GOALS (a 2012 summary) and a Blog of the Year

With the end of the year so close, it's time for me to reflect on what I achieved/did not achieve in 2012. After 2011's goal blitz, I was feeling pumped this year, but I didn't quite live up to 2011's high standards. Don't get me wrong, though - I'm perfectly fine with it! I just didn't get a perfect score this year. ;) Anyway, let's break it down, referring to my 2012 Goals page and also my 52 weeks of tasks page:

Failures:

• NaNoEdMo - I was travelling for a bit of this month, but still, I failed!
• Writing one book review each month - I missed November
• Attending one yoga/body balance class per week
• Doing a beach walks on Saturdays/Sundays - failed this particularly as the year came to an end.

Successes:

• Read 43+ books in 2012 - my goal was at least 43
• Read The Catrina Chronicles stories up to date (though as of now I am behind again)
• Wrote and recorded 52 songs for 2012's Chrysalis Experiment
• Finished both 2011's NaNo novels, DANNA and VICTORIOUS
• Hit 50k in BuNoWriMo 2012 with IVY NIGHT - though the draft is not finished
• Won NaNoWriMo 2012, rewriting DAPHNE
• Posted one Globetrotter post per month
• Did a preliminary read-through/edit of FIRE (had no recollection of this till coming to write this post. ha)
• Sorted the equivalent of 100 photos a week
• Wrote the equivalent of 1k of new material each week, not counting BuNo and NaNo projects (worked on DANNA and SUNDOWN II for this)
• Reviewed all 52 Chrysalis stories, except 2 that were DANNA excerpts

"Somewhere in between"s:

• I did read 9 eBooks from my writer friends, but not always the books I had on the original list. I kept swapping really long books for short novella-length stories (with no e-reader, it's not easy reading eBooks!)
• Complete edit of DAPHNE - I do count this as an achievement, but it was actually more of a total rewrite, and I didn't do what I originally wanted and put more of Daphne's mother's history into the plot
• As of this post, I will have written the equivalent of at least one post a week this year. But I'm pretty sure I went more than 7 days between posts at least once this year.

Extra achievements:

• Finished my rewrite of SUNDOWN, which was not on my goals list anywhere, but which I made use of in the 1k of new material per week goal on my "52 tasks" chart.

Aaaand that's a wrap, folks! But what about next year? Yeah, I've got plans, and I'll talk about 2013 goals in a few days... :)

In other news, the lovely Deniz Bevan received the Blog of the Year Award, and chose to pass it onto me and Laurel Garver. I feel very honoured to have received this award, so thank you Deniz! The official rules of this award are:

1. Select the blog(s) you think deserve the Blog of the Year 2012 Award
2. Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there's no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and present them with their award
3. Please include a link back to this page Blog of the Year 2012 Award and include these rules in your post (please don't alter the rules or the badges!)
4. Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the rules with them
5. You can now also join our Facebook group – click like on this page Blog of the Year 2012 Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience
6. As a winner of the award please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar... and start collecting stars...

The people I'm going to pass this onto are:

• Hart Johnson at Confessions of a Watery Tart, whose posts are often entertaining but also tackle the tough issues many people are too scared to mention.
• Jordan McCollum, who doesn't tend to get a huge amount of comments on her blog but who still gives a whole lot to the writer blogger community with her very helpful posts.
• Michael Atkinson at Hypothetically Writing, whose little snippets of fiction shared throughout the year have brought delight to many. Michael's creative wit is, in my opinion, unparalleled, and he also makes a great bloggy friend!

Permission to fail

In 2011, I set myself some rather hefty goals. I achieved every single one of them. It was a hard push towards the end of the year to get everything done, but I did it! And it felt good. This year, I decided that if I could do all that stuff in 2011, I could sure do a similar amount in 2012. But this year I've found that, all too often, life has got in the way.

I'm still achieving some things, I suppose, but I'm behind in most of my goals, and it's going to take quite some effort to catch up. I know I can do it, but I've also realised this year that if I fail at some things, it's not the end of the world. I suppose I've given myself permission to fail, here and there. I have failed, here and there - like with NaNoEdMo, dismail failure there. I don't really want to take that too far, though...'cause who wants to feel okay with becoming a slacker?

