End of November 2019 Report

As is now tradition, this is the post of the end of November. I’m still putting my money where my mouth is.

RECAP OF THE UPDATED 2019 GOALS

1. Write 500,000 words in personal, non-school related projects.
2. Complete and publish Felix #2, Felix #3, Des O’Neal #1, Des O’Neal #2, Des O’Neal #3, Jovian Marines #1, Jovian Marines #2, Jovian Marines #3, Mech Warrior #1, Mech Warrior #2, Mech Warrior #3.
   1. Complete and Publish VRMMORPG
3. Correct cover for Felix #1.
4. Write four blog posts per month
5. Give Felix #1 and Tokyo Tempest #1 a proofread.
6. Complete and submit to market Terran Marine Raider short #1, Terran Marine Raider short #2, and RPG Death short.
   1. Added goal: complete and submit to market, JSS Leda (New title: From Planet Everdark), secret short #2 (New Title: Rise of the Ghids) and secret short #3 (New Title: Sailing Vessel Wanderlust: the Delivery).
7. Earn $1000.00 a month from novels.
8. Relaunch publishing company with a new, stronger name.
9. Get 1 client for editing services.
10. NEW GOAL: Write for 365 Days in a row of at least 100 words per day.

NOVEMBER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

1. I wrote 63,026 words.
2. I have written for 335 days in a row.
3. I have finished and published a short story called Respawned Glory.
4. I have also started working on an unplanned werewolf story. More details on it below.
5. I have passed the 475k mark in total yearly words at 483k.
6. Working with a local cover artist for a bunch of covers for books.
7. I finished editing my VRMMORPG story, and I am now working on editing my Felix Series.
8. Wrote 4 blog posts during June.

EXAMINATION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS

1. I wrote just over 63k words in November. This was the best month I have ever had this year. I don’t know if any others could have been better, as I never kept track of them. This makes up for October and some of my other miserable months. It also means that I can drop my daily word goal down to 1k words and concentrate more on getting my editing done.
2. This is still the longest days in a row I have written by far as well as the longest yearly word count. I count that as a win. My goal is to write 365 days in a row. Honestly, this is one of the big reasons why I write every day. 335 days in a row. I have no intention of stopping that streek any time soon.
3. I have news about the short Sailing Vessel Wanderlust: the Delivery, but I still have nothing that I talk about yet. I expect that I should be able to release information on it soon. 
4. I completed the edits for my VRMMORPG story. This was quicker to edit than the Mechwarrior story. Now I need to figure out a cover.
5. I discovered that during writing Phantom Sorcerer and Felix #2, I didn’t write down many notes. I also found that I have grown as a writer, and Phantom Sorcerer no longer meets my standards. I have pulled it down from my store, and I will be doing a new edition of it with a new cover. For those that have already bought it, once the new edition is published, then you can update it manually in your kindle app.
6. I’m working on using some of the short stories I have written for school as filler projects. A part of the problem is trying to pick up an old project. So I’m going to work on something small as a pallet cleanser. Perhaps use them as Patreon awards, or publish them on Amazon. Not sure yet.
7. A local cover artist, not my wife, is working on what I am calling “art assets.” These are so my wife can turn them into beautiful covers. They will be works of art on there own but will have no titling, which is why I need my wife.
8. My blog posts are still happening.

PLAN FOR THE FUTURE

This month was the best one ever. The plan for next month is to work on my werewolf story and get my Felix stories edited. I need to get to the third in the trilogy, and I want to be working on it early next year. This means that I must have my edits done by the end of December. This might not happen as things take time. With the semester winding down, I should have more time to get some more things done.

Publishing wise, the significant roadblock is editing, which I’m working on, and covers. Once I get those figured out, things will drop fast. It’s what got me to work faster and harder at this.

There are still problems in my methods, and I have come to realize that I can’t do all of this by myself. With my editing, I need others to help with a final pass. That despite give my books time to rest, I am still too close to them. With covers, I don’t have the time to learn the skills to take what’s in my head and put it on paper. I need help from people to do just that. Publishing is not a single person enterprise, and it will take a team of people to do this.

If you like what you are reading and wish to support me in my endeavours, please sign up for my newsletter, visit my Amazon Author Page and purchase one of my books. Or buy me a coffee. Your help and support are much appreciated.

The End of NaNoWriMo.

It is now December first, and NaNoWriMo is now done for the year. This means that the stress of the writing challenge is over, and people’s lives go back to normal.

This is true for them as well as for me. Except for my version of “normal” is perverted in comparison.

However, it shouldn’t be that way.

NaNo is supposed to be a starting point or a continuation point of the writing journey. It is supposed to allow a writer to get a large number of words done or something completed.

A large number of people that use NaNo don’t write in any other part of the year. For clarity, this is what my year has looked like so far.

Yes, I have a spreadsheet.

Don’t have to be crazy… Like me.

I’m unique, even in the writing world. Most people don’t set crazy goals like I did, and most people don’t manage to get as far as I have with it.

And that’s fine. This crazy goal has worked for me.

But to be a writer, one must write. It doesn’t have to be a half a million words in a year, but it should be something. What I tell people is that they should write for 8 minutes. If it doesn’t flow cause of stress, etc., then at least they have something. Even if it is 100 words. BUT, if it is flowing, then they shouldn’t stop.

NaNo Writers

These guys only write during November, and some of them get 75k or 100k words done, but it isn’t a sprinting race. It’s an endurance race. So while I only managed to write 63k this November, it is only a fraction of what I managed to get done all year.

