Fall into Action - Setting Goals

 As we fall toward the end of the year, we should begin preparing for 2014.

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Assess your progress and accomplishments.

• What have you achieved?
• Have you reached the goals you set?
• Have you reached beyond your set goals, created new ones, and completed those?

Assess your steps and methods.

• Did you find your goals easily reached?
• Did you scramble to keep up?
• Could you have accomplished more?
• Did you stray from your set goals?
• Did life events throw you off schedule?
• Are your dreams the same as they were in the beginning of the year?

These are only a few questions you may wish to ask yourself. The important thing is to re-evaluate your life and begin preparing for next year.

Even if you are not the plotter or goal oriented writer, you should still have some idea of where you are going and how you plan to get there.

“The path toward success is one step at a time.”

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Congratulations to all those who have chosen to participate in the 2013 National Novel Writing Month. 

The Altar: A Novel of Horror (Audiobook) by James Arthur Anderson

The Altar presents an interesting premise. The story begins with the disturbance of a long ago banished demon. When a family moves into the neighborhood, their backyard connecting to the forest, the dwelling place of the demon, they become sucked into the awakening process of the demon. Together, with the help of members of the community, they must put it back from where it came, or die trying. Anderson has put together a nice roller-coaster ride of demonic thrills.

I listened to the audio version of this story. If I had read it, my review may have turned out a little differently. I find that words on a page feel different for me than listening to a book.

I gave The Altar a '3 Star rating' due to some writing issues. Some of the dialogue was too long, too wordy, and interrupted the flow of the story. The author did a much better job when he was within the characters’ internal dialogue sections. Also, the back story of the legend of the demon was repeated over and over again, throughout the story. It was as if the author thought we needed a refresher course to keep up. I found it somewhat irritating since it pulled me out of the story.

Overall, this was a good story. I enjoyed most of the time spent listening to it. I’d recommend it to a friend, with a little caution on the writing.

2013 Muse Online Writers Conference

 

Another year has come and gone.

Once again, it's time to prepare for another fun-filled week with the Muse Online Writers Conference.

Registrations are open, deadline October 1st. Register now. The schedule this year includes Pitch Sessions, repeat Workshops, and some brand new Workshops, such as Plotting with Scrivener and the Beat Sheet Workshop (Save the Cat.) Check out the full schedule, there's sure to be something to meet your current needs.

You can't go wrong, it's free!

I'll be around. Hope to see you there.
 

Working through Writer’s Resistance

It has been a very turbulent few months in my life: from a car accident to sickness, from stress to fatigue. The latest illness put me on the couch for four days, giving me plenty of time to read, think, and re-evaluate where I’m headed in life.

As many of you know, my interests are scattered all over the place, yet as I lay there, condemned to the couch, I questioned the point of the many directions I’ve taken in the past years. And it hit me hard, what the heck am I doing?

My dream has always been to be an Author, and I don’t mean a one hit author either. I've pushed hard, accumulating story upon story. I've strove to understand the format of putting together a novel. I've succeeded in publication with a few short stories, two novellas, and even a children’s book. But, for the last year, I’ve been stuck.

Okay, well not entirely stuck. I have been working on my next novel, Broken Memories, but not nearly as much as I should have been. When the year began, the goal was for a February completion, then an August completion, and now here we are in September and it’s still unfinished.

I could say that life has been busy. I could say I haven’t had the time to work on it. I could even say I’ve been busy with other things, more important things. But the truth is I’m resisting the completion. Why?

Oh, I could come up with all types of reasons, such as Procrastination, Distractions, Over-scheduling, and all of these would be true. But, I think it all boils down to a hidden fear of failure, or perhaps it may be of success. No matter which way you weave it, the situation is merely a state of mind.

Most writers are in this game alone, for the most part. No one is going to stand behind you cheering you on to write that next page. Unless you have a contract, or a deadline of sorts, it is all up to you to get your butt in the chair and those fingers on the keyboard, or pen to paper. Only you can make your dream become a reality.

The most productive method I’ve found so far to push me through these ruts is the ‘Magic Fifteen Minutes.’ You basically devote ‘at least’ fifteen minutes a day to writing. Sometimes that will be all you write, but other times you’ll get caught up and end up with a couple of hours’ worth of writing. The main point is getting yourself in place for the process. Every step of story writing, drafting, editing, polishing, and so on, presents you with a new set of resisting qualities. Push through fifteen minutes and see if it can snap you out of your own resistance.

As I write this blog post, I’ve been back to writing for about a week, and God, it feels good. Maybe this time, I won’t fall off the horse. There’s still hope to finishing my novel by the end of the year, and it is my intentions to do so.

How do you push through your moments of resistance? How do you resist? Does your house become spotless? Do you take up yet another hobby? Are you over-researching an aspect of your story?

Feel free to share your comments and stories. If you have an angle on this topic, or any other writing topic, you’d like to share as a guest blogger, contact me. Other voices are always welcome here at Footsteps of a Writer.