Q3 Q4 ...
Currently Reading: Jingo by Terry Pratchett
It is that time again. April begins the last quarter of fiscal year 2007.
Let's face the music and see how things went this past quarter.
Set up a budget by 1/14 to track and limit writing expenses for the calendar year.
Completed on time.
Move website to a different host by 1/28.
Well, it was moved by then. Finishing it, on the other hand, required a lot more time than I expected.
Finish editing 'Midnight', SF novel, by 2/16.
Nope. Only about 25% done. Turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated. The cutting and slashing is easy. The filling in with spackle to match the surrounding area has been tough.
Finish writing 'Lodestone', novel for 2-year writing class, by 2/25.
Didn't happen, nor will it. I started this mainstream book before I was fully committed to the speculative fiction genre. There is potential to re-purpose it as future fiction, but it will be mothballed for now.
Write, edit, polish, agonize over, edit again, and submit a new short story by 3/31.
The writing, editing, and agonizing did occur. Then I put the story aside to age/ferment and didn't make time to look at it again. B+
FY07 Q4 Goals
-Finish editing 'Chasing Midnight', SF novel.
-Edit, polish, agonize over, edit again, and submit a new short story.
-Start process for new novel: 20,000 foot view, theme, basic idea, etc.
All right, here we go, no foolin'.
posted by Todd Wheeler at 4/01/2007 10:08:00 AM
7 Comments:
Were you initially leery of "committing to" spec-fic? That's interesting.
How far did you get on Lodestone? (If you don't mind answering--you can always say NOYB).
I think a lot of us have abandoned our 2YNs. Mine is still sitting at 10k, and I started a new book yesterday, a horror, which is truly my first love.
I just can't get excited about a book after all that planning.
LBB: Not leery, more like waiting to see which won the SF vs. Mainstream steel cage match in my brain.
I won't say I'll never write mainstream stories/novels (one never knows). At this stage I need to focus on one direction. The ideas I get, the stories and books that stoke the fire, they are all SF right now. Have to play to my strengths.
Lodestone has a complete outline, character bios, a ton of research, 7 chapters, 60 pages, and 18,000 words. Quite a lot to leave in the drawer.
Cheryl: It was rather a grind. I think the pace did a lot of people in. The process was very helpful and one I'll try again. I think it could be compressed into less than a year.
Are you using any of the planning for your new novel? Outline? Character sketches? Research? Or just diving right in?
I did a good bit of research. I've got a deaf MC so I had to work that out. I've got a blurb-type synopsis of the storyline; a paragraph, really. But I'm back to my old ways, outlining a few chapters ahead of where I am. So I know what the next four chapters will be about, and what the overall story is, and the main conflict/climax/resolution. Other than that, I'm pantsing.
I may come back at some point to Samantha's story. I still think about her and Alex and Peter and Laura and what's going to happen to them. Maybe after I finish this one I'll give them a good drafting and call the class a success.
I'm still glad I participated. Being walked through an outline was something I needed to learn, even if only to figure out that it doesn't work for me.
"Luke, give in to the dark side of genre" :)
Write what gets your going, Todd. If you have to slogg through something, it helps if you actually happen to like it (even if you want to put a torch to it at the moment).
Cheryl: Wow, that sounds like a challenge with a deaf MC. Very interesting.
Steve: Yep. That would be rather unfortunate if one was good at writing in a genre one hated. Hmm, there's story there somewhere...
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