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Why I’m not setting ANY #writegoals for 2013 (hint: I’m not quitting)

Layla Messner — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 04:23:03 +0000

If you’ve been around these parts for any time at all, you know I LOVE goal-setting. I wrote a whole post on goal-journaling just recently (read it here). So why in the world would I choose to set no goals at all? I’ll tell you, just as soon as I review my goals from 2012 and see how I did. Or you can, you know, scrolllll down, but then you’d miss all my pretty check-marks.

2012 Author Goals:

Note: On Jan 1, I posted my goals for the year. As I mention in this post–the crash course in goal journaling–I amend the list throughout the year. These are the goals as I carried them through:

Finish draft 12 of Molten √
Proofread-via-Kindle Molten √
Query Molten √
Edit DEMOLITION √
Proofread-via-Kindle DEMOLITION √
Write query & synopsis for DEMOLITION √
Submit/query DEMOLITION √
Send at least 3 queries/mo (total of 33+) √
Write, edit, and submit for publication at least one short story √
Draft a new project √
And, of course, continue to build author-related relationships via social networking & blog √
Reading goal: Read 50 books (having never before counted my reads, this may turn out to be an insane goal for me; we’ll see). X (I finished 32 books + read a sizeable portion of 14 more.)

See? Lots of pretty check marks. *pats self on back* Did you meet your goals? *pats you on the back, as well* *pats you on the back if you even set goals and tried to meet them*

I had one last goal for 2012: At the beginning of Dec 2012, to meet #10 above, I aimed to write 40,619 words. I did not in fact get all 40,619, but I did write 34,017 for a total of 113,397 and what felt like a finished zero-draft. Yay!

So, obviously goal-setting works for me. Why, then, am I not setting any for 2013?

Because I feel like 2012 holds Things–yes, “things” is a vague word–I can’t even envision yet. Because of my relationship to my word, if I set goals I’ll feel compelled to meet them, even if the task at hand is different. So. I’m gonna wing it. Maybe I’ll set goals later in the year, as I start to get a better sense of my unfolding author’s journey. For now, I will say this: I would love for this to be the year where writing deadlines replace writing goals.

What are your goals (writing or otherwise) for 2013? Did you accomplish something in 2012? (Tell me so I can *CHEER*)

Year-end Goals? Set ‘Em Now + a crash course in goal-journaling (the way I do it) & how I stayed motivated during NaNo

Layla Messner — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 21:22:16 +0000

*rubs hands together* It’s that time of year again: Dec 1. A.k.a. my last chance to meet this year’s goals, well, this year.

In this post I set 13 writing goals for 2012. The goal I still want to meet is:

#11. Draft a new novel.

My progress so far: Sept-Oct – 15,714 words (if you’re guessing I got stuck in editing mode, you’re right)

November: 63,667 words (NaNoWriMo, you rock!) And I win:

Total so far: 79,381

I probably wrote 110K for Molten (a 68K book). The first draft of DEMOLITION was 80K and resulted in a 53K book. My current WIP is a YA fantasy, so I’d like 80K. Thus, I figure I need 120K on my first draft.

120,000 – 73,381 =

New Dec, 2012 Goals:

#1. Write 40,619 words.*

(Yup, the “-s” in goals was a trick. I only have one writing goal for December.)

I’d like to get these words done by Dec 20th, so I can take vacation from Solstice to New Years.

* BUT if I sign with an agent in December, and s/he wants to put me to work on agent-edits for DEMOLITION, I’ll do that instead.

Speaking of Solstice and New Years…those are two of my journaling days. You asked for it (on Twitter), and here it is:

A crash-course in goal-journaling (the way I do it)

Step 0: Nog and cookies*

* Step 0 is optional, but highly recommended.

