In Order to Achieve Goals... #2

[queenoftheskies]

One must have a plan.

Though, at this point, I think perhaps my plans are even more insane than my goals.

One of my 2006 goals was to complete six novels this year, and then I had three others I'd like to work on if there was time.

Well, I saw down today, and did some figuring (accountants like to figure, you know) and realized that 1,000,000 words, if I hit that goal was going to be MORE than the six novels I'd planned.

So, I started with today and a list of novels I'd like to work on this year, and I mapped the way through my year based on remaining words for each novel and the amount of words I'd planned to write every month.

Then, I added a few more words to my total word count, which would boost my per day count to 2,500 for several months. That's not too bad.

What I ended up with AMAZED me...and made me realize I'm probably more than a little crazy. But, if I managed to write 1,037,500 words for this year, here's what I could end up with:

Out of the Darkness		20,000 words		complete 1/12/06
Xanali		99,000 words		complete 2/26/06
Guardian Force		100,000 words		complete 4/04/06
Wildfire		32,000 words		complete 4/12/06
Pawns of Destiny		72,000 words		complete 4/30/06
Yami No Tenshi		75,000 words		complete 5/30/06
Cataclysm		100,000 words		complete 7/06/06
Gateway to Eternity		50,000 words		complete 7/18/06
Dumps, Dives & Divas		114,000 words		complete 8/25/06
The Spellsingers		123,000 words		complete 10/14/06
The Magic Within		42,500 words		complete 10/31/06
Check Mate		125,000 words		complete 11/30/06
The Dawning of the Dark		85,000 words		complete 12/31/06

Is it possible?

I honestly don't know.

Guess it depends how I apply myself and how many disasters I have this year. If there aren't any, then maybe.

That would be soooo totally cool. And, still not make a dent in all the stuff I have to write.

Guess I'll see how this month goes and then maybe I'll have a better idea as to whether I have the discipline or not to really make this happen.

Comments

[winters-edge.livejournal.com]

You know what? You better be really proud of how much you get done, because I feel like the biggest slacker in the world next to you. ;) You are amazing. :)

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

Umm...I wrote a drabble...

::fears you and your madness::

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

WOW. My goal is to write two novels. *feels very small*

[ammepyre.livejournal.com]

wow.....you are crazy!

In a good way. *grin*

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

You're definitely NOT a slacker. I'm obsessive and I guess lucky in the fact that somehow, my ability to juggle so much at work seems to have translated into my writing since I've really focused on how to get things done.

I used to sit and whine about not having enough time. Then I realized I had to do something with the time I had!

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

You wrote more than one drabble! I love your drabbles!!!

I fear me and my madness, too!

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

That's a WONDERFUL goal. Don't feel small. It's not my intention to make people feel bad. :(

I just...I don't know. I think, because of lots of bad stuff that's happened in my life, I've learned to juggle LOTS. Plus, I'm admittedly obsessed.

I asked a prolific author that I respect (and whose books I like to read) how she managed to keep writing through many bad things that happened to her and how she managed to keep from being distracted by it all. (At the time, I was having trouble focusing on what I was writing because of real life.)

She told me that the key was to be right there with the characters, ready to drop into the story at a moment's notice, ready to be lost in it and write.

So, I worked on that and worked on that. And, by god, it works!

Plus, I cheat. I write a lot of my work (though not everything I want to write this year) in one HUGE universe. Makes things fit together like a jigsaw puzzle and helps me get more done.

I'd love to read some of your work. The chapters I read on OWW were lovely!

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

I AM crazy!!!

It's perhaps the only way I stay sane. :)

[raecarson.livejournal.com]

I think it's GREAT that you can write so much. You inspire me! Do you mind telling me which prolific author? You can email it to me if you like... :-)

[navicat.livejournal.com]

Whoo! Go you :) That's inspiring!

*is inspired*

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

I wrote a drabble, and something bigger than a drabble.

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

I think I'm nuts.

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

I e-mailed you from the address on your website (which I love, in case I haven't told you yet). Is that good?

[navicat.livejournal.com]

*lol* maybe I'm inspired by your insanity cuz you've got to be nuts to be a writer...right?

:)

[afterglowey.livejournal.com]

If anyone can do that, it's YOU! Do you plan your stories very thoroughly or see what happens? I'm curious *how* you write...

[debg.livejournal.com]

OK, I'm curious.

Why did you want to complete six novels this year?

I mean, why the need for the quantity?

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Yes, I second this. I would like to know how much planning you do or if you are a by the seat of the pants writer. Do share. *bats eyes*

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

And they were awesome!

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Oh, I hadn't thought about it that way. I think you're right. :)

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I appreciate the vote of confidence. Lots! :)

Do you plan your stories very thoroughly or see what happens? I'm curious *how* you write...

I've always had a beginning, a middle, and an end to each story I write before I start writing it. They vegetate in my brain long enough for that to happen...unless a scene is just so intense that I have to write it down or lose it.

That doesn't give me details, though, so I have a lot of novels started, but not complete.

Probably the biggest reason for that is the fact that a lot of what I'm writing is in one big huge universe with lots of history. One story, therefore, will always affect others, so if I'm writing something that has a direct bearing on another story or that happened because of something in another story, I often sit down and pen the relating section in the other novel(s) after I write something big in what I'm working on. (Did that make sense?)

