Category Archives: Goals

3rd Quarter Report

04 Tuesday Oct 2011

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I just realized it’s time for another report! Three months is a long time, but it still catches me by surprise. As I recall (read: as I cheat by checking the Mid-Year Report), my goals were:

1. Write fiction 5 days a week

2. Submit more/regularly

3. Continue my good habits (blogging, class work, reading)

It’s been a good three months. I’m learning a lot at the new job, and the blog is going strong. I’ve done guest posts, and am actually going to be a regular contributor. I’ve got my first official regular assignment from the Canaries: a post about a particular annual reading tradition of mine, along with a book review. I’ll let you know when to look for it.

Writing is going pretty well. I’m getting up between 7:00 and 7:20 these days, depending on how tired I am, and writing a little bit before I go to work. On a good day, I’ll write over 300 words in a 15-minute stretch, on a bad day it’s more like 100. I’m trying to take evening mini-stretches, too, to get to that nice round 500. The word goal is a little elusive, but joining 750words was a great move. I signed up for the September challenge to write every day and, except for two or three nights when I copy-pasted a blog entry I’d written the day before, I kept to it. Only made it to 750 a couple of times, but I’m writing regularly again, and I can feel the difference. I’ve revised two stories, written two or three more, and I have another two in progress on the laptop. Plus, I’ve published two articles on Dumb Little Man and written an article on the forthcoming children’s book, Maggie Goes On a Diet. That article hasn’t found a home, but I got to interview people (it was easier to get ahold of experts to interview than I thought!), and it is completed, so it counts.

I’ve stepped up submissions, as well, although I’m getting close to tapering down again. I submitted to about 25 places over the last 12 weeks, averaging about 2 subs per week. Light for a “real” writer, but better than I’ve been in a long time.

I’m glad I’m doing this report now! I’ve been feeling so-so about my writing for the last few days–tired of my characters and tropes. We’re reading so many jaw-drop amazing books in the literature seminar that when I look at my stories, they feel thin and dull. It’s encouraging to think how much more time I’ve been devoting to getting my butt in the writing seat, though. So, my goals for next month are:

1. Complete National Novel Writing Month.

2. Arrive at and maintain 500 words at least 4 days a week (can be less on other days, except for November of course)

3. Challenge myself to write differently–different characters, genres, writing styles. I’m too young and too new at this to fall into a rut. Let’s see how many different things I can do by the end of the month.

4. Post Flash Fridays. Flash is already a different thing for me, and the weekly push should help keep me on my toes.

5. Update What I’m Reading! I actually have read 10 books since the end of August, but haven’t updated a single one to the blog. Let’s get some fresh material out there.

The Search for Substance

13 Tuesday Sep 2011

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The first thing that’s struck me about my literature seminar this fall is how amazingly substantial the books are. That is, they offer something more than an entertaining story, or even a thoughtful one, and instead get at the kind of human truths that transcend their time or place. Oedipus is still current in the way that it raises questions of whether the gods are just, whether and where fairness comes into play regarding crimes and punishment, and how to understand the concept of a good man and a good life.

Disgrace, by J. M. Coetzee, is about men and women and sex, and the uses of sex. It’s about animals and obligation and the problems of how to live a life that has to involve giving and receiving a certain amount of cruelty. We’re going to spend hours tonight talking about meaning, not in a “what is the author trying to say” way, but in the “how does this book change our understanding of how we live our lives” way.

Perhaps (just perhaps) it’s unfair for me to compare myself to a Nobel Prize-winning writer, but I’ve always had a tendency to set my personal bar high.  I started by getting up early to write, took the next jump to sign up for 750words.com and its monthly writing challenge (I’ve only made it to 750 twice, but I’ve written every day this month and am pushing for the full 750), and I’m gearing up for NaNo. With word count building, my next logical step is to reconsider what it is that I’m writing. Again, I am aware Nobel Prize is a smidge high for a yardstick, but on the other hand, if you fail to reach it, you’re still probably going to be turning out something pretty good.

I’ve got some writing exercises I’ll be trying out in the next few days to find a way to add more of that delicious, meaty, philosophical substance to my writing. I’ll post them here. Stay tuned!

The Power of Annoyance

02 Friday Sep 2011

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In my sophomore year of college, my sociology professor had us read this book by Edward Bellamy, called Looking Backward. The story, theoretically, was about a guy who pulls some Rip Van Winkle stunt and sleeps himself into the next century. Really, the book was an excuse for Bellamy to use characters as his mouthpiece for his theory of the perfect utopian society. The story felt lifeless, the theory was full of holes, and the phrase “heaving bosom” appeared near the end of the book (one of my top five least favorite phrases in the English language).