Perhaps instead of working on my goals,
I'll just stare at this photo for a while...
Ahhh, Australian winter!

So far in 2012, I've accomplished the following:

• Preliminary read through/edit of FIRE
• Write 50k for BuNoWriMo 2012
• Finish off NaNo 2011 novel #1 (DANNA)

But I still have to do the following:

• Finish off NaNo 2011 novel #2 (VICTORIOUS)
• Win NaNo 2012
• Rewrite DAPHNE from scratch (I am thinking I'll probably use November to do this one)
• Revise all Chrysalis stories (I'm only up to #11...yikes!)

Amongst other miscellaneous things (photo sorting, blog posting, song writing, etc.).

But what am I doing instead? Working on my rewrite of SUNDOWN. It's fun, it's exhilarating, I love it. I guess I should give myself permission to do what I love, instead of what I said at the end of 2011 I would do. Right? But I'm one of those weirdos who really wants to do what she said she'd do, even if it's a little bit akin to watching grass grow.

How's this year shaping up for you so far?

Ivy and Jasmine and BuNo '12

At present, Ivy and Jasmine are my main characters. But I will probably have to rethink the name "Jasmine", because that is a little too Disney if you get what I'm saying. haha.

Ivy Night
is 16% complete

8433 / 50000 words written

I've wound up writing at a slow and steady pace, doing the minimum amount of words each day. Usually I'd be spewing out 5k a day or more, but I've opted for the slower run. I'm really enjoying the story. A few days back, I was not only writing my day's word count but also going back through the story and injecting more "magic" and more "Disney" into it. Enter the cute, furry animals. None of them talk, except psychically. Not yet. I'm not sure they should. But if it's going to be real Disney-like, then they should talk out loud. Still, I don't have to make it that Disney.

Anyway, my slow writing pace for BuNo means that I can also keep working on other projects during June. That's how I got my revisions of FIRE done a few days ago. I made the occasional report of how my word count was getting whittled down, but the final results are in. I went from 146k (though way back when, I stated that my word count had originally been 148k!) to the current figure of 106,923. The ultimate goal is to get it to 95k, but for now I'm putting it aside and moving onto something else.

What, I don't know. I have a lot of catching up to do on my Chrysalis story revisions, so I could focus on that. However, another goal I set myself is to revise DAPHNE this year. Yikes! That is quite a big one. But I did set the goal, so I have to take a stab at it. It's just that it's not so much revision as a total rewrite. I'm not used to those yet. ;) I also have yet to finish off VICTORIOUS, my second novel from last year's NaNoWriMo. I've been working haphazardly on that, but it'd be good to get it done and dusted pretty quickly. Maybe even within the next week. Probably wishful thinking, but it can't hurt to make it a tentative goal.

Anyway, I hope you are all doing well with your current projects, and enjoying your Junes!

First goal victory of the year!

I finished one of the year's tasks last night (or was it the night before?), that being a rough draft of last year's NaNoWriMo novel, DANNA. That tentative title comes from the name of the main female character, Danna Karlsson. That often seems to be the way I title my novels-in-progress.

Now that DANNA is done and dusted, it's time to move onto completing my second NaNo 2012 novel, VICTORIOUS. Nope, there are no actual people in that one called Victorious. Rather it's the name of the space ship in the story. Do you think space ships count as "people"?

I've also started a casual-ish rewrite of SUNDOWN, cleverly referred to as SUNDOWN II. I'm really enjoying the writing so far, and while I couldn't help myself and had to jot down some notes for a plan (this from me, a notorious pantser from way back!), I don't feel 'hemmed in' yet. Maybe it's because I've already written the damn novel once, and feel quite at home in the world.

Elsewhere, somebody (argh, I can't remember who it was...I know I left a comment on their blog post though!)  (it was Ruthie!!) mentioned that NaNoEdMo has begun, and...I'm meant to be doing it! Today I see that the NaNoEdMo site has been attacked, and is down. Boo to that! I can still report on my revision status for the year, though - I'm working on FIRE, and so far I have got the word count down from 146k to 138k. It needs to be 95k.

Now, to conclude...how are you? How are your goals coming along? Feeling inspired? Needing chocolate? I can tell you I'm having at least a glass of full strength champers this weekend.

