Hatrack River Writers Workshop: "In 2007, I Promise To..."

This is topic "In 2007, I Promise To..." in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/writers/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=003521

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

Well, somebody had to post it...

*****

In 2007, I promise to try to get my novel moving at a greater speed once again, maybe up to working on it once a day once more...

Posted by Leigh (Member # 2901) on :

I love these sort of things...

In 2007 I promise I'll finally send out a piece of my work

Posted by dee_boncci (Member # 2733) on :

I've got 85000 words behind me in the draft of my first novel. My goal is to complete it, and revise it, before the end of 2007.

Seriously, it's time for me to set the bait and knife aside and start fishing.

Posted by Earendil18 (Member # 3065) on :

In 2007, I will attend the Literary Bootcamp Basic and complete my first year of my BA program with flying colors.

Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :

Already posted on another site:

2007 goal:
+ 20,000 words of new short fiction (4 stories).
+ 1 collaborated short story.
+ Finish my screenplay outline.
+ 100% redraft of my trunked novel.
+ write my second novel.

Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :

Oh yeah, nearly forgot: 5000 words per week minimum.

Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :

In January 2007 I vow to complete my WIP plot revisions.
By the end of 2007 I vow to have the first draft done.

This will probably mean I should quit rewriting the first several chapters and move forward on the second half of the book.

I also plan to seek out membership in a new writer's group, something small (4-5 members). I belonged to a couple of groups I had to drop due to the stress of Real Life(TM), but now I am back on track and ready to focus my attention on my writing again.

Posted by cvgurau (Member # 1345) on :

--finish first draft of WIP by Jan 30th.

--start sending out short stories.

--finish second draft of WIP by June 30th.

--third draft by Sept. 30th

--final draft by Dec 30th.

(Cheers, all I raise my bottled water to ya. 8))

Posted by PatEsden (Member # 3504) on :

New Years goals 2007

1. Finish the first draft of my novel Matchbox by end of January. Polish it by early summer so I can start trying to market it.
2. Go to at least one convention this summer to network (preferably two). Go to World Fantasy Con in Saratoga NY next fall if at all possible (I already know my husband will be gone which creates a problem).
3. Write two short stories (not novelettes) specifically with WOTF in mind and sub in 2007.
4. Read more short and long fiction—specifically newly published fantasy
5. Research, outline and begin second novel by late summer
6. Rewrite older stories as need be and send them out again. Keep stuff out instead of filed away.
7. Sub Suck of Clay for reprint

I’ve succeeded in sticking to my goals for the last several years. This year I’ve set goal that might be tougher to accomplish.

Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :

How do you know ahead of time how many drafts you require?

Posted by Leigh (Member # 2901) on :

Spaceman, as far as I know the answer only lies when you believe it is ready. Usually writers do 3-4 drafts before comfortable with what they've written.

Posted by cvgurau (Member # 1345) on :

For me, it's not so much knowing it, but hoping that four drafts will be enough. A draft, in my mind, is not going back to fix a run-on sentence, or improper grammar, but to make major revisions of characters, storylines or events.

Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :

quote:
as far as I know the answer only lies when you believe it is ready

That's my point. You don't know until it's done. It might take 4 revision, but it might take 2, or it might take 8.

Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :

quote:
A draft, in my mind, is not going back to fix a run-on sentence, or improper grammar, but to make major revisions of characters, storylines or events.

In that case, I must have 'leventy-hundred drafts by now. It's why I stopped to reassess my plot.

The handiest tool I've found for finding the major holes in my plot structure is to attempt to summarize the entire book in 250 words - a length which is about right for an agent query letter. As Miss Snark says, if you can't say what your book is about in 250 words, how do you expect an agent to be able to summarize it for a pitch to a publisher?

This exercise is a lot harder than it looks, and in attempting to do so I realized that several important plot threads were too disconnected from each other, and that I had far too many characters as antagonist. It was diluting the impact of the main conflict.

I find the more I learn about writing technique, the more I am forced to confront issues that, in my gut, I knew from the beginning weren't working in the story. But now I know why, and better yet, I have tools now to work the wrinkles out.

To that end, every single person on Hatrack has helped me become a better writer. I am grateful for every one of you!
Happy New Year!

[This message has been edited by Elan (edited January 02, 2007).]

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

On drafts...Since computers and word processors came into my life, I don't do "drafts" per se, even though I still call them that...I (generally) write one "draft" and fiddle with it...copy it into another file and fiddle with that...then copy that into another file and do any final editing I choose to do on that. (Then I decide whether to send it out or not...but that's another matter.)

Which reminds me...I resolve to, at some point in 2007, dig out a couple of complete-but-unfinished drafts and do some more fiddling with them...

Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :

A good exercise for writing that 250-word summary is to pretend you are writing the back cover copy.

Posted by rstegman (Member # 3233) on :

Your New Year's Resolutions?

1 )
I am going to gain 200 pounds.

2 )
I will have a heart attack

3 )
I will be fired from my job

4 )
I will be forced to declare Bankruptsy

5 )
My car will be repossessed.

6 )
I will be thrown out of my home, losing everything I own.

7 )
My family will abandon me

8 )
I will be arrested, tried and convicted

9 )
No one on-line will admit they ever knew I existed.

