Those of you who have been following this blog know about my Autumn Challenge. For those who don't, it's about setting a challenge for yourself to achieve by Christmas - kind of a Christmas gift you give yourself.
I've been setting weekly goals for myself to get me to that final goal since I began this challenge in September. You may be wondering why I didn't weigh in on Monday.
Life intrudes. We say that a lot. Sometimes it's good, sometimes not so. Either way, I think the challenge (life is so full of them we might as well count on dealing) is to incorporate them into our overall plan. If nothing else, it's less frustrating. Flexibility - that's the key to survival, and to meeting your goals. Flexibility without losing sight of the end.
So for me, life intruded when I got this great idea for a blog challenge: the annual October Memoir and Backstory Blog Challenge. And life intruded when a publisher I'd sent a manuscript proposal to (like, over a year ago) emailed to say it "has promise" and could I sent the full manuscript? And life intruded when my optometrist said I need cataract surgery in one eye. It's been an interesting week.
So how can I fit all this into my plan, my Autumn Challenge to find an agent or a publisher or to self-publish, by Christmas?
Well, I have to be able to see to write, right? Unless I'm Milton, of course - which I'm not. And the October Challenge will help me develop my story and my characters, as well as meet lots of new writing and otherwise creative friends. Creativity flourishes in such an environment. And the publisher might like my novel when he reads it, and that's what the challenge was all about. However, he might decide it's not for him, and he did say that it might take up to a year for him to read it, so I can't sit back and hope I've met my challenge yet!
Flexibility is called for. This week's steps were to write a synopsis of my memoir - done! To submit the proposal to 3 agents or publishers - I've decided to hold off on that until October, because I've signed up for a writer's conference in October and will be able to present it in person to agents/publishers there. Always a better method. As for the third part of last week's step - to plan out a re-write of my Historical fiction novel and re-write the first 5 chapters - I did get the plan finished. But then the publisher emailed about my earlier SF novel - so I changed direction. Now I'm focused on a quick last edit of that novel, instead. Flexible, right? Sigh. Life intrudes.
This coming week's Autumn Challenge step: edit and send off my SF novel to the publisher. Get out the word on my October Challenge and learn to do a linky list - or some equivalent. By Monday.
What's your Autumn Challenge for Christmas? Join us weekly as we weigh in, and share your progress. Together, we'll encourage each other to achieve more!
I've been setting weekly goals for myself to get me to that final goal since I began this challenge in September. You may be wondering why I didn't weigh in on Monday.
Life intrudes. We say that a lot. Sometimes it's good, sometimes not so. Either way, I think the challenge (life is so full of them we might as well count on dealing) is to incorporate them into our overall plan. If nothing else, it's less frustrating. Flexibility - that's the key to survival, and to meeting your goals. Flexibility without losing sight of the end.
So for me, life intruded when I got this great idea for a blog challenge: the annual October Memoir and Backstory Blog Challenge. And life intruded when a publisher I'd sent a manuscript proposal to (like, over a year ago) emailed to say it "has promise" and could I sent the full manuscript? And life intruded when my optometrist said I need cataract surgery in one eye. It's been an interesting week.
So how can I fit all this into my plan, my Autumn Challenge to find an agent or a publisher or to self-publish, by Christmas?
Well, I have to be able to see to write, right? Unless I'm Milton, of course - which I'm not. And the October Challenge will help me develop my story and my characters, as well as meet lots of new writing and otherwise creative friends. Creativity flourishes in such an environment. And the publisher might like my novel when he reads it, and that's what the challenge was all about. However, he might decide it's not for him, and he did say that it might take up to a year for him to read it, so I can't sit back and hope I've met my challenge yet!
Flexibility is called for. This week's steps were to write a synopsis of my memoir - done! To submit the proposal to 3 agents or publishers - I've decided to hold off on that until October, because I've signed up for a writer's conference in October and will be able to present it in person to agents/publishers there. Always a better method. As for the third part of last week's step - to plan out a re-write of my Historical fiction novel and re-write the first 5 chapters - I did get the plan finished. But then the publisher emailed about my earlier SF novel - so I changed direction. Now I'm focused on a quick last edit of that novel, instead. Flexible, right? Sigh. Life intrudes.
This coming week's Autumn Challenge step: edit and send off my SF novel to the publisher. Get out the word on my October Challenge and learn to do a linky list - or some equivalent. By Monday.
What's your Autumn Challenge for Christmas? Join us weekly as we weigh in, and share your progress. Together, we'll encourage each other to achieve more!
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