That’s vegan nog & gluten-free cookies, btw. And, yes, I am reading The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Aren’t those books fun? But I digress. For real now, the process. My journaling process is cyclical, so I’ll start where we are on the wheel:

Step 1 – December 21, 2012 (Winter Solstice): 2013 Goals, Draft 1

By this point, you’ve started to have ideas about how you’d like next year to go, right? Things you’d like to accomplish/experience, goals, intentions, that sort of thing. Now’s the time to get it down. The great thing about doing a “first draft” is that it doesn’t have to be organized, and you’re not committing to anything right now. So just do whatever’s easiest: An avalanche of thoughts? Point-form list? Brainstorm? Whatever. Make room to discover new ideas. Try out different visions. Have fun. Explore.

Then let it sit (but feel free jot down new thoughts as they come up) until…

Step 2 – January 1, 2013 (New Years Day): 2013 Goals, Official (+ intentions and touchstones)

This is it, your official goal list. I make separate goal lists for both writing and personal. I post my writing goals on my blog (I may post my personal goals – at least some of them – on FB, or I may not). I make hardcopies of the lists, too, which I post on my bulitin board, or keep on my bookshelf, or whatever, so I can physically cross off each goal when I reach it. Remember: A Goal is something that you, personally, can achieve. If it’s not 100% within your power – i.e. “signing with an agent” or “meet my soulmate” – then it’s not a goal. It’s an intention. Have some of those, too. I might even argue that those are actually more important. So, you might write:

Intention: Sign with an agent.

Goal: Send 3 query letters/month – at least 36 letters in 2013, or until I sign with an agent. (I’m not saying that’s the correct way to query; it’s just an example.)

The keys here? Challenge yourself, but don’t be overwhelming. Each list (personal, writing) should contain a number of goals you can hold in your thoughts at the same time. If you’re 100% sure you can meet all the goals, you’re not challenging yourself enough.

In addition to goals and intentions, I also articulate what I call “touchstones”. These may be words – courage, anyone? – or images, songs, movies, people who seem to have that energy…Basically, I have a sense for the energy that I am unfolding into and I make it clear to myself in some way. I realize that probably sounds vague. Hmm…It’s about being conscious of the process of Becoming–being, rather than doing.

Step 3 – Birthday: R&R – Review & Revise

Since my birthday is in September, it’s a perfect time to review and revise my goals. If your birthday is before June, you might pick a different date. This is simple: Look at your list. Which goals have you met? What is left? Anything you no longer want to meet? New goal to add? On Jan 1, you didn’t know how the year would go. That was like pre-mission planning. Now you’re on the ground. Revise accordingly.

My birthday is the time when I take a look at Where I Am, in all aspects of my life: Am I aligned (being true to myself)? I do a lot of personal journaling on this day.

Step 4 – Oct 31, 2013 (Halloween): 2013 Retrospective

Your remember those intentions and touchstones? Time to revisit them. Stuck anywhere? Had a painful year? Now’s the time to get all that out. Stuff to celebrate? New energies unfolding? This is just your time to look over the year, as it was. I do kind of an internal sorting–this to let go, this to carry forward.

Make a clear plan for meeting your remaining goals.

Step 5 – It’s Dec 21, again. Time to draft your 2014 Goals.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Questions, comments? We have a comments section for that. Please scroll down.

You read (or scrolled) this far, so now you get…

My (previously) Top Secret tips for Winning NaNo

& getting that first draft done

#1.

Celebrate daily goals.

#2.

Don’t revise.

Okay, everyone. Go forth and set your year-end goal (s)!

The Next Big Thing

Layla Messner — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:50:29 +0000

Welcome to Week 19 of The Next Best Thing!

In this blog hop, authors answer ten pre-determined questions, which will reveal bits and pieces about their current release or upcoming book. In my case, I’ve selected my complete manuscript Demolition, which I am currently querying.

But first, I’d like to thank the awesome Tish Thawer for inviting me to participate in this great hop! *HUGS*

And now down to the nitty gritty!

Q&A:

Q: What is the working title of your book?

A: Demolition.

Q: Where did the idea come from for the book?

A: A late-night techo dance party at a spirituality/music festival in rural Alberta. (Read the full inspiration story: here.)

Q: What genre does your book fall under?

A: Young Adult dystopian, with heavy romantic elements.

