When I first started writing, I thought it would be cool if my story ended up being longer than 100 pages. That was my goal.
Then it turned to publication.
If I could get ONE book published...
Obviously, my goals for publication now are different. I'd share those goals, but I'm working on too many supah-secret projects to share my goals because then I'd have to make your computer explode like Mission Impossible, or my blog, and that just sounds like a lot of cleanup.
(I'm desperately looking for the owner of this picture - if anyone remembers seeing it on a stock photo site, I'd love to hear from you... lol)
I'm going to take a giant step back and talk about short-term goals because mine only work like half the time.
Last week (before I had friends and extra kids and extra stuff all weekend) I banged out 20K on a book I've wanted to write for a long time. I thought - next week I'll finish easy.
But life happened.
No. More than that. My snarky girl is making some really bad decisions, and the book that was fun to write, has turned a bit darker (color me shocked) and it's now emotionally draining. I'm okay with this, but it means that if I want to function for my family at night, when everyone's home, I need to write in smaller chunks than 6-9K a day.
The hardest part for me is to be okay with this. To tell myself - I know you wanted this done by Friday, but considering you have a million other things going on, and errands stacking up, and no milk in the fridge, and your "to mail" pile and stack of bills is still growing, you should reconsider.
This is H.A.R.D. for me. My kids' spring break starts Friday morning, and I know how much writing I get done w/ them around (almost none).
So. I've shifted my goals a bit. I'd like to get a few more scenes slapped into my MS, and save the layering in for when my kids are home, b/c that's something I can do with them.
And now my "goal list" is turning into things that help me feel like I'm still moving forward while also being things I can do with LOTS of interruptions...
Am I an anomaly in that it makes me crazy when I have to shift gears and do something different? Or alter the WAY I'm working on something?
Because I'm telling you, knowing I won't make my goal has sucked some motivation out of me...
~ Jolene
Here's a snip of the project I'm working on now, which you can feel free to ignore -
I push to sitting,
letting our hands fall apart. “Why would you be more responsible than me?”
“It’s just…” Elias
sits up. “I’m the guy, you know?”
“And I’m the
girl.” I know what he won’t say. He’s the man, and he should be the one to call
the shots. But he’s a good man, so he’ll be calling the shots and making the right decisions for both of us. And in
less than a minute, I’m annoyed with him again because it’s archaic and
ridiculous.
He licks his lips
and stares at the carpet and I know we won’t discuss this any further because
it would turn in to an argument, and apparently Elias’s method of avoiding an
argument on a subject is to avoid the subject.
I wonder how long
that’ll last.
“I don’t want to
be away from you, but I think I should go.” Elias stands. “I love you, Clara.
So much.”
There’s so much
feeling in his voice, and it hits me like it probably should have hit me the
first time he said it. Elias means it. For real. He’s not just telling me he
loves me because he likes me more than any other girl he’s dated, like I do to
him. Elias really does love me. And all I can say back to him, without moving
from my spot on the floor, or talking about me being Mormon and him being
unsure. Or about how we really could have had sex this afternoon and how I’m
not sorry about it, is, “I love you, too.”
12 comments:
Once again, you have me sucked in and I can't wait to read this one, either!
I think it's a great sign when you change your goals--it means you're growing and evolving and becoming more. We homeschool, so I know what you mean about not being able to get as much done with your kids at home LOL
Great post, as always xo
I have learned to look at distractions (or any changes in my schedule) as a means to clear my head when I'm working on something that is too intense. I tend to get caught up in what I am writing at times and it seeps out into my daily life.
The snip of the project you gave us is pretty much amazing. I can't wait until it is all finished & we can read the rest!
I don't think it's unusual at all to be frustrated when you can't do what you wanted to do, i.e. write a certain amount per day, etc. When I'm fixed on a certain project and really determined to get it done, I get so annoyed when "life" interrupts my flow. ;)
Life happens, and so we change our goals, scale them back a little, because of that. I think it's VERY normal to feel a little frustrated with this.
Why do you tease us with these supa-secret projects and then say, sorry, can't talk about it. Cruel. Just cruel.
I guess for me, I don't have those short term goals like I want to finish this by this date. Because most likely, it won't happen. And really, I just picked that random date for no reason. So if it's a week later, does it really matter? (No, not right now because I'm not working on anyone's deadlines but my own.)
What's frustrating is if I'm in the middle of doing something and that gets interrupted. If I wanted to get a few hours of serious work in, but 1/2 hour in, something goes wrong. But what do you do? Unfortunately when it comes to kids, the longer you ignore them, the louder they get! :)
You are always super woman - even when you're human! :)
My goals constantly change and shift with life, and kids, but I keep trying to move forward, and I guess that's what matters.
Short term goals are meant to be broken. As you say life happens. Have you ever read the tagline on my blog?
I rarely make weekly goals anymore. Time is too short. I make monthly, biannual, and yearly goals. I even take it But plans and directions change so it has wiggle room built in. farther with a five year plan. I quote the serenity prayer all the time.
My goals change all the time. Even day to day sometimes.
And wow, great excerpt!
Love the snippet, Jo. I just read a book that featured a love interest named Elias...guess it's a new one :) I like it.
As for goals...I don't really set them wth my writing. If it happens it happens. I used to try to write X words a day or week and it just didn't work for me. I could never get to that goal. I realized that sometimes what works for others doesn't work for me, and that life definitely gets in the way (but I wouldn't trade friend or family time for anything). Here's the answer...they need to make 28 hours in a day :-P
Yeah, you're not alone. I freak when life gets in the way of my writing. It's really hard to act normal when all I want to do is sit at my computer and play with my WIP. That is an awesome picture and looks just like a really good friend of mine! Good luck finding it! :)
6-9k a day! Frickalicious, Jo! That's like rock star pace! I need just one week with you up in Alaska to see how you do it!!!!
Hey, hay hay! :P *waves*
Were you just talking about goals changing? shew. BT. DT.
But it's cool that we have options, and here's to supa sekret projects. Love that snippet.
Excellent! Happy spring breakin~ <3
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