Today is January's contribution to Alex Cavanaugh's Insecure Writers Support Group.
What makes me an Insecure Writer this month?
The fact that my progress last year was abysmally slow and I have no idea if this year will be any better.
Last January, my goal was to finish revising my story by Christmas. An entire year dedicated to accomplishing this one, seemingly simple task. Needless to say, I missed that goal. By quite a lot. Despite making good progress on the story at the end of the year (I was off from work the last two weeks in December), I’m still only a quarter of the way through the story. At this rate, it’ll be three more years before it’s finished. Argh!
Despite these facts, I’m still hopeful that my New Year’s resolution of finishing the story by Christmas 2013 is doable. Misguided optimism? Probably, but I think things will move more quickly this time around. The first quarter of my story required massive restructuring and that accounted for the lion’s share of my writing time. I believe (hope, pray) that subsequent chapters are in better shape and will go more quickly – although my critique partner may have something to say about that.
My other New Year’s resolution is to cut down on the number of blogs I read. I follow well over a hundred blogs – or so my RSS feed tells me – but I simply don’t have the time to keep up with the majority of them any longer. And after three years of reading posts about writing, there isn’t much I haven’t seen dozens of times already. So, during the next couple of months, I’m going to whittle down the number of blogs I read - concentrating on websites that either give the best writing advice or those that I read for enjoyment.
Happy New Year!
Good luck reaching your goals in 2013. Things just take time...just don't give up.
ReplyDeleteThe beginning is always the most shaky for me, so here's hoping the rest is in good shape for you!
ReplyDeleteI take full responsibility for all that restructuring, so I hope when you take your early chapters through your local critique group that they won't find reason to do it again. So guess what? I found out the other day that another member of my group thought my book would be better suited for the 8-11 age group. She's not the first that equated sweets with younger kids, which means restructuring the beginning if I decide to down age my MC. I always wanted to get to Earth One sooner. A 12-year-old Scout wouldn't be setting up an orienteering course. Maybe going on one, but you get the idea. There's more I'll tell you by email.
ReplyDeleteDon't give up! I know you can finish that story this year. 2013 is going to be your year!
ReplyDeleteYou got this Ken! Keep plugging away! THIS will be your year :)
ReplyDeleteOne thing I learnt last year is to not set deadlines for revisions. You never know how long it'll take.
ReplyDeleteYou'll get there.
Good luck!