Balancing It All

I've spent this past week discussing the goals I set for my writing in 2010. The first goal was to complete the rewrites on an older project. The second was to move on to a new project. The third was to try outlining for a change. And fourth was to expand on social networking. As I mentioned in my previous posts, I managed to obtain certain degrees of success with each of these goals so I am pleased with my efforts. Now, my final goal for 2010 was to find a way to balance writing and blogging with family responsibilities. According to my family, this was a success. According to my writing and blogging, this was a failure. In 2010, I definitely put my family first (which a person should). In fact, I think I used them as a procrastination tool (don't tell them that). But, even though we put our families first, as writers, we need to carve out some time every day to spend on the craft. This is the only way we will improve. So, I'm going to call this goal a work in progress. I'm still trying to figure it all out. What about you? How do you manage your blogging/writing time vs. family/work/other obligation time?

Social Networking

This week, I'm reviewing some of the goals I set for my writing in 2010. I've already discussed finishing up a project, starting a new project, and trying to outline. Today, I want to talk about my 4th goal, which was to expand on social networking. I started blogging in May of 2009 without a clue as to what I was doing. Over the next few months, I started to get the hang of it and realized what a wonderful resource it is. Through blogging, I've learned a lot about writing and the ins and outs of the publishing business. More importantly, though, I've developed some strong connections with other writers. I've watched other aspiring authors climb the publishing mountain to success. I've cried with some over their setbacks and celebrated with others when they've signed agents or sold their first novels. Best of all, I met my crit partners here. All that being said, I decided that I wanted to get even more out of social networking by expanding my use of it. I did, in fact, join Twitter and Facebook, and I kept up with my blog. One thing I realized, though, was that social networking has its place, and writing should always come first. This realization took a whole lot of pressure off me. I don't feel guilty anymore if I can't blog. I don't feel guilty if I don't tweet one day or update my status on Facebook. So, despite the fact that I take frequent breaks and haven't kept up with social networking as much as I intended, I'm calling my efforts toward this goal a success. I'm doing what I can, when I can, without sacrificing my writing. To me, that definitely spells success. How much time do you spend social networking and which site is your favorite?

Footprints Lead the Way

This week, I'm discussing the outcome of the goals I set for my writing for 2010. The first was to finish the rewrites of an old project. Success! The second was to dive into a new project. Sort of success... And the third was to outline said new project instead of writing by the seat of my pants. I wanted footprints to follow. On every other project, I winged it, and the amount of revision and rewriting has been overwhelming. Well, I'll call this a success. I did attempt to outline my current project. It's a very sketchy outline, but still an outline. I have narrowed down the major plot points and the character goals, motivation, and conflict, but everything in between is still up in the air. I decided I'm not much of an outliner. When I tried to plot chapter by chapter, I lost enthusiasm for the project and I felt lost rather than guided. There's nothing wrong with being a pantser, and there's nothing wrong with being a plotter. Is there anything wrong with being an in-betweener? I guess I'll find out in the coming months as I proceed with this project in that fashion. What about you? Do you plot, or do you wing it? Or are you an in-betweener like me?

Diving In

I'm spending this week discussing my success and failures regarding the goals I set for 2010. As I mentioned yesterday, the first goal I set was to finish the rewrites on my then WIP. My 2nd goal was to dive into a new project. I had two or three projects on the back burner and couldn't decide which one to proceed with. I'd be working on one, and another one would take over my brain. I kept going back and forth, never getting anywhere with any of them. I wanted to select one, once and for all, and dive into it without looking back. Well, I did dive into another project, but it wasn't any of the three I was working on at the time. It's a brand new one. The problem is that I only had about a month to work on it before the holiday season hit. Now, I'm feeling a little disconnected from it and wonder if I truly dove in or just dipped my toes in the water. I'm going to call the attempt at this goal both a success and a failure. Did I really immerse myself in a new project? No. Did I move on, though, and continue to write something? Yes. What about you? Have you ever had a difficult time really moving on from an old project and diving into a new one?

2010 Recap

Wow! I can't believe another year has come and gone. At this time last year, I set some goals for my writing career, so I thought I'd explore the success and failure of these over the next week. (And, I apologize for the lack of shoe picture today. If all goes well, there will be one tomorrow.) My first goal was to complete the rewrites on the manuscript I was working on at the time. It took the better part of the year, but I did in fact accomplish that. I have no complaints. I learned a great deal in the process and became a better writer because of it. What about you? Did any of your 2010 goals take longer to accomplish than you thought they would? And, anyone have any good news to share? Please do tell! Oh, and Happy New Year!