Nicole J Simms/ June 10, 2018/ Blog/ 0 comments

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May 2018 Writing Goals Review and June 2018 Writing Goals

So, we’re into the sixth month of the year, and that means that half of the year has nearly gone. It’s scary how quickly the months are going by, especially when I don’t seem to be getting much closer to achieving my 2018 writing goals.

While May didn’t go to plan, I have been able to make some decisions about how I can finally move forward. I’ve been trying to do the same amount of work in less time, which was never going to work, so I have decided to cut down on my goals.

But before we get into that, let’s see what I did in May.

  • Writing Goal 1: Novel 4th draft – edit 50,000 words
    Result: I did find time to work on my novel, so far I have been able to keep Sunday free for my editing (short stories and novel), but only having one day a week to do all of my editing isn’t ideal, especially when I’m normally exhausted and demotivated by the time I get to Sunday – some days I just want to sit on my bed and play games on my Xbox. It’s an ongoing battle, but I’m always looking for a way to find more time to work on my novel, and I hope I find a way before the year is over.
  • Writing Goal 2: Write 15,000 words of my psychological horror novella
    Result: I didn’t work on my novella this month. Sadly, it was something that I had to put aside. Also, I have doubts about this novella, so I think I might leave it for now. I’ve noticed that there are similarities between this novella and my second novel, so I might end up merging the two ideas together, but we’ll see.
  • Writing Goal 3: Do outline for 2nd standalone novel
    Result: I have made some more notes for this novel. An episode of Ghost Adventures (I love this show) answered some of the questions I had about dark entities, so it got some ideas flowing, but I still have plenty to do. I still love the idea, though, so that’s a good sign. However, I have been tempted by another novel lately, but I’ll talk more about that later.
  • Writing Goal 4: OWG anthology – finalise 2 story/poem
    Result: Aiming to finish two of the OWG anthology pieces was a bit overambitious. On the plus side, I did finalise one piece, so that’s two down and eight to go.
  • Writing Goal 5: Submit one short story
    Result: I didn’t submit the short story because I needed more time to edit it. I also decided to use any free time to edit my novel and OWG anthology pieces, so there really wasn’t much time to work on this.
  • Writing Goal 6: Read Prince Lestat by Anne Rice
    Result: I finally finished reading this book. You can find out what I thought about the book on my ‘Female Horror Authors – Anne Rice’ blog post.
  • Writing Goal 7: Read The Restorer by Amanda Stevens
    Result: Yes, I read this and loved it. It blends crime and the supernatural together, which is something I like to do in my own writing. I’ll tell you more about this book in a future post.
  • Writing Goal 8: Read a short story – ‘Rip Van Winkle’ by Washington Irving
    Result: Yes, this was another green tick.
  • Writing Goal 9: Read a short story – ‘Désirée’s Baby’ by Kate Chopin
    Result: No, I didn’t have a chance to read this story, but I’ll add it to June’s goals instead.

So now it’s June, so it’s time for some new goals. You know, I can’t wait to actually have some new goals.

My June Writing Goals

  • Novel 4th draft – edit 50,000 words (I will eventually complete this)
  • Do outline for 2nd standalone novel (Yeah, I’m trying again)
  • OWG anthology – finalise 1 story/poem
  • Read The Unquiet House by Alison Littlewood
  • Read a short story – ‘Désirée’s Baby’ by Kate Chopin

As previously stated, I plan to cut down on my writing goals. So, for this month I won’t be writing my novella – okay, I’ve not really worked on it anyway, but you know what I mean. I’m also only working on one OWG anthology piece, and I plan to read one novel and one short story. I have also decided to stop adding my monthly flash fictions to my website, and I won’t be working on any short stories for now.

Now, it’s time to explain my novel temptation. This week I found my notes for a dark fantasy novel series that I did years ago. I was amazed by how much I had planned, and I instantly reconnected with the main character. So, for a day, I fought with the temptation to stop planning my second standalone novel and return to working on the novel series. However, after some careful consideration, I decided not to do that, especially as I have already put this novel idea aside for another project. But it does mean that when I start working on my supernatural mystery series, which I plan to do after planning the second standalone, I may again be tempted by the dark fantasy idea. It would be so much easier if I could clone myself because I love all of these ideas, so I never know which one to do first.

As always, I hope I do better with this month’s goals. I think by reducing my goals, I will feel less overwhelmed by my projects and therefore more productive, but we’ll see.

How did you do in May? Feel free to comment below. I’d love to hear how everyone else is doing.

Keep writing, folks!

Oh, and before I go, if you want email alerts of my latest posts, then please subscribe. And don’t forget you can follow me on Twitter, or like my Facebook page.

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