Q: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

A: Oh, goodness. I did have someone I used as a jumping off point for the point of view character, Aidan, but if I tell you it will give away a major plot point.

Q: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

A: Two street kids from opposing urban tribes fall in love while struggling to stop the Global Government from turning their all-night dance venue into a recycling depot.

Q: Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

A: I am querying agents right now.

Q:How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

A: Less than two months. I wrote the first 50,000 words for 2011 NaNoWriMo, and kept writing through to the winter holidays. I wrote at least 2,500 words (almost) every weekday.

Q: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

A: I’m pitching it as Lord of the Flies meets Starhawk’s The Fifth Sacred Thing, but with more romance and three genders.

Q: Who or What inspired you to write this book?

A: The variety of dress and dance styles present at the above-mentioned festival.

A woman who gave me pamphlets on Buddhism earlier that day.

My (non-violent) mother.

Every conversation I’ve ever had (and I’ve had a lot of them) about self-defence vs. non-violence.

A short-short story I wrote in college, in which the protagonist remembered a lover but could not recall that person’s gender.

Q: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

A: The protagonist, Aidan, is an in-between (a member of the middle gender). So you, the reader, get to decide whether to see Aidan as male or female.

p.s. You can read the opening scene of DEMOLITION here.

I’m breaking the “rules” of this blog hop a bit because, despite numerous posts on Twitter, I couldn’t find five more authors who wanted to answer these questions about their WIP/new release (I guess everyone’s busy writing.) Rather than become the most annoying person on Twitter, I decided to link to five of my author buddies.

5 of my author buddies:

Want to participate in Week 20? Drop me a comment below with your blog details, and I’ll add your link to the post.

The rules: Post next wednesday. Answer these 10 questions about your WIP or new release. Find five authors to “tag” for week 21.

–

Questions? Comments? Bring ‘em on.

Gearing Up to Get an Agent – Meet & Greet

Layla Messner — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 20:37:36 +0000

Hi, everyone. It’s been a while. But fear not, though I have been neglecting my blog, I have not been neglecting the writing. In fact, I’ve just finished editing DEMOLITION and I am…

Gearing Up to Get an Agent.

Which is to say I’m participating in this lovely blogfest hosted by Deana Barnhart. This week’s “event” is a meet and greet, so below you’ll find some potentially interesting facts about me and my writing process. Enjoy. Oh, and for fun, I’ll also take questions in the comment box, so if there’s something you’d like to know, just ask.

Bio:

I have an individualized M.A. in Women, Writing & Somatics from Goddard College, and I write YA fiction about trust and darkness. I hang my hats in Canmore, Canada, where–when not writing–I can be found prowling the trails accompanied by a small dog with too many nicknames. I believe sometimes story is the best medicine, cloaks trump jackets, and the best time to walk the streets is during holiday dinner—when the world seems deserted. I do not believe in unsolicited advice, or the word “impossible.”

-Where do you write?

At my bedside table/desk. Or at one of the coffee shops in town (my favorite is Communitea Cafe). Or in bed, but I try not to do that, for the love of my spine.

-Quick. Go to your writing space, sit down and look to your left. What is the first thing you see?

Answering this from the bedside table/desk: To my left is my rebounder.

-Favorite time to write?

Well, I love writing before noon–I feel so accomplished. But my habitual writing time is 1pm-4pm.

-Drink of choice while writing?

Matcha green tea latte with soy milk. Second choice: “Love” tea by pukka (I’m all about the love).

-When writing , do you listen to music or do you need complete silence?

MUSIC. Usually a few songs (<10) on random loop. Sometimes just one song on repeat.

-What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it?

Last summer, a friend invited me to the Inshala spiritual/music festival in rural Alberta. The first night, I was dancing to techno music in a tent with a collection of interesting-looking young people. There were a variety of different styles of dress and movement in evidence. I’m used to dancing to handrums around a fire; the techno beat stuck me as futuristic/urban, even though we were camping. That image resolved into The Dance, the all-night dance venue around which revolves my manuscript, DEMOLITION. Earlier that day, a woman had presented me with pamphlets about Buddhism, and I’d been having an ongoing inner dialogue about Zen Buddhism and self-defence all day. I began to see my fellow dancers as representatives of different urban “tribes” (a.k.a. gangs) divided along lines of belief. Aidan, the protagonist, embodies a dystopian interpretation of Buddhism, while my thoughts about self-defence gave rise to the romantic lead, militant anarchist Lawson.

