December Writing Goals & State of Samantha

I'm stealing this from the genius that is Brandon Sanderson. Every year in December he does a post where he lets people know where he's at with his many projects. Since I've talked about several this year I thought I'd bring them up and tell you where I am with each of them, since the state of them has changed throughout the year. I'm also including my goals for the month and what I achieved since last month at the bottom of the post.

The Queen's Ransom

My main project at the moment. I have a 400 days plan, which I'll talk about in the latter half of the post. If I can't manage that I'll stick to the original plan, which involves finishing completely by either May of 2018 or April of 2019. Currently I'm finishing POV editing, which I'm hopeful will be done soon, and then move to continuity editing before sending it off to a few choice Alpha Readers. While that's with readers I'll be taking a crack at the "epic" version I've talked about. I don't know where that will lead, but you'll definitely be kept updated.

Lamp and Mirror

Originally the idea for this story was completely different, but now it has morphed into a victorian-era vampire romance trilogy, which will probably be my next project. I plan to start writing it by June of next year, though the sooner the better. If all goes to plan I'll have the rough draft done in September.

Whole New World

The companion novel to The Queen's Ransom (and title subject to change) will also be a project I begin in the new year. I don't think I'll get to it until the latter half of the year, which means, tentatively, October through December will be the rough draft stage of this book. 

Wheel and Cog

This is the project of my heart and I dearly want to write it, but I don't know when I will. It means to much to mess up and while the big picture doesn't evolve the small details do slowly. I don't think I'll get to it next year but I will get to it eventually, so stay tuned.

Septology Project

On the way back burner for right now. I don't even know if it will be written at this point because the spark has mostly died. Most likely I will take ideas from it for other projects, which I think is the best course of action for this one.

Previously Unmentioned

There are several projects I want to work on in the new year that I've never mentioned on here before, so I thought I'd throw them in.

Train Towns

This is a novella full of a lot of different things that I want to at least start in the new year. I want to keep it short and sweet and I'm hoping it will be good enough to submit to magazines or competitions when it's done. My plan is to start the rough draft in February.

Monsters Under Bed/Monsters in my Head

A poem that has also been circulating in my mind for a bit. I think I will begin this in May, after it's been circulating a bit more. Again, I'm hoping it's good enough, when it'd done, to send off to competitions.

DECEMBER GOALS

I'll be continuing my rewrite/POV editing this month and my plan is to also get through the continuity. However, I recently came up with a rather ambitious 400 days schedule. This means I want to finish the book and have it out there for submissions before 400 days have passed. You're wondering why 400. Well, in 400 days (less now) I'll be having my last day of work at where I work since I'll then be leaving for studying abroad and can't keep the job overseas and don't have any plans to immediately return after studying abroad. If I can have a novel up on it's own feet in that time I think it would be brilliant. Here are the next big hurdles according to my 400 days plan:

• December 15th -- finish POV editing
• January 14th -- finish continuity editing
• March 15th -- finish with Alpha Readers

New Goals

Is it any surprise that I'm changing around my writing goals? Good because it shouldn't be. Since finishing the rough draft of TQR I realized exactly how much more work it requires and how much time I actually have to work on it. I don't have that much time to work on it at all. So for now, every other project outside of TQR is being put on indefinite hold.

For the remainder of this month and then October I'm going to be writing "around" the story. By this I mean it's sort of stuff that I could have done in a prewriting phase, but it's also something I couldn't have tackled until I had the whole story on paper.  In November and December I plan to rewrite the rough draft which means by the end of the year I should be much much happier with the edition of this story that I have.

Some long term goals:
Jan2017/Feb-- Edit Rough Draft
Mar/Apr/May-- send off to alpha readers
Jun/Jul/Aug-- Write Second Draft

I'm hoping it doesn't take me this long, but even if it does I plan to start on my next project (which will either be Wheel and Cog or Lamp and Mirror).

hmmmm.... slacking

It's a little disheartening to realize I haven't written anything in TQR since exactly one month ago. Time to turn things around. My plan is to finish the rough draft this week and finally get around to that rewrite. Time moves so quickly!

On a side note: I also plan to finally sit down and start writing WaC tonight. I honestly couldn't be more excited it's going to be a lot of fun.

September Writing Goals

It's been a while since I last posted and that's not due to the fact that I've been writing furiously. Because I have not been. Because I have been bad and easily distracted. Sad face.

Before I get into my goals, can I bring your attention to the name of the Blog. It was previously called Fernweh, and while I still really like that word, I wasn't in love with it as the title of my blog. So, for now, it's going to be called The Motley Bird, based off of a very strange bird that appeared in my dream last night.

Onto the goals!

I want to finish up the first draft of The Queen's Ransom. I have a feeling it will only take me sitting down and pounding away at the keyboard for about three hours to finish this one up, and I'm both excited and saddened that it will be over. But we both know that it's not exactly tip-top shape, so I also want to get most of the way through editing/rewriting the book. It's going to take pretty much all my time this month, but it's something I'm super eager to start digging into.

It's also time to finally start writing Wheel and Cog! I want to lock down the history of the world in the book (it's more or less our history but with a few modifications) and then I want to get about a third of the way into the book before all is said and done this month.

Not writing related, there are a few blog posts here I finally want to get around to writing. I tend to start posts and then not finish them and publish them, and since I hate scheduling things here and like it to be "of-the-moment" posting, I don't often like to share what is in the works behind the scenes here. But, these are two posts I think are important to get out this month. One is about diversity in books and why it's important and my take on it. I have a lot of things to say and I've been debating how to say them every morning for a week. I also want to write about what books mean to me. There's a little bit of a sad story in there, but nothing too bad.

The Hazards of Prewriting

Two posts in one day, that's pretty crazy!