Hobblin' across the NaNo finito line

OH. my. GOSH. It's over. I am about to start crying with gratitude. Almost, but not quite. Instead I'll just heave another sigh of relief (or twenty...) and report that my final word count for both novels is 100,827. That is a Scrivener (for Mac, if it matters) word count. I just validated my novel on the NaNo site and the word count there is...100,018. WOW. That's uncomfortably close to less than 100k. Maybe I should tack on a few more words, just to create some kind of buffer? haha. No, I'm not that desperate.

But anyway, to break it down a bit more, here are the word counts as they stand (keeping in mind that neither is finished):

DANNA: 50,606

VICTORIOUS: 50,221

Now I'm going to go and stare at a wall. A very big wall. For a very long time. Or, well, the next hour or so before it's bedtime. If it wasn't a school night, I'd be having another glass of wine. Then again, maybe I will anyway.

On iTunes, a Dream Theater song is playing. "The Count of Tuscany". It runs to 19:16 minutes. I do believe this is my first listen.

NaNo - home stretch

I'm anticipating some serenity in December (see above photo), once NaNo is over. That's not the right November spirit, right? But my spirit is tired and needs a nap! Thankfully, we are on the home stretch! Before I give today's word count update, I want to clarify things for Deniz (and anyone else who's confused):

This month I've been writing two novels, both of which were started from scratch as part of NaNo 2011. The first novel, DANNA, is a YA paranormal and will probably be finished a lot more easily than the second, VICTORIOUS, which is sci-fantasy. Not sure on the acceptable word counts for sci-fantasy novels, but considering the 'fantasy' aspect I figure they're expected to at least be longer than 50k? hehe

Now...a word count update: last night's session got me to 94,666 across both novels. 5,334 words to go until I hit 100k. It doesn't feel like a huge deal, because I've done it before, and easily. But this year has felt especially like a hard slog, for reasons I don't quite get. Perhaps the challenge was actually planning on 100k, instead of just 'accidentally' ending up with it? (Remember, I'm a notorious pantser!)

It's Day 28!

Last night I reached 90,873 words, after writing 7712 (I thought it was over 8k, but the word count API tells me differently) to catch up on all the days I had missed writing the full required amount. I have notes throughout my manuscript for VICTORIOUS that say "needs filling", so I can easily find the parts I have yet to write out. So far with this novel, there are bits I love and many more bits I don't love. But that's to be expected! I haven't touched DANNA since Day 16 began, except for at the end of Day 16 when I had already written my quota for VICTORIOUS and added a few more words to DANNA.

It's pretty well confirmed that neither novel will be finished by December. And right now I am listening to Magic Dirt, a beautiful song called "Smoulder".

Hi, Day #23...how are you?

First off...I take photos of weird things. It's something I'm kind of well known for. The above picture isn't particularly weird, but it shows something about me - I don't like flash. I guess flash can be used artfully, in ways I have never imagined, but since I don't know how to use it that way, I tend to stick to a distinct lack of flash in my photography. You have to have steady hands of course, but sometimes a nice blur doesn't go astray. My dad is a photographer, but as often as he's tried to teach me the ways of a true photographer, I don't seem to absorb his lessons too well. I just continue to do my own thing, with my own battered, crappy point-and-shoot.

Second - a quick NaNo report: 74,611 words. And last night I finally found these notes for VICTORIOUS that I wrote down ages ago (not in email or in Scrivener, but on paper...oh the novelty!), and though they didn't tell me much I didn't already know, they reminded me of a few small things, and suddenly I was (at least a bit more) inspired and motivated. If I wasn't going out tonight I would probably have a great run on words!

P.S. Happy birthday mum, you rock my world on a daily basis!!!!

Day 22 dawns

I am exhausted today. I think I probably got 5 hours sleep last night, and that is never enough for the likes of me. My NaNo word count is 70,912. Last night I got to about 2 words past my nightly goal and was very tempted to just leave it at that. I did end up adding a few more words before calling it a night. I'm up to a scene that interests me, which makes me wonder about the scenes I just wrote and whether they're total crap or not. I have definitely been padding with unnecessary words, just to get myself to the next point in the story...while making my word count goals.

Anyway, hope everyone else is going well with their goals! Bring on December I say!!