-What’s your most valuable writing tip?

“Trust yourself.” The story chose you for a reason.

Have a question for me? Now’s your chance.

Molten Semi-finalist & Other Updates

Layla Messner — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 22:18:31 +0000

Hello! Lots has happened since you heard from me last. One really cool thing: Molten was a semi-finalist in the 2011 Young Adult Novel Discovery Contest hosted by Gotham Writer’s Workshop. The entry consisted of the first 250 words (i.e. the first page) of the manuscript, plus title. That’s it. Being a semi-finalist meant top 23 out of nearly 1000 entries. Pretty cool, no? I think so.

On February 14 I finished draft 15 of Molten. Valentine’s Day FTW! (Finishing on that day turned out to be auspicious and awesome on a personal level as well, but I’m not going to tell that story here. Yet. ) I’ve started querying Molten. You know the drill–I won’t report much on the process until I sign with an agent. (As always, the word “until” is meant as an affirmation, not arrogance.)

As I was finishing up Draft 15, I got a new (better!) idea for how Molten would work without vamps. & I have edited the first 100 pages (about 40% of the ms) accordingly, in case there’s interest. I love the new idea, but my heart is still with the way I originally wrote it (raise your hand if you have an undying–undead?–love of vampires). *raises hand*

My new short story, “Rattlesnake Eyes,” is complete and out for beta-feedback right now.

I’ve begun edits on DEMOLITION, the YA dystopian with heavy romantic elements that I started drafting during 2011 NaNoWriMo. (March turned out to not be official NaNoReVisMo–not sure why I thought it was–so I ended up splitting the month between a variety of projects, rather than just this one.)

& I have a new writing partner with whom I am working on my very first feature-length screenplay! April is Script Frenzy, yo.

I feel very abundant and blessed, both writing- and personal-life-wise. & I am, as always, grateful to have people who care and follow along with my updates.

How are everyone else’s writing and other goals coming along?

Layla

Writing Goals: Jan/Feb

Layla Messner — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:17:52 +0000

I set goals on Jan 1st. Did I meet them? Time to find out:

My January, 2012 writing goals were:

Finish draft 12 of vamped Molten [This actually should have said, "Draft 13"and, yes, I finished it √]
Proofread-via-Kindle Molten [Technically, I finished Feb 1, but my dog hurt his back, and it's done now, so...√. I found a few rough patches, though--it needs another week or two of work.]
5-10 personalized queries for Molten [√ I drafted them, but I don't like them. I need to go back to something very close to my previous query.]
(Optional) Draft creepy short story [Got started--about a quarter of the way through, semi-polished.]
I also line-edited one submission for my writing group anthology “editing pod.” One more to go.

In my 2012 goal-setting post, I also listed a few anticipated goals for Feb. This updated list supersedes that one.

February writing goals:

Finish Draft 14 of Molten. Deadline for having it query-ready: Feb 29.
Brief synopsis for Molten.
3 Molten queries, ready to send.
Read DEMOLITION all the way through (no editing!)
Continue work on short story (I’ve already worked on it in Feb; any further work is optional, but encouraged.) Tentative deadline for complete, polished piece: April 30.
Provide editing notes for second member of “editing pod.”
Edit and submit my travel piece for the writing group anthology.
Proof my friend’s poetry manuscript.
(Optional, but highly encouraged) Have version 2 of Molten ready as well. <– yes, I know this makes no sense to anyone but me.
(Optional) Rough, brief synopsis of DEMOLITION (for me).

Woah, that’s one busy list. Here’s to a simpler one for March:

Edit first 50K of DEMOLITION (participate in NaNoRevisMo)
Send at least 3 Molten queries

See you on the other side!

–

Did you set writing goals for January? If so, how did you do? Want to set some for Feb?

