It’s March! How did this happen? It feels like I only just wrote my ‘January 2019 Writing Goals Review and February 2019 Writing Goals’ post, and now I’m writing another one. I’m sure I must have been frozen for some of February while time continued.
February started slow, but I managed to pick up the pace during the last two weeks. I had to be stern with myself — I often banned myself from watching Neighbours and Home and Away. It was hard, but it helped me to focus better on my work.
So, let’s see what I did in February.
- Writing Goal 1: 1st standalone novel 4th draft — edit 25 chapters
Result: I edited 14 chapters, so that is 11 chapters less than I hoped for, which leaves me 11 days behind. I am aiming to have the fourth draft completed by the end of March, so I can have a month break before starting the fifth draft. However, the fourth draft might slip into April, which won’t allow me to have a month break if I want to have the novel submission ready by December. So, I really need to pull my socks up if I want this done on time. On the plus side, I did edit more chapters last month than in previous months, so that’s something. I’ll give myself a half pat on the back for that. - Writing Goal 2: Drabble eBook collection — edit last 10 drabbles, design eBook cover and start formatting eBook
Result: I edited the last 10 drabbles, and now my eBook collection is with my wonderful beta readers — I’m hoping they don’t come back and tell me that my stories are crap ha-ha. I did the research for my book cover, and I started looking into how to format my eBook to publish on Smashwords. So, even though I’m not as far ahead as I had hoped, I’m still on track to get the eBook published before the end of March. Well, that’s if my stories don’t need too much more work. - Writing Goal 3: 2nd Standalone novel — Start research, do character profiles, and start plot building for 2nd standalone novel
Result: I didn’t do enough work on this project. I either continued to work on my novel or drabble collection, watched thrilling TV dramas or sat staring at a blank page when I should have been working on this next novel. I did, however, order my main plot points, further worked on the story, and I made a list of things to research. It’s not great, especially as I plan to start writing the novel in April, but it’s something. Man, March is going to be a busy month. - Reading Goal 1: Read a short story
Result: I read ‘The Lumber Room’ by Saki. The short story was mentioned in one of Writing Magazine’s 2018 editions. I didn’t really enjoy the story, and I fell asleep a couple of times while reading it. However, I think it’s a story I might have to read again when I’m feeling less sleepy to really appreciate it. - Reading Goal 2: Read a poem
Result: I read a poem that was recommended by one of my Oldbury Writing Group pals. The poem is ‘The Ship of Death’ by D. H. Lawrence. I found a version online, but I’m not sure if it’s 100% original. - Reading Goal 3: Read Eleventh Grave in Moonlight by Darynda Jones
Result: I didn’t read this book. I’ve been reading Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King, which is a huge book. I have finished reading the book now, and I have now returned to my reading challenge.
I have a confession: I submitted a short story. Well, it was a drabble (100-word story), so nothing too long. I wasn’t meant to be writing or submitting stories right now because I have too many projects to work on already. But, I just couldn’t resist the submission call. The winner gets a £100 Amazon voucher. Can you imagine how many books you could buy with that? So, yeah, I submitted a story, and next week I’ll find out if I won or not. It’ll probably be a no, but there’s a chance I could win, so it was worth submitting to.
Okay, confession time is over, let’s see what I plan to do in March:
My March Writing and Reading Goals
- Finish the 1st standalone novel’s 4th draft
- Drabble eBook collection — get stories proofread, design book cover, format eBook and publish
- 2nd Standalone novel — finish planning
- Read a short story
- Read a poem
- Read Eleventh Grave in Moonlight by Darynda Jones
This month has three deadlines. I need to finish the fourth draft of my novel, publish my drabble eBook collection and finish planning my second novel. So, I have a busy month ahead of me. I just hope I can get it all done — I do make things difficult for myself, but hey, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t.
How did you do in February? Feel free to comment below. I’d love to hear how everyone else is doing.
Keep writing, folks!
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