10 )
when I get out of jail, I will be sleeping under a bridge and eating out of dumpsters

I have never kept a New Year's Resolution in my life.

We shall see how well I can keep these!

******************************
I just had to post this. I even waited a couple days to try to get the urge out....

Posted by rstegman (Member # 3233) on :

In roughing out my Adventures of Waxy Dragon, I have created individual stories with the idea they might be children's books. I have 34 of them, some written by friends, over the past two years.
This year, I think I can do a whole lot more. Both previous years, I started late in the year before ideas came. This year, I have nearly a dozen ideas on hand and just have to find time to write.
I figure I need about fifty to eighty of these short stories in place before I start editing for publication so I can develop consistancy through the entire series. In the last couple stories, I came up with a change in a key detail which will effect most of the stories.
Anyway, I am aiming at twenty stories this year. I am aiming at a total of 200 total adventures when done.....

Posted by franc li (Member # 3850) on :

LoL, stegman.

I've resigned myself to piling up 800,000 more words before I'm ready to publish Well, it's probably less than that, but I've accepted my mediocrity of a certain sort. My mediocrity at expressing the daring brilliance that lies within. But I'll still be rewriting my novel, which I've restructured in a satisfactory way. I know I keep saying that, but each time I change my mind, I dump about 10,000 words into it, so I think it's a good strategy for reaching the 1,000,000 mark.

This is a lot like when I realized that originality was not the be all end all of artistic expression.

Posted by hoptoad (Member # 2145) on :

quote:

...but I've accepted my mediocrity of a certain sort...

don't just accept your mediocrity -- EMBRACE it -- UNLEASH its power -- awake the dwarf within

RESOLUTION Number One;

be more encouraging

Posted by discipuli (Member # 3395) on :

1. Write lots of short stories to practise different ideas , work on my style , find what i really want to write about.

2. Make my handwriting legible : D

Posted by CoriSCapnSkip (Member # 3228) on :

Write what I know of my novel, no matter how complete or otherwise, instead of getting tied in knots obsessing over what I don't know.

It occurs to me that I've undergone a reverse. As a kid, I saw my writing as a "glass half full"--the bits of ideas that were there seemed so good, all I needed was a bit of help with the bits I didn't have plus some time and space to write. The more time and space I got, the more I obsessed over the "glass half empty," until I was defining my stories by what was missing rather than by what was there. It would be good to be able to change this perception and work on getting the glass the rest of the way full.

[This message has been edited by CoriSCapnSkip (edited January 04, 2007).]

Posted by kings_falcon (Member # 3261) on :

1) As pathetic as it sounds, actually send the novel out to the four agents who asked for partials at the writing conference I went to. In other words, stop polishing the Query letter and let the thing go!

Anyone want to read and give feedback on a query letter for me?

2) Finish the third book in series by June 30;

3) Finish my NaNoWri by September 30;

4) Do LH Flash challenges at least once a month;

5) Do NaNo 2007 in November;

6) Get back to horseback riding;

7) Stop trying to save the world; and

8) Stop setting absurdly high goals.

Oh wait. Darn it! Broke #8 already.

Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :

There certainly is a lot of negativity on this thread. If you guys want to make it as writers, you have to set aggressive but attainable goals that you can influence. If you can't make time to write and you don't want to send out your work, then why are you here?

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

CoriSCapnSkip, I believe it was George Carlin (the comedian) who pointed out that the glass is neither half full nor half empty--it's just too big for the job.

Posted by kings_falcon (Member # 3261) on :

Actually, my absurdly high goal was #7 - I already know there is no way I can stop trying to help people. It's just not in me to not do it, but I'm trying to be wiser in my choices so they don't continue to wreck havock on ME.

Horses are in the front yard, the query is going to be on F&F in a few minutes to see if someone else can figure out what's
bothering me about it, and the words keep coming.

To everyone who set sending something out in 2007 - Good luck!

Posted by Zero (Member # 3619) on :

I promise to make it to 2008

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

quote:
In 2007, I promise to try to get my novel moving at a greater speed once again, maybe up to working on it once a day once more...

Well, I got it going, but at a much slower pace than I had been working on it last summer. Usually a hundred words a day, where I'd been doing five hundred. But it still adds up...just this morning I crossed the sixty-thousand-word mark, and figure I'm about halfway through...

Posted by Kolona (Member # 1438) on :

I will stop goal-setting avoidance.

Posted by Pyre Dynasty (Member # 1947) on :

I resolve to not make any resolutions.

I also resolve to finish a story Regardless of how long it is.

(dang, forget that first one)

Posted by franc li (Member # 3850) on :

Just checking in... I did some more work on my feature length screen play. It was good, but not quite what I wanted. It's been an odd week.

Posted by cvgurau (Member # 1345) on :

I have ten days to finish my WiP if I'm going to meet my first NY's goal.

I'm not sure I'll make it.

Posted by cvgurau (Member # 1345) on :

quote:
Just delete it and start over, get it done by next year.

I did.

A year ago.

Now here we are, gathering steam into the new year, and I promised myself I'd finish the first draft by the 31st of January.

My problem isn't rushing, it's taking it too slow.

Forget the previous post. I'm thinking positive.

At least, for now.