Unconventional Fondue Feast (photo journal + recipes)

Layla Messner — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:52:00 +0000

The “Self & Life” section of my blog has been sadly neglected. So begins my attempt to remedy that. (I do have a life outside of writing, really.)

Today’s share: a photo/recipe journal of my at-home dairy-free, egg-free and gluten-free fondue feast (that’s a lot of “free”s). Fondue has always been one of my favorite foods (food types? food groups?). Since I stopped eating dairy and gluten, I’ve felt fondu-deprived. No More! My brother gave me a fondue pot for Christmas, and presto! excellent motivation to get creative.

Plated fruit. Chocolate, anyone?

The feast, as it happened–

Ingredients were laid out…

My mom did this.

And this. Isn't she awesome?

Course 1: Vegan, GF cheese + bread

I discovered Daiya vegan cheese at Pala pizzeria in NYC–they also have gluten-free pizza, go check them out, but I digress. I was ecstatic to realize my local health food store carries their products. This stuff melts and shreds and tastes quite a lot like “the real thing.” (And, no, I am not affiliated with Daiya in any way, and this is not an ad.)

Time to dig in!

Layla-approved? Yes!

Likelihood of enjoyment by people who eat everything? Not very high. Stick with the conventional version.

For the cheese fondue, I combined this recipe from the Daiya site for “Cheesey Fondue” with this one for conventional cheese fondue from Simply Recipes.

Like so:

1. Split a clove of garlic and rub all over the inside of a small saucepan.

2. Bring 1/2 cup white wine to a boil, lowered heat.

3. Mix in 1 package, or a bit more, of Daiya mozzarella-style shreds, and cook on low-heat until melted.

4. While cooking, stir in 1 tbs of rice flour. Add: Braggs liquid aminos, lemon juice, onion powder, and garlic powder (to taste).

5. Transfer to double boiler insert of fondue pot.

6. Eat! Dip cubes of bread (I used Gluten-free, vegan rolls from the supermarket), cool for a few seconds, and enjoy.

Course 2: Free-range Bison + veggies in olive oil

Ready, set...

Cook meat and veggies in olive oil.

Allow to cool.

Dip in tangy sauce.

Bison is my favorite meat. Feel free to substitute yours (my mom had beef). I used this recipe from Lidner Bison (to find it, scroll down on their site). It’s really simple: meat + enough olive oil to just cover it. Note: don’t use the double-boiler insert for this one. When it came to the sauce, I didn’t have all the ingredients, so I did this:

Tangy dipping sauce:

1/2 cup vegan mayo

1 tbs catsup

1 clove garlic, minced

It was delicious.

Layla-approved? Heck, yeah!

Vegan/vegetarian? Use veggies, and tofu or tempe (maybe spice up your oil a bit)

Course 3: Vegan Chocolate!

Yum.

Dip.

Bites.

Doesn’t that look good? I adapted this recipe from About.com.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup vegan margarine
8 ounces vegan chocolate chips
2 tbsp rice flour
1/2 cup agave syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tbsp soy milk

Prep: Melt chips, butter, and milk in a double boiler. Once melted, add other ingredients. Transfer to double-boiler insert of fondue pot. Enjoy with fruit.

Layla-approved? Total win. This tasted exactly like the one I used to get at my favorite fondue restaurant!

Likelihood of enjoyment by people who eat everything? 99.9% (see last question)

***

One more for the road.

That’s it. I hope your enjoyed .

If you try any of these, please stop by and let me know how they turn out.

Happy eating!

~ Layla

2012 Writing Goals (+ Molten update)

Layla Messner — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:55:56 +0000

Hello, and welcome to 2012. It’s going to be a great year! Do you have your writing (or other) goals/intentions articulated, yet? Here are mine.