Last year, I determined that the discipline to write every day was NOT enough. I needed to make progress as well, so I set about finishing novels in progress. I think I finished three last year as opposed to one the year before.

Then I sat down to contemplate the fact that I had to do something, given the volume of material I had to write, to make things smooth, make them flow more easily, tell the best story (in rough draft) that I could so that editing/revising would be easier when I hit that stage.

So, I set about developing my own system of plotting. And, I plotted and I plotted...in September and October. For my NaNo project in November. And, OMG, the results were amazing.

I could fly through like there was no tomorrow. And, the plotting didn't hinder me. (I know lots of people are against plotting because they find it restrictive.) In fact, just the opposite. It freed me, allowed the plot to evolve, allowed subplots to creep in that made the story deeper and ultimately led me to making two complete stories out of the book instead of just one.

I still write spontaneously when the urge strikes me. However, from now on, when I'm working seriously on a novel, I will always plot.

For me, personally, plotting is FREEDOM.

People have asked me to discuss my methods of plotting at greater length, but I was sick in December and then the holidays came. I hope to get to it soon, though I'm somewhat reluctant to post examples because there are always people ready and willing to take potshots and I'm probably more sensitive than I should be. :)

I'd love to form a plotting community, if enough people are interested (though a small group would be nice) and just discuss plotting with people. It would be nice to see how everyone works...or would like to work...you know? There's so much potential to learn from others.

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

I'm going to paste in what I just responded to afterglowey's comment with, cause I don't think you see the answer unless you specifically come back and look.

Here goes:

I've always had a beginning, a middle, and an end to each story I write before I start writing it. They vegetate in my brain long enough for that to happen...unless a scene is just so intense that I have to write it down or lose it.

That doesn't give me details, though, so I have a lot of novels started, but not complete.

Probably the biggest reason for that is the fact that a lot of what I'm writing is in one big huge universe with lots of history. One story, therefore, will always affect others, so if I'm writing something that has a direct bearing on another story or that happened because of something in another story, I often sit down and pen the relating section in the other novel(s) after I write something big in what I'm working on. (Did that make sense?)

Last year, I determined that the discipline to write every day was NOT enough. I needed to make progress as well, so I set about finishing novels in progress. I think I finished three last year as opposed to one the year before.

Then I sat down to contemplate the fact that I had to do something, given the volume of material I had to write, to make things smooth, make them flow more easily, tell the best story (in rough draft) that I could so that editing/revising would be easier when I hit that stage.

So, I set about developing my own system of plotting. And, I plotted and I plotted...in September and October. For my NaNo project in November. And, OMG, the results were amazing.

I could fly through like there was no tomorrow. And, the plotting didn't hinder me. (I know lots of people are against plotting because they find it restrictive.) In fact, just the opposite. It freed me, allowed the plot to evolve, allowed subplots to creep in that made the story deeper and ultimately led me to making two complete stories out of the book instead of just one.

I still write spontaneously when the urge strikes me. However, from now on, when I'm working seriously on a novel, I will always plot.

For me, personally, plotting is FREEDOM.

People have asked me to discuss my methods of plotting at greater length, but I was sick in December and then the holidays came. I hope to get to it soon, though I'm somewhat reluctant to post examples because there are always people ready and willing to take potshots and I'm probably more sensitive than I should be. :)

I'd love to form a plotting community, if enough people are interested (though a small group would be nice) and just discuss plotting with people. It would be nice to see how everyone works...or would like to work...you know? There's so much potential to learn from others

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

I'd love to get paid for writing.

I think there's no problem with the amount of output now, and I'm actually going to be finishing more things, so that's good too.

The problem in question would be the quality of the work I crank out and how well I can edit and revise.

So, we'll see how that turns out and see if there's anything I can actually do with all this writing in 2006. :)

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Good question. There are actually probably a lot of different reasons for my desire to complete in quantity.

One is discipline. I feel like I can only achieve and improve as a writer through writing and writing and writing and FINISHING what I've started. I want to work on my storycrafting skills over and over through the many stories I have to tell.

Another is the fact that I have so MANY stories to tell. I never want for ideas and several of these ideas have come in the form of series of books, each with multiple storylines to tell. As I get older, I guess I just realize that if I ever want to tell even a fraction of them, I need to get going now.

Maybe part of it is the fact that I turn 50 in 2006 and I have this burning need to have fulfilled a portion of my writing dreams, even if that's only to get these stories out and into hard copy form. Whether I ever sell or not, I will still have written, I will have told as many of my stories as I possibly could.

Also, I have a word count goal of 1,000,000 words for the year (the more words I write, the more I practice, the more I learn...I hope). I want those words to be worth something...not just random scenes. I want to master the discipline of being able to decide what I write and plot it thoroughly enough that I finish it and don't flounder without any sense of completion.

I love writing. Right now, I'm just working on developing more of a sense of direction.

[wistling.livejournal.com]

Goodness. If I made a list like that for myself I'd never get any of it done.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond like this. Very enlightening and also inspiring to read. And I very much understand what you mean about plot being freedom. I didn't always think so. I'm the girl who always had to write the paper in school first and THEN do the mandatory outline. But during my rewrites of my current WIP, I decided that I had to have a plan. When I used that plan to write new bits during a marathon I was able to just churn out words, and it was a terrific feeling. Since I think plotting is still something that I'm not overly skilled at, I, too, would be interesting in learning about how others view it and do it.