Okay, so basically I wanted to do a bunch of prewriting and preplanning for WaC so that I could avoid continuity problems like I've run into with TQR. But WaC has been in my head so long, starting to plot it down on paper has been tough. And it feels stifling. The characters in my head are alive and reducing what they have to say to a few broad strokes that is my outline is really not working out. I got the first few chapters done, but honestly it's become not just a pain but a waste since I'm overwriting when I could just be writing.

So no more plotting/outlining for this book. I know all the major parts, and I know that they have to be hit and about when in the story they need to occur, it's just the connective tissue is missing the details. I'm sure they'll come.

I look forward to finally writing WaC, but I'm also incredibly nervous and worried that it's going to be one heck of a headache. I mean, something this close to me is going to be something I need to wrestle down. Wish me luck.

XOXOX

this blog has two (maybe three) parts

When I created this blog I created a personal space for myself. I have another blog, which I love dearly and have no plans of quitting (ever), but, while there was always a pocket of space there for my own thoughts and writings, it has always been dedicated to books and I want to keep it that way. Fernweh (which is German for "Wanderlust" or "farsickness") is something I created to really let myself just be myself.

The first part of this blog is for my thoughts and emotions and meltdowns and good times and bad times and strange times and all those other times when I just need to talk or write down what happened. I've already posted things like this. Yes, sometimes I'll be a downer on here, but that's because it's where I put things that I need to say and have no one to say them to. If I don't say them, or express them, things get worse. And I want to be honest on here, I don't want to just show the good times I want to show the bad times. But I realize there have been a lot of bad times lately so I hope soon there will be good times to talk about as well.

The second part of this blog is for my writing. On my other blog I talk about writing whenever something big happens in my writing but I feel like it's become distracting on that blog and I wanted a place where I could dedicate most of the posts to writing and how my stories are going. So this is going to be that place. More in a few paragraphs.

The "maybe third" part of this blog is for my adventures. I've always wanted to go on a bunch of adventures around the world and just enjoy myself and all the cultures I happen to cross and explore. Well, I don't really have the finances for those sorts of adventures (yet) but whenever I do something I determine to be an adventure I'll be posting about it here. This sort of goes with the first part, but it's also a bit separate. Someday I hope all three parts will intersect into something beautiful.

My Writing

I wanted to set down some goals for my writing. In general I've got pretty lofty dreams. But, hey, shoot for the moon, right? I'd rather be among the stars anyways.

First of all, I want to publish a novel. Hell, I want to publish a bunch of novels and I want them to be wildly successful. I don't expect this to be an overnight, debut book sort of journey, but I want to continue writing for the rest of my life and I want to someday see my name at the top of the New York Times Bestselling List so that I can print it out and frame it on my wall and look at it and smile.

Second of all, I want to write a movie script. And a TV script. Actually, several TV scripts. As for the movie script, though, there are two stories in my head that I really want to make real. Not only do I want to write the scripts but I want to direct the movies. And someday I want to be a successful director/screenwriter and have my movie nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. And I want my movie to win it. I don't know what that movie will be, but I want it to happen.

Third of all, I want to write a graphic novel/comic series. I have two ideas but I can't draw for the life of me. So I hope to meet someone who can and who shares my passion for a few ideas I have. This isn't my main goal at the moment, but I plan on making it happen sooner or later. I love the ideas I have for the series' and graphic novels are the best form.

Fourth of all, I want my books to gain a fandom following and I want to see people's art and fanfic and love for the series and I want it to change people's lives the way reading and books have changed my life. I want my books to make people feel like they have hope. I want aspiring writers to look at my work and say it made them want to write and I want to influence the next generation of writers to create even greater things.

Those are my goals. I don't want them to sound like I think a lot of myself (trust me, I actually think very lowly of myself) and that I'm just a prodigy or something. I know I'm not I just want to put the goals out there because they are my dreams and God help me there is nothing that can keep me away from reaching these dreams except myself. If I work hard enough for long enough and never give up I can get these things done. And hey, if you're reading this post you can totally help keep me honest and remind me that I have lofty dreams so I better kick my own ass and get to getting things done!

As for what I'm writing at the moment, I have three projects. I might create a tab for these works at some point but ehhhh I kinda want this to be a one page blog for reasons.

My main project (and the one I talked about the other week when I said I was at the halfway point) is The Queen's Ransom (TQR) and is a novella (I think- it may just end up being a really, really short novel, we'll see) about a girl named Jocelyn who is cursed and by partaking in the Queen's Ransom, a quest, she may be able to cure herself. It's more complicated than this, but I don't want to reveal too much at the moment because it's in a fluid state where huge plot points are still changing.

My side project, and the next novel I'll be writing, is a series that is near and dear to my heart. I had the idea for this series back in junior year of high school (currently a college sophomore) and it has stuck with me ever since in such stark colors that I can't help but write it. It's a steampunk trilogy (for now...) called The Wheel and Cog Chronicles. The first book, of which I've been doing a lot of prewriting, is Wheel and Cog (WaC). Haha, no description to share yet because, well, it's a hard one to describe and once I start drafting it and actually getting it on paper it might be easier to explain but we'll see.

The third project, which is a stress reliever more than anything else is called Lamp and Mirror (LaM). It's going to be a series of short stories or episodes that I plan on posting on this blog when I've got quite a few written. I have no plans to publish this in any traditional way whatsoever I want it to be a free resource online for people to enjoy (hopefully) so the plan is to write the stories, edit the stories, publish them here for feedback and for your enjoyment, edit them a little more and then put them on kindle for free (perhaps all bound up together just to make it easier). We'll see but hopefully I'll be done with this little project around Christmastime. No description for this one yet, either, since I'm still in the plotting stage.

Well, that's me for now.