I was outraged. I could have written a more believable societal structure in my sleep! And a better plot! When I pulled my professor aside after class to rant at him for five minutes about how much I hated the book, though, he was oddly pleased. It didn’t matter to him whether I loved or detested the reading material he assigned; what was important to him was that I got invested enough to be passionate about it.

Which brings us to present day. I mentioned before that I’m currently reading a career development book by an author who I find completely insufferable. He comes across to me as one of those slick, arrogant, narcissistic types who only reaches out to remind themselves of their own power: “You look so miserable down there. Let me tell you about the amazing things I did to make sure I’ll never be like you.”

“I like my work,” I snarled at the pages. “I don’t buy into the outsource-your-life philosophy you’re selling. I want to live my own life, thank you very much.”

Then I remembered Bellamy. So I put down the book for a moment and tried to figure out what it was that was irritating me so much about this author. I decided I didn’t like the way he presented what seemed to me to be very difficult tasks and acted like everyone should be able to do them. Contact celebrities, for example–who was he to assume that some anonymous person could call up someone important at random for an interview? What happened to pounding the pavement with the rest of the proles, you jerk?

And then I realized I didn’t like the way I was sounding, so I decided, you know what, I’m going to try it. There’s an article I’m writing about diets and eating disorders and how to teach children about being healthy, and I emailed the president of the National Eating Disorder Association to ask for an interview.

And I got it. It’s scheduled for Wednesday.

Being annoyed is not always a bad thing. Knowing why something gets under your skin can reveal a lot about you–what you’re scared of, what your ideas and theories are, which direction you need to push yourself. I may not agree with the rest of that insufferable book, but I’m going to keep reading it. If his life principles irritate the hell out of me, it’s not the worst place I could start to get a firmer grasp on my own.

Published!

31 Wednesday Aug 2011

Posted by in Books, Goals, Poetry, Publishing, Reading, Writing

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I did it! Check out my article, “7 Simple Steps to Becoming Well-Read,” on Dumb Little Man (one of my favorite sites for quick, fun personal development articles).

Speaking of being well-read, this is going to be a great semester. I’m taking a Seminar on Literature and Writing with the scary Russian professor at my school (most of the time she’s really nice, but she does have a reputation for bringing a student to tears in class at least once a semester), and we are reading 11 books in 15 weeks. Expect my What I’m Reading section to get real highbrow, real fast, people. This week? Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, and a book of poetry called Supernatural Love. Stay tuned…

Short One, Cause I’m Writing Words

23 Tuesday Aug 2011

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The writing’s going better. I woke up this morning, sat down to spend my 15 minutes editing a story I’ve been meaning to revise for ages, and realized I only had two pages left to go. When my buzzer went off, I only had two paragraphs. I don’t know whether it’s the daily writing that is making the difference, or if 7:35 is too early for the internal editor to be in full gear, or if 15 minutes is just too short to be scary, but I’m starting to regain the feeling that things are happening.

My awesomely ridiculous best friend mentioned yesterday that it’s possible I may always have to be changing my routine. I think she’s right. It worked for a long time to insist on a word count, regardless of the time, and then it didn’t. Now it makes more sense to insist on a time, and aim for the word goal, and that may change, too. It’s a little annoying. I wish I could find the perfect routine and just let that be the habit forever, but I guess I can see why that wouldn’t work for me. I’d get complacent, and writing is too hard and too emotionally demanding for that to work. Fortunately, 15 minutes in the morning is working, and is occasionally leading to an additional 15-30 minutes in the evening. It’s not much–15 minutes is what, 1% of my day?–but so far I’ve made almost a full revision pass on one story, drafted a second (it’s nonfiction now, so needs some heavy work before it can count as a proper story, but still), and written an article that is just about ready to be pitched. The plan is to give it a quick edit tonight or tomorrow, write an author bio, and send it before the end of the week. I’ve even, tentatively, started an actual fiction story. I’m hoping this new writing pattern lasts (the last good routine I found lasted something like 8 months, without missing a day), but if it doesn’t, I’m not too worried either. One way or another, this is working.

Climbing Wagons

11 Thursday Aug 2011

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A quick note, because I’ve been guilty about the somewhat disappointing mid-year report and don’t want you to think that I just sit around and whine (I know no one who knows me thinks that, but I get paranoid). Since writing that post, I have:

  1. Submitted 3 stories to 13 places (hooray for simultaneous submissions!)
  2. Written a first draft of a story
  3. Resumed editing a story I’ve been sitting on, meaning to rewrite
  4. Published the guest post at the Canary Review

This week, I started getting up at 7:10 instead of 7:25, and am using the extra 15 minutes to write a little before I go to work. It’s helping! I can get about 300-350 words out in my bleary state, which means I only need 150-200 or so when I get home to meet my 500/day goal. Admittedly, I’ve only been getting up early for four days as I write this, but I plan to make it a new habit.