NaNo day #20

It's Sunday, and I have done my word count quota for the day. I currently sit at 67,332 across both novels. I really love the VICTORIOUS story, but it has been slightly like sitting around waiting for grass to grow, getting these words out. At least I'm getting them out. What I'll have to work with at the end of this are some novels in dire need of editing. But that's what I expected all along.

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!!

P.S. I'm listening to The 69 Eyes. They're good fun.

Cover art

I was telling another blogger the other day that, until I started this blog and got around to exploring the writer blogger corners of the blogosphere, I really had no idea that cover art was such a big deal. I guess I just took it for granted that I was attracted to pretty shiny book covers. Well, sometimes I prefer them not shiny, to be honest. Point is, it's nothing I ever thought about. I still don't think about it much, which is odd. I have, however, made my own cover art. Mostly for my music.

Above is one example. An album full of my earliest songs, so very dodgy to listen to now in hindsight. The album was titled SOUR because I threw all the songs I wasn't that fond of (or that I never did "proper" recordings of) on it. They had to have somewhere to go, after all! They, along with my other music, can be found here for free download. But anyway...I just wanted to talk about cover art and how I've done some, but mostly not for my books.

P.S. NaNo word count is 54,302. I'm off to a somewhat shaky start with VICTORIOUS.

Hello Day 16!

There I am at the beach, with my broken iPod touch and my pink Toyota hat (it came with my Yaris, wheee!). Also, my pink headphones (they're the kind you can change the covers on, so I have a black and a white pair of coverings too). And you can see my wondrously ordinary camera in the reflection too.

Anyway... Today is the day I begin writing VICTORIOUS (yesterday I reached 50k in DANNA, and yes that is a working title...they both are). I have a page of notes for VICTORIOUS and that's about it. Part of me feels really tired, and yet I'm also excited! This is gonna be a good one. And my first real attempt at a sci-fi/fantasy crossover. Wheee!

I'm feeling good today. Happy! And I like it!

Day 14 ends, and my keyboard gives me crap

My laptop's keyboard is being MIGHTILY ANNOYING tonight. It's making most things rather difficult to type. It's doing this thing where it highlights text and deletes it and the arrow keys are on the fritz and it's all just annoying! Suffice it to say that writing my last few thousand words was a big pain in the butt. But I got there and I'm now sitting on 48,626 words. I'm calling it a day (or rather, a night) and will get the last 1,374 words written tomorrow during lunch hour.

And if I don't get them entirely written then, I will finish them off after work, before heading off to dinner out. After that it will be Day 16, and time to start on novel number two, tentatively titled VICTORIOUS.

I must say, this is the first year in a while that I'm rather eager for NaNo to be over, in fact I'm almost dying for it to be over. I want my afternoons and evenings entirely free from commitment so I can do as I please, as my whimsy takes me, as I most heartily desire. But until November ends, that ain't gonna happen. Pity I keep finding new ways to occupy my time that don't involve writing. Not ideal at a time when you're trying to write 2 novels in 30 days. But oh well, it happens I guess.

Hope everyone else is going well with their goals, NaNo-inspired or otherwise! Thank you for all the blog visits lately. I have been working on reciprocating but if I haven't got to you yet, never fear - I will!

My NaNoWriMo past...and future

I thought I'd rehash my NaNo past, as well as briefly mention the future! A little research has shown me that I've done the following:

2002: ANJIE DAYS

2003: SOMANA

2007: SQUEAKY MCLEAN

2008: TURKEY BOURKE

2009: SUNDOWN

2010: NAUSICAA

In 2011, I'm writing two novels, so to the above list I will be adding:

2011: DANNA/VICTORIOUS

Because I am determined that I will win this year as well! Maybe I won't actually finish both novels. Maybe I'll finish one and not the other! Maybe both will be 'complete' (I'm doubtful of this). Either way, I will write 50k on each novel. At the very least, I will write 50k altogether. The major challenge will not be writing a total of 100k. Rather it will be attempting to finish both novels.

I've participated in NaNoWriMo during other years, but either unofficially, or unsuccessfully. So I'm not listing those here. One of the unsuccessful years was me attempting to continue with the previous year's story. I wrote a bit on it, but not 50k. One year I didn't participate at all, and another I participated unofficially.

So there you go. It's on record now, for all to see! But now it's your turn!

What's your NaNo history?