Here we are, the final month of 2018. Wow, when did that happen? It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was preparing my writing goals for 2018. But before I talk about my goals for December — the final race to the finish line — let’s see what happened in November.
- Writing Goal 1: Novel 4th draft – edit chapters 7-57
Result: I decided to do NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month) in November to motivate me with editing my novel. My goal was to edit 50 chapters, but I didn’t manage to edit anywhere near 50 chapters. It wasn’t a complete fail, however, because I did edit five chapters, which is the most chapters I’ve edited in a month so far this year. You can find out more about my NaNoEdMo challenge on my ‘The End of NaNoEdMo 2018’ blog post. - Writing Goal 2: Do novel outline summary, main character profiles and start working on plot for 2nd standalone novel
Result: I didn’t fully complete this goal, but I did nearly finish the novel outline summary. I’m working on the main plot points. With Christmas being close, most of my evenings are spent sorting, wrapping and making Christmas presents. Also, I’m planning and doing designs for my Christmas baking, so that leaves little time for novel planning. - Writing Goal 3: Edit and finalise recordings for current flash fiction stories
Result: I didn’t complete this goal. I had to make my novel a priority, so I didn’t have much time left for anything else. - Writing Goal 4: The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror by Joyce Carol Oates
Result: Yes, I did it. I also have a double celebration because I have also finished my female horror author reading challenge. I’ll tell you more about this in my future posts. I do have more reading challenges, but for now, I’m reading the books I want to read by the authors I love. - Writing Goal 5: Read ‘B. 24’ by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Result: Yes, I did it again. I read the story, and I have also read all of the short stories on the ‘Top 10 Classic Short Stories’ list.
I also submitted a short story in November. It wasn’t one of my goals, but I couldn’t resist the submission call. Sadly, the story was rejected, but it showed me how much I have missed writing new stories — too much editing makes Nicole a dull wench.
So now it’s December, which means it’s time for some new goals.
My December Writing Goals
- Novel 4th draft – edit chapters 11-31
- Complete Goodreads reading challenge
- Write memoir project short story
- Submit one story
December is a month where Christmas fever takes over, and due to this, I have decided to set fewer goals — there’s no point in having lots of goals when I will unlikely have the time to complete them. Therefore, I have decided to leave the second standalone novel out of my goals this month. But, if I do have some free time, I will continue planning the novel. Due to completing all my current reading challenges, I am focusing on simply completing the Goodreads reading challenge that I set myself for this year — I aimed to read 15 books in 2018. (I have recently completed this challenge. I’m now on book 16.)
My writing group (Oldbury Writing Group) has been invited to take part in a life writing project, so I will be working on my story. Also, because I can’t resist submission calls, I have decided to submit a short story.
I also have a new short story collection idea. I want to do a small e-book collection, which I will most likely publish before my flash fiction collection — new projects are so hard to resist.
While November didn’t go completely to plan, I did complete some goals, and I’ve moved forward with my novel, which is what really matters. Now I hope I can do the same in December, fingers crossed.
Final note: I have a new website design. I hope you like it.
Keep writing, folks!
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