Last week, I was home in NJ celebrating Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) with my family. September feels more like the start of a new year than January. School's starting up, new TV shows are premiering, the Oscar season is beginning, summer's over. Rosh Hashanah is celebrated the exact opposite way of New Year's Eve: no partying, no drinking, and all the action happens during the day in temple. Because the holiday falls so closely to my birthday, it gives me added reason to reflect on what I've done this past year. Another year gone by, and what progress have I made?
I have made significant strides professionally and personally, but with writing, I feel like I'm in the same place I was a year ago. Each year, I keep saying things will be different. This year, I want to mean it. I realized that my big issue was not following through, not seeing my WIPs through multiple drafts. And this year, I intend to change that. I am currently working on manuscript #3. Will this be the one that lands me an agent and/or book deal? Who knows. But this will be the one that I keep revising and will eventually query. I'm not fixated on what the responses will be. I just want to get to that point already. I've read lots of author stories about writers querying too soon. But there are some of us that wait too long, crippled by doubt. This year, I will get over my fear of rejection and just send the darn thing out. And if it's a pile of rejections, then so be it. At least I'm in the game.
I am currently halfway through my WIP. Sadly, it seems that I will not participate in Nanowrimo this year. I'll just be finishing my first draft by November. Nano and I are just not meant to be. Which is a shame because I've always been so excited by it. So maybe this year, I'll sneak into a writing session.
Are any of you participating in Nanowrimo? Have any writing resolutions?
I could adopt your writing goals as my own because I have the same problems.
ReplyDeleteThis is probably a dumb question, but what is Nanowrimo?
@Jill: NaNo is National Novel Writing Month, and it gives people the challenge of writing 50,000 words in 30 days. It's total craziness, but so so awesome!
ReplyDelete@Phil: I did NaNo last year, but I won't be able to this year as I'm getting married the second week in November. My writing resolution is to finish my current draft by the end of January. :) Good luck with your goals!
Phil, I'm not participating in Nano this year, but I'm using it as a challenge. I'm going to try and write 12.5k words a week until the wip is done :-)
ReplyDelete@J - Thanks for explaining Nanowrimo. There's more info at their website nanowrimo.org
ReplyDeleteAnd you have a totally valid excuse for not participating. Good luck w/ the wedding planning!
@Sarah - That's brilliant! I'm also going to challenge myself to finish my first draft by the deadline.
My personal feeling about Nano is that its much ado about nothing. If you're gonna write, then gearing up for a psuedo contest isn't gonna matter one iota in the long run.
ReplyDeleteUnless need something to motivate yourself to actually write, which in that case you should ask yourself "If I need a phantom writing contest in order to get myself to write, what's that say about me and my ability to write?"