I cannot believe that it’s August already. I remember starting 2017 feeling determined to make this year the year I achieve a lot in my writing. Well, sadly, things haven’t gone to plan. Life has often gotten in the way of my writing, so I lack either time or motivation to complete my writing tasks. I have set myself a huge task for 2017, and I might have overestimated how much I could complete, but it’s disappointing to see how little of my 2017 writing goals I have achieved.
However, there’s no point beating myself up about not completing my goals. All I can do is dust myself off and try again, and that’s what I plan to do in August. But, before I can move on to my August goals, I need to review what happened in July.
So, what were my July writing goals? Well, my July writing goals were:
- Writing Goal 1: Finish 3rd draft of my novel
Result: July was disastrous for my novel; I only managed to edit one chapter. However, this month I spent more time thinking than editing – I suppose thinking can be seen as part of the editing process. I had to check chapter lengths, decide what scenes to cut, and so much more. I knew creating a novel would require a lot of mental energy, but I didn’t realise it would take this much. At times it can be quite brain draining, but I shall continue because I haven’t gotten this far for no reason. However, this third draft will need to be completed this month if I have any chance of having a submission ready novel by the end of the year. - Writing Goal 2: Finish planning my psychological horror novella and start writing
Result: I still haven’t finished planning my novella. I work on it during the evenings, and recently I haven’t been home during many of my evenings, so I don’t get to work on my project. And when I am at home, I’m too tired to concentrate. However, I have managed to get most of the plot sorted; I just need to put them in the right order and fill in any gaps. And once I have that done, I can start writing. This month, I will have to make sure I limit any distractions in the evening, so I can get this work done. This will definitely be the last month to work on it if I want to have enough time to plan my next novel – no pressure then lol. - Writing Goal 3: Finish Flash Fiction Collection – edit 10 stories
Result: This month I didn’t complete any of my flash fiction stories. I often worked over on my novel and so ran out of time for my flash fictions. I do think I might have to reduce the number of stories I plan to finish until I finish the third draft of my novel. - Writing Goal 4: Work on ideas for next novel
Result: Due to still planning my novella, I’ve not had time for my next novel. I do need to hurry up, though, because I want to do NaNoWriMo this year. - Writing Goal 5: Submit one short story
Result: I haven’t submitted a short story this month because I’m still working on the story I planned to submit. But this story will be completed before the end of this week. Well, it has to because the deadline is Friday ha-ha.
As I said previously, July wasn’t a good month for my writing goals. But I’m not giving up because a new month means a new start.
So now it’s August I have a list of new goals (not exactly new – they are the same ones as last month) that I hope to achieve.
My August Writing Goals
- Finish novel 3rd draft
- Finish planning my psychological horror novella and start writing
- Finalise 5 stories for flash fiction collection
- Work on idea for next novel
- Submit a short story
I am desperate to move forward with my writing goals now, so I’m hoping that this desperation will morph into motivation. September’s goals need to be different because I don’t want to be writing about failing again – I’m starting to bore myself now. So come on, August, you will be my month.
How are you doing with your writing goals? I hope you’re doing better than I am. Feel free to comment below either way. I’d love to hear how everyone else is doing.
Keep writing, folks!
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