While seeing how far I’d fallen short of my goals was disheartening, writing it out and holding myself accountable does seem to give me a kick toward better progress. I told Andrew that sometimes it’s not even as much a matter of getting back on the wagon as it is finding out where the damn thing went. I feel good about this last month, though. Wagons ho!

Half of the year is over. List 10 things you want to do before 2012 begins.

28 Thursday Jul 2011

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A prompt from WordPress itself! Given that I’m in a lull, this might not be a bad time to recenter on my goals (writing and otherwise). Here goes:

  1. Frickin’ publish something. I don’t care what. It’s been a goal for so long, and it’s getting harder to be patient. (Note: I sent out a handful last week, and have more for next week.)
  2. Save enough money to take two classes this spring instead of one. I know we’ll be in the thick of wedding planning, but I want to graduate in spring of 2013, and I’m not going to make it going one class at a time.
  3. Take a trip somewhere. I’m always happiest to go out of the country, but local’s fine, too. I just want to explore more before the year is out.
  4. Get back on my 500 words writing schedule. I spent about eight months writing 500 words a day, and got amazing at it. Then I completed the novel I was working on, took a break from those 500 words, and haven’t yet been able to get back on that wagon.
  5. Be a better blogger. (More posts? More subscribers? Haven’t thought this one all the way through…)
  6. Figure out what’s keeping kids from coming to youth group! Participation is way down, and I’m getting kind of upset about it.
  7. Do NaNoWriMo.
  8. Learn some more about HTML and CSS so I can play with interesting website stuff.
  9. Catch up on my back issues of the New Yorker.
  10. Get better at relaxing? Am I allowed to say that? I do relax, of course, but it’s rarer for me to find myself in that state of happiness where I don’t have a nagging feeling that I should be somewhere else.
In conclusion, saving resolutions for January is for chumps. I’ll make goals whenever the heck I feel like it. I am, of course, always interested in hearing other people’s goals as well. I kind of dare Mr. A.P. Sillers to do a mid-year resolution post (earnest or in jest) on his blog.
The glove, Mr. Sillers, has been thrown.

Post-Show Blues

27 Wednesday Jul 2011

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Great news–I got an A in Book Design! It took what felt like every spare moment I had (and then some, considering the several evenings I forewent dinner in favor of fiddling with the placement of a title or trying to learn what to do in Illustrator to keep my pictures from getting pixely), but the class is finally over, and yours truly rocked it.

I’m feeling a little adrift, though. When I was in high school doing summer theater productions, all of us in the cast used to dread the end-of-show crash, when we would wander aimlessly around the house, missing the rigid rehearsal schedule we’d complained about half the summer, and wondering what to do with these memorized lines and lyrics and dance steps that no longer had a useful outlet. It was the loss of a little identity.

Sometimes, ending a class is like that for me. I know, HUGE academic geek moment. But it’s true. I throw myself into these courses so hard that for eight or 16 weeks, I identify as a budding book designer or what have you. I’ve been taking it easy (or, you know, as easy as I can) the last two weeks, because I know I need a summer. I went to the pool a few times, actually sat down and watched an episode of So You Think You Can Dance all the way through (so those are the Top 10!), and on Saturday, my family and a representative sample of Andrew’s got together at my parents’ house for a BBQ engagement party. I even got to see my best friend for the first time in about six months (because we live in different states–neither of us is that busy).

I think I’m already gearing up to get some new project percolating, though. I’ve got stuff to revise, I’ve got a tentative idea or two, and I’ve got a “write daily” resolution that’s fallen by the wayside for too long. I’ll try to make time to do some more substantive stuff here when I can, but my real goal is to be able to come back here in not too long with some good writing news, so if I’m quiet, that’s why.

Mid-Year Report

07 Thursday Jul 2011

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It’s been a whirlwind three months! It’s amazing to think that only a few days after I posted the Quarterly Report, Andrew and I got engaged. I kind of wish I was reporting on progress in wedding planning: we’ve already figured out the guest list, set a date, booked the ceremony and reception sites, picked a pastor to officiate, picked bridesmaids, picked colors (more or less), started our registry, and scheduled tastings with local caterers. We are winning at wedding planning.