FOCUS–2012 is going to be all about nurturing my creativity. My focus can be summed up thus: Don’t try; just be yourself. & don’t give up. Trust the characters, the story, and your creative process. (Stay tuned for related Molten update, at the end of this post.) Without further ado…

Author Goals 2012:

Finish draft 12 of Molten
Proofread-via-Kindle Molten
Query Molten—at least 3/mo (total of 33 in 2012), or until I sign with literary agent
Edit YA dystopian WIP
Send draft 3 (or 4) of dystopian to betas
Edit dystopian post-beta-feedback (no more than 3 additional drafts)
Proofread-via-Kindle dystopian
Book proposal for dystopian
Submit/query dystopian
Write, edit, and submit for publication at least one short story
Draft a new novel
And, of course, continue to build author-related relationships via social networking & blog
Reading goal: Read 50 books (having never before counted my reads, this may turn out to be an insane goal for me; we’ll see)

1st Quarter Author Goals:

Jan:

Finish draft 13 of Molten
Proofread-via-Kindle Molten
5-10 personalized queries for Molten
(Optional) Draft creepy short story

Feb:

Send first round Molten queries
(Optional) Synop for Molten
Read straight through dystopian SNP
Synop of dystopian (for me)
Draft 2 of dystopian—structural + (optional) fill in blank spaces

March: NaNoRevisMo

Draft 3 of dystopian—edit text all the way through (Beta-review draft)
Send second round Molten queries

Peeking ahead to the 2nd quarter: While dystopian is with betas, write pitch & synop. Submit/pitch/query dystopian by end of May, at latest.

Molten Update:

I planned to tell a long story about how I came to the realization I’m about to share, but I’ve been journaling all day and I’m tired, so I’ll just share the essence. On Jan 31–in other words, last year, but also just yesterday–I had a conversation with the hero of Molten. And he says he’s a vampire. The de-vamped experiment is thus over. I got three things out of the experiment: 1. I wished I’d written in present tense; I no longer do. I like the past-tense version. 2. I wasn’t sure I’d gotten up all the metaphorical bones of the story. After reviewing the novel, I’ve filled in the holes I found, but for the most part those were small. It hangs together as a whole. So well, in fact, that I havn’t been able to make the de-vamped plot work. 3. I’d come to doubt my choice to write a vampire book at this time. I no longer do. This is the story that came to me, and the story I want to write. I knew that when I started, and it’s good to be reminded. Molten is, in essence, a about a guy who will not give up on that which he loves. How can I do any less for him and his story?

This decision is reflected in the goals above. I ache a little about it–for the character possibilities I saw that will now never live, at least not in this book–but I think the ache is just part of the process.I remain, as always, willing to be wrong about this. If an epiphany to the contrary strikes, I’ll get back to you .

[Update, March 28, 2012: You know how I said I was willing to be wrong? Well Shortly after writing this, I began to dream about the de-vamped version, and I realized I had missed something obvious. There is an alternate vamp-free plot hiding in there, it just isn't exactly what I tried before. The best part is that since the changes come out of the Molten universe, they are fairly straightforward. For the bulk of the book, the words can stay the same, especially since I'm sticking with past tense. I did some more editing and now have the first 100 pages of this version available as well.]

Happy 2012!

p.s. Oh! I just realized I forgot to share a token person goal. Want to know what I’ll be up to in 2012? Well, I’d like to go on at least one in-person date. Wish me luck!

2011 Writing Retrospective

Layla Messner — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:21:18 +0000

Hi, all. Ready to wish adieu to 2011? I am. Starting with a review of the goals I set 365 days ago. (Original goal in black, notes in orange.)

1. Revise Book 1 and have it proofread. √ <– by which I mean, “check,” not “square root”

2. Query at least 3 agents/month until I gain representation. This goal is still in the works, so I’ll just sum it up by giving myself a √. Agent feedback prompted me to return to the manuscript to a) edit again for a stronger (quicker) opening, & b) see if the book can be re-written without the vampires.

3. ~~Write Book 2.~~ I wrote about 40K on this book, 20K of which I figured was usable, and which I also edited. Then I put it aside to attend to the above edits, especially since if I end up going with the de-vamped version, this sequel is unlikely to work.

