Happy New Year and welcome back to The Kill Zone blog for 2016!
Each year many of start of with resolutions and many of us end the year having not quite managed to fulfill any or all of them. For me, I managed to achieve about a third of what I planned for 2015 so this year I’ve decided that, at least in terms of my writing, I’m going to focus on just a few key aspects (okay…make those tics) that drive me and my beta readers to distraction. Thus, my three main ‘writing’ new year’s resolutions are:
- Not to have another character with a surname that ends in ‘s’. How many times have I told myself this – thousands upon thousands – and what did I just do with my latest WIP? I had a character whose last name was…Brooks…argh!
- To start introducing nicer weather. My poor characters are constantly beset by fog, rain and damp. I know my family are English and that is pretty much typical weather but still, would it kill me to let a character enjoy some sunshine now and again??
- To (finally) kick the critic off my shoulder and stop her from plaguing me with self doubt when I’ve not even finished the first draft. Time to finally relax, have some fun in 2016 and wait at least until the first draft is complete to let that editor/critic/angst- ridden voice into my head…
So what are your ‘writing resolutions’ for 2016? What are you going to focus on this year?
This is one of the few years I didn’t set much in the way of goals. Essentially, my goal is to make writing progress every month and not fall into those fallow periods that plague me for a number of reasons.
In terms of word count, I’m targeting 3500 words a month. It’s not much but given work, school & all other time demands, it’s reasonable. Some months I’ll be able to go over that limit. Some months I’ll be lucky to make that.
My other big goal for the year, since I write historicals, is to organize my research. Doing research for books is not helpful if you have no efficient way to find and retrieve what you need, when you need it. So that HAS to be a focus for me this year. I started that process immediately on Jan 1.
May 2016 see all of us meeting and exceeding our writing goals for the year!
Good luck with all your goals! As a writer of historicals I know the research burden:) I keep notebooks for each of my books and write in these all the research undertaken. Scrivener also has a handy spot to place research and web links if you use that. I’m old school so most of my research ends up handwritten!
I always set big goals (and put a ton of pressure of myself), so I skip the end of year resolutions. Your #2 is hilarious. Happy New Year, TKZers!
I often set unrealistic goals but #2 I figure I should be able to manage:)
So with you on Goal #1. Dealing with Matthews. grrr.
My goals this year are modest. Two books, and take time to have FUN while I lose 10 pounds. I that possible?
I know on the name front – how dumb can I be!! I’ve had the same issue with almost every manuscript and you’d think by now I’d have learned…but no! As for the fun and the weight loss, it’s totally doable! That was part of my goal last year – well, more to get fit – and I managed to do it (sporadically at least!) while meeting some of my writing goals…We can only do what we can do…
My goal is modest: To write every day for at least 15 minutes, no matter what.
That’s a great goal!
“I had a character whose last name was…Brooks…argh!”
I know, right? Who could live with a name like that?
Thanks for kicking us off for 2016. Working on a project and am in need of a name for the Mentor character… considering Langley or Hawthorne, what do you think? ☺
Hah! If you ever choose Langley-Hawthorne beware. My kids already hate me for it:)
Happy New Year. My goal is to maintain that list of character descriptions, names and places. I start out each book with good intentions and then when the writing ramps up I forget to not a character’s hair color, age, or make and model of car.
I so need to do this. For the first time in forever, I’m writing a trilogy, one book after the next, and I STILL can’t find the time to create a Bible.
My goal is to outdistance my word count from last year. In 2015 I did a little north of 275k words, which displeased me. That’s my other goal: not to be displeased in 2016.
Writing goal: To finish my WIP by May 1.
The big goal: I’m having hip surgery January 19. My big goal is to go hiking this summer, specifically the Cape Alava Loop. It’s not a “hard” hike, but I love that area and I’ve never done this specific hike before. I originally planned on doing it four summers ago, but then I developed hip trouble, and I haven’t been able to hike in all that time. When I accomplish this I’ll know I’m back.
Sounds like an awesome big goal!
Reading the goals set forth here made me realize that this is the time to think of the things that have been driving me crazy. Say it out loud, put it in writing and commit.
Make more of an effort to change the scene. When I look at my stories one at a time it is not as obvious as it is when I step back and look at the whole body of work, but my characters eat and drink A LOT – they discuss over coffee, meet for drinks, do lunch, have dinner. Since I write mysteries it often isn’t the scene that is important it is the information provided to the character or the reader, but come on , find something else for them to do.
And I need to organize my computer files. My hard copies of research, etc are fine, even color coordinated based on the project, but on the computer I spend more time trying to figure out where I put something, or the same subject is split over 2, or even 3, folders. For something that should make my life easier my casual ‘saving’ process has created a time sucking hole. And don’t get me started on my pictures …
My characters eat a lot of cakes and sweets and drink copious cups of tea, so I need to make sure they have a decent square meal:)
Thank you for kicking the year off so well. Last January a writer friend and I went on a retreat where we wrote down our writing goals. Surprisingly, I made some of mine. Alas, not the one about writing every day. Maybe in 2016.
My resolution is simple. I’m going to try my best to follow common advice often given to writers and work on my WP and any short story in progress before I get stuck in answering emails. — Suzanne Joshi