But this isn’t a wedding blog (yet :-P), and I had made myself some goals for the kind of writing work I had wanted to accomplish over the last three months. They were:

Submit 120 pieces

Write and revise 4 pieces

Okay. I have to admit I didn’t complete either of those goals as I had intended to. Here’s what I did do:

  1. Submitted about 10-12 pieces
  2. Began heavy revision of one story
  3. Started several stories that died after the 1st paragraph
  4. Wrote class material (Experimental Forms) that I ended up submitting to a contest
  5. Designed 2 completed book projects (Book Design) that definitely involved thoughtful revision
  6. Started full-time work in publishing
  7. Subscribed to Poets & Writers and The New Yorker
  8. Maintained reasonably regular blog postings and updated What I’m Reading and Home pages of my site

So while I didn’t turn into the warrior of submitting that I wanted to be, I haven’t been sitting on my butt for three months, either. What I think I’m doing well:

  1. With the new job, I’m simultaneously immersing myself in a word-driven atmosphere, improving my editing skills, and freeing up time to write (my commute’s two-thirds shorter now)
  2. I’m devoting significant time to creative work (design lately, analysis of experimental work and writing experiments of my own before that)
  3. I’m spending more of my reading time reading material that can help me with my writing

What I think I’m doing badly:

  1. I’m not actually writing
  2. I’m not submitting enough

Scheduling writing is a problem for me because, since so many of my day-to-day responsibilities are deadline-driven, anything that can be put off will be if I get into a crunch. I’m still struggling to make writing enough of a routine that I won’t drop it when academics or other deadlines need my immediate attention. I do still read every day, after all, so having that time in my schedule is possible.

Part of me really wants to give myself the same goals for the next three months (10 subs/week, 4 new polished stories gleaming on my desk), but I’m not sure that’s the best way to go. Instead, I’m going to try something tough, but hopefully more doable:

  1. Write and/or revise fiction at least five days a week, aiming for 500 words a day or 2 revised pages a day
  2. Submit at least five pieces a week (simultaneous submissions count)
  3. Keep doing the good things I’m doing (blogging, reading good stuff, working hard in class)

Hopefully I’ll have better luck achieving what I’ve set for myself in the next three months!

New Job!!

06 Monday Jun 2011

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After nine crazy months of working three part-time jobs in three different cities (Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Annapolis), I’ve landed a new position that should make my life ten times easier. Starting at the end of the month, I’ll be the new Project Manager for a publishing service company (they take projects for publishing companies, such as formatting print books to be e-books, handling the layout and design for manuscripts, etc.).

A quick caveat to the celebration that’s about to go on here: I am keeping the Youth Director position, mostly because I really enjoy it and feel invested in the kids, and also because I still need that income to make ends meet. Because of this, I will still be pulling the 50-hour shift for the time being. That said, here is what I am looking forward to with this career change:

1. It’s in my field. Publishing is highly competitive, and there aren’t too many opportunities in this area. Between getting to spend my work days doing what I want to do and getting a foot in the door of the industry, this is a fantastic shift from doing filing work for a company where I’m neither qualified or interested in rising up the ranks.

2. It’s in my city. Or close enough. I’m about a half-hour drive from Gwynn Oak to Towson, instead of an hour to hour-and-a-half drive, plus half-hour Metro trip to D.C. I get to get up at 7:15 instead of 6:00 a.m., and will get home closer to 5:45 than 6:45 or 7:00 p.m.

3. I eliminate the Metro from my life. Unless there’s an exhibit or something in D.C. that I want to see for fun, Metro commuting is over. No more spending $40 a week on parking and Metro passes, no crowded cars or waiting for trains or gloomy platforms. I am well aware that on-the-road rush hour’s no fun, either, but I am very happy to know that when I am stuck in traffic now, at least I will be able to see the sky.

4. It’s much more challenging than what I was doing before. This job will be a lot closer to the work I was doing as an Editorial Assistant at Passager than as a law clerk, and it will probably be even more involved than at Passager, since it’s full-time and I may even have people (like proofreaders) working under me. It’s a weird thought, and an exciting one. I’ve been the underling in almost every job I’ve held since graduation. Sometimes it’s been pleasant work and I hardly noticed being at the bottom, sometimes it was made painfully clear how little power I had. Sometimes, like at the law firm, it became the kind of thing I took for granted. It’s a major confidence boost to think that I’m starting in a position where I have some real responsibility to make sure stuff gets done.

The countdown stands at 3 weeks exactly until my first day as Project Manager. I’m looking forward to a few free days and the church mission trip before I start. Money’s a little tight this month, since I’m basically working half-time (only two jobs a week, and one week of only church), but I’m feeling great about the new beginning waiting for me at the end of the month.