4. ~~Make money in writerly and writing-friendly ways. (Still clarifying the shape(s) this will take. In addition to novels, possibilities include coaching and copywriting.)~~ Attempted. Got a job for a resume writing company. Hated it–felt it took mental energy from my novels. Decided to revaluate my budget to avoid need of this extra job.

5. Upgrade my website. √ Tried two new versions, actually. I <3 this one. Pretty, no?

6. Continue social networking. √

7. ~~(Optional) Edit Book 2.~~

8. ~~(Optional) Write, edit, and submit “experiment project.”~~ This beginning of this project is in the metaphorical drawer. Maybe it’ll come out some day, maybe not.

In my mid-year goal review, I replaced this goal with “Draft YA dystopian Shiny New Project.” For this I get a √. Thanks to NaNoWriMo for getting me started. Thanks to me for finishing. *patting self on back*

9. Read good novels. √

My favorite reads of 2011: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma. The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead (yes, I know I’m a bit late in reading this,) the Darkest Powers series by Kelley Armstrong, & The Willows: Havenby Hope Collier.

On Goodreads? Compare favorite books with me at Goodreads.com/layla_messner.

Lastly, the two personal goalsI mentioned: “deep-self-listening practice” & “wear perfume.” √√ Two resounding successes.

Stay tuned tomorrow for 2012 Writing Goals and, in the meantime *sets off fireworks* enjoy the party.

p.s. My writing highlight of 2011: meeting 2500 wds/weekday goals from Nov 1 through Dec 20. What about you?

News, NaNo & Turning of the Year Goals

Layla Messner — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 20:41:55 +0000

Well, it’s been a while, hasn’t it. *rubs hands together* Where to start?

Accomplishments:
1. NaNoWriMo: I wrote 57K words this November. Rah!!
Aprox 10K of those were for Molten (vamped and de-vamped), the balance were my SNP (shiny new project)–the YA dystopian idea that came to my on my camping trip this past summer.

2. 2500 words/day. Since Nov 1, I’ve written at least that many words each weekday, with only two exceptions (the day I moved rooms, and the day I wrote extra words the day before.) *proudness*

3. I’ve been running 5 days/week, and doing quick AM Pilates 6 days/week for three weeks. *more proudness*

4. (This isn’t really an accomplishment, but) I ready The Now Habit: A strategic program for overcoming procrastination and enjoying guilt-free play, by Neil Fiore
It’s awesome, and I completely recommend it. *big thumbs up*

Molten vamped/de-vamped update:
Remember how I’m playing around with de-vamping (taking the vampires out of) my first novel, Molten? I originally thought I’d use the first 20-30K of the vamped version and basically write the rest of the book from scratch. I planned to use NaNo to draft all those extra words, and I started November with that intention. Well, after a week of re-writing the same few scenes, it became obvious that I don’t have that many new words for this projet. If the re-write is going to work it’s got to be a pretty much direct replacement (vamps out, other plot point in) using the words I already have. I look forward to seeing what happens.

In the meantime, while continuing to draft the dystopian project, I’m chipping away at the last few edits on the vamped version with a tighter beginning. Soon that will be ready to go back out on query. Yay!

Writing Goals & Self-imposed Deadlines:
Dec 21: 80K on Dystopian. Or finish draft 1, whichever comes first. (I’d love to finish, just to say I wrote* a book this year. But in the greater scheme of things more words is better, because I cut a LOT when I edit. Of course, if I write a bunch more just to boost the word count, I’ll just end up cutting it. So I’ll write until I run out of plot.)
* Where “wrote” = drafted.

**optional** Dec 21: Complete final edits on vamped version of Molten.

Dec 22-Jan 1: VACATION!

Jan 13: First draft of Dystopian finished. (This leaves aprox. 6 weeks of “sitting” time before NaNoRevisMo.)

Jan 31: Vamped Molten proofread + one round (5-10) highly personalized queries ready.

**optional** Jan 31: 1st 50 pages polished of De-vamped version.

Feb: Work on De-vamped re-write Draft 1

March: NaNoRevisMo – Dystopian

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Well, there you have it. What is everyone else up to? Belated congrats to all the NaNo winners!