.

That's a good thing.

When Do You Quit?

My friend Chris York shared an awesome blog entry that talks about when a writer should hang it up.

Read it here: http://www.murderati.com/blog/category/toni-mcgee-causey

An Article I Wrote for the OWN Blog

I recently wrote an article on "The Do's and Don'ts of Sending Out Manuscripts." It's my thoughts after a push to get a large number of stories back out in the mail.

You can read it HERE.

Let me know what you think!

One Step at a Time...

Those who know me know that this was a stressful summer.

I had seven people living at my house at one point - that's a lot. My youngest was getting ready to go off to college, my oldest was spending his last summer with us (he's getting married next June). Plus there were health issues with a family member.

I was stressed. Something had to give, or I might have cracked.

What gave was Weight Watchers.

I've been on Weight Watchers since October. In July, I'd lost 40 pounds. Not a small thing.

But I quit going to meetings. I quit counting points (in Weight Watchers, food has points). I didn't go hog wild - for example, I didn't consume a whole cheesecake in one sitting - but I wasn't being as rigid as I was.

Last week, I started back. I started counting points again.

Last night, I went back to my first meeting in 8 weeks. I only stayed long enough to weigh in and see how bad the damage was.

Fortuantely, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. In 8 weeks, I'd gained 3.8 pounds.

Next week, I'll stay for the meeting.

One step at a time.

January's Writing

Word count for January: 22,878

That comes to an average of 738 words/day. About half of what I wanted to be doing.

I wrote 4 short stories in that time - happy about that.

Here's looking at improving some of those numbers in February.

Writing goals for 2007

I already posted these on Dean Wesley Smith's site, but thought I'd put them here as well. I'll try to keep you up to date on how I'm doing with these goals throughout the year.

1) Write 10,000 words/week (weekly column counts towards this total)
2) Write at least 1 new short story/week
3) Complete 4 new novels in 2007 (cheating slightly on this one - counting a novel I finished the first draft on in December but will be working on 2nd draft next week).

So last week I got 6,012 words done (not quite 10,000 but a nice start) and 2 new short stories out.

Will keep you posted. :-)