Future NaNo’s

Before I talk about my future NaNo plans, here is my writing plan for next year.

That is a preview of my 2020 goal. The number at the bottom should be interesting.

But, in terms of what NaNo means for me, take a look at the numbers listed beside each month. I will be writing a NaNo every month.

This means that was the last NaNo I’ll be participating in. There is no point anymore for me. It was fun while it lasted, but I also see no point in trying to kill myself by writing a double NaNo. Not with my writing output being what it is at.

If you like what you are reading and wish to support me in my endeavours, please sign up for my newsletter, visit my Amazon Author Page and purchase one of my books. Or buy me a coffee. Your help and support are much appreciated.

PREPPING for NANOWRIMO.

Suppose for a second, I have convinced you to write a novel for NaNoWriMo. For those tuning in, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It is a challenge where you write 50 thousand words in thirty days.

The rules of NaNoWriMo, states that it counts the story only. Outlines, character sheets, diagrams. They don’t count for your total word count. This is also able to be done before November, in October.

No matter if you Outline or Discovery Write, the way to be successful in writing for NaNo is in the prep. Preparing to write the story is how many people keep the quantity up for the length of time.

The Prep

I start my story with my idea. Having a set idea pushes you forward. The idea should be thought thoroughly through with different ideas on different conflicts, tensions, and emotions. The more the idea is flushed out, allows for a better shot of being successful for NaNo.

For me, what I do is I have my novel planned. I’m not a “Discovery Writer” and not an “Outliner.” I do what I have dubbed “Sign-Post-Outlining.” I discovery write to set points in the story. This allows me to have a plan, yet being able to have the freedom to see where the story takes me.

The way to NaNo success is the prep. Plan your story. Plan until you think you can’t plan any longer. The more you do, the more of a chance of success.

So for all of those who want to write a novel for NaNoWriMo. Prep your story. Plan it through.

If you like what you are reading and wish to support me in my endeavours, please sign up for my newsletter, visit my Amazon Author Page and purchase one of my books. Or buy me a coffee. Your help and support are much appreciated.

Dreams, Goals, and Daily Accomplishments.

With the coming of the new year and resolutions and all of that, I have thought that it is a good time to talk about the differences and similarities of dreams, goals, and daily accomplishments. Many people have the wrong idea when it comes to these concepts, and a more concrete understanding of them is beneficial to all people.

Dreams

A dream is a wish. It is an abstract concept that a person wants to obtain at some point. It might be to learn another language and speak it like a local or to buy a house when they work retail. Whatever it is, it is big, unobtainable and aloof.

Dreams are important though. They inspire us to make our lives richer, to make our life better, and to get us up in the morning doing the things that we’d instead not do to get to the things that we want to do.

The problem with dreams is that they seem very far away in the grand scheme of things. They are hard for people to obtain, cause they are always five years away and the intermediate steps are sometimes hidden from view.

Long-Term Goals

Long-term goals are the building blocks of obtaining your dream. Whether your dream is moving to a tropical island or to buy property, a long-term goal is a large piece to get just that. They are still big, still abstract, but somehow smaller and slightly more obtainable.

A long-term goal is getting a better paying job in order to buy property. It is cashing in your investments to move to someplace tropical. These goals are usually the end of a long struggle, but for many people are just as unobtainable.

They are many times five-years away and a large dark object that you are climbing up. Many people give up on there long-term goals for that very reason.

Short-Term Goals

Short-term goals are more obtainable than long-term ones, but they add up. These short items will make up a larger, longer goal. But the short-term goals still take time to do.

A short-term goal may be finding the better paying job or cutting expenses down to live within your means. They are obtainable but take work that will fill up many days.

The issue for a lot of people is the same as what they have for the long-term goals. They can be abstract, and people will have problems staying focused on doing what is needed to obtain the goal.

Daily Accomplishments

This is the meat of the issue. When I hear anyone talk about there dream, this is what I want to hear. That they have thought enough of there dream that they have worked there way down to this level. I want to hear that they have a daily task list that they can do to get there short-term, then long-term and finally there dream.

Without a daily task list, it is easy to get distracted and sidetracked. Once distracted, the ability to get anything done is limited and in peril.

My Dream

My dream is to become a full-time author earning enough money to allow myself to live where ever that I wish to. I don’t want to be tied down to any one place due to work or a job. My dream is the freedom to fulfill my wanderlust.

My Long-Term Goal

My long-term goal is to write 1 million words a year and publish 12 manuscripts in that time. I also want to earn enough money to pay for basic substance.

My Short-Term Goal

Please see my previous blog post on my 2019 goals. Those are my short-term goals right there.

Daily Accomplishments

To do those goals, I have a daily goal of writing 1500 words a day, plus editing a novel for 2 hours. Once a week I need to write a blog post. There will be other items that I will do when needed.

But, every morning, I take a 2-inch by 3-inch note card, and I write out my daily goal for the day. Then I do them. I track my writing on a spreadsheet to make sure that I am keeping to my goal. It is color coded and will go green when I accomplish my daily task. I am to make it all green.

What does this all mean?

This all means that my daily accomplishments will fulfill my short-term goals. By obtaining my short-term goals, I will make my long-term goals. With my long-term goals done, my dream will be in my reach. By having the accomplishments and goals set up the way that I do,  I don’t have to worry too much about the abstract goals.

However, I am not there yet. It is going to take me years to do this.

If you enjoy what you are reading and it has helped you in some way, please feel free to like and to share this post. If you wish to support me and what I do, please feel free to buy me a coffee.

Until next time. Stay shiny.