Writer-Talk Tuesday: May 2012 Update & Summer Writing Goals
Well, you know what my April was like . . . not much writing for most of it and then a flurry of activity the last week of the month.
I promised myself when I signed this new contract back in August that I would get a first draft knocked out with plenty of time to have MONTHS to do revisions, unlike the last several books for which I had to turn in what amounted to the first draft (edited as I wrote, but still, there are things I would have changed, polished, eliminated, or added in several of my manuscripts if I’d had proper time for revisions).
However, due to unforeseen circumstances—grappling with the decision of whether or not I was going to have to give up my life in Tennessee and, at forty years old, move in with my parents again (which I did after dropping out of college at age 21); then, getting a part-time job at a local church which allowed me to stay in Nashville, but which didn’t offer the income needed for me to stop being in a constant state of panic about finances; then, there’s the health issues I’ve faced and am still dealing with; and, finally, interviewing for and being offered a new, highly anticipated full-time job at the beginning of April and starting the week before my book was due—that just didn’t happen.
There wasn’t a lot of room in my brain left for creativity over the past nine months. And when I did try to write . . . well, the best analogy I could come up with is when you go to bed so exhausted that you’re certain you’ll fall right asleep and enjoy the most refreshing night’s sleep you’ve had in a long time. But then you lie there in the bed staring at the ceiling because your brain just won’t shut down. Your body is relaxed, fatigued. You may even have your eyes closed. But sleep remains elusive. Then, joy of joys, you doze off, and it’s wonderful. But moments later (it seems) you’re wide awake again.
That’s what the experience of writing this book was like for me: I could feel the story right there, and if I could just fall in to it (like falling asleep), I’d get into that “dream state” of writing in which everything else disappears; and my writing wouldn’t be taxing, it would be refreshing, invigorating, even. Instead, I was like that fatigued person, wishing, begging, for sleep to come, but only experiencing small “cat-naps” which left me more frustrated and fatigued than I was before. I would write a few hundred words, and it was a horrible, wrenching chore. I did, on occasion, manage to lose myself in a scene—actually picturing it in my head (which was the most difficult part of the process of this book, which is highly unusual for me) as I was writing. In the past, that always led to momentum, to being able to pick right up with the next scene, and the next. This time, I’d finish the scene and I was “wide awake” again, knowing “sleep” would remain elusive.
Unlike with my first manuscripts, where I was very much like a baby learning to walk, this book made me feel more like a stroke or traumatic-brain-injury patient who was having to re-learn to talk, walk, and eat. Every word was a painful struggle to get it out of my head and on paper.
But now that I am working full time again, there’s something I absolutely cannot do. I cannot allow myself to get into the position again in which I’m a few weeks out from deadline and tens of thousands of words short of getting the book finished.
So here’s my summer writing goal, and I need some accountability partners to help me stick to it.
My goal for An Honest Heart, Book 2 of the Great Exhibition Series, which is due October 15, is to begin writing it on June 1, write at least 1,000 words every single day and have the first draft finished by August 31. That, then, will give me until the due date to work on revisions/edits/rewrites. And to possibly even turn it in a little early.
Other than an overnighter to Birmingham, Alabama, in July to speak to the RWA group down there, I’m not going on any trips/vacations this summer (no vacation time until I hit my 1-year anniversary at work), so there should be no major interruptions/distractions. (And it’s about a 2.5 hour drive to Birmingham, and we all know how much I love to write in the car!)
That means I need to spend considerable time this month doing research on mid-Victorian seamstresses and doctors (as well as the part the Australians took in the Great Exhibition). But I hope that a focused, concerted effort on research will not only mentally prepare me, but it will get the story ideas flowing.
And I’m hoping, now that I’m working full time again, that writing will once again become something I need to do—to clear my head from work, to decompress after a long day, to work things out in fiction—rather than something I have to do because I need the money so I don’t get evicted or starve.
What are your writing goals for the summer? How do you intend to stay accountable for keeping those goals?
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KayeDacus.com 
Finish editing this baby and get it out of here.
I’ll reassess after that.
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I want to make significant progress, maybe even finish, the current WIP. Mama’s finally back on her feet good and may even start driving some by the end of the week, so it’s doable.
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What do you want an accountability partner to do?
I have no writing plans for summer, because I live in New Zealand, so it’s winter here… I’m going to read more books, review those books, and earn some money in the meantime (from writing management reports, not books). And prepare for a conference in Australia in October that I have been invited to speak at. I’ve mentally prepared my wardrobe, now to think about the presentations…
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I have a bunch of writing goals. That’s what most of my summer goals are, actually.
Non-writing: swim time with the kids, trip to St. Louis, KC, Tulsa [weekends to see family], get the house cleaned – for good – and my office set up, help kiddo entering Kindergarten get ready
Writing: finish at least 3 partially finished manuscripts [rough drafts anyway – two are over half done already], pitch to LI at their speed date pitch thing, writing retreat with NovelSistas, one sheets/synopses/conference prep
Yes. Ambitious. But there’s grace involved. I find if I set low goals, I meet them. If I set high goals, I don’t always, but I do better than if I set a low goal, you know?
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Go fishing, fishing, fishing.
Now that school is out and grades turned in, the first object is some cleaning up. The stack on the tray table by my desk has GOT TO GO. Then there are the four junk drawers in the kitchen that I need to weed out and some cabinet contents to rearrange. Mundane.
But one of my big goals is to see if I can set up a Pinterest site for my two classes. I’ll be e-mailing you with lots of questions in that regard. I looked at your Pinterest board and already answered some of my questions. Learning.
I’m reading a fabulous new book right now and have several others waiting in the wings. I’m planning to start a TaiChi class although I missed the first class today because I misunderstood when it would begin. Pleasure.
So there’s your non-writer version of summer goals.
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I’ve been feeling the urge to write some kind of research paper, or a well-documented persuasive essay or something. I feel like my brain is kind of atrophying.
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I’ll do what I can to help encourage your goals, Kaye! After my wrist is healed I have to get on the stick and get some proposals out there. I doing some edits now, carefully. It has been 3 months since my injury, and I feel like I’m losing time. But I do know how God’s timing always works out, even when circumstances seem against me. By accident, by procrastination, and even at the hands of others. I hope you are feeling better! Sounds like the new job is going well. Congrats on making your summer goals!
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I stumbled upon your blog after a conversation with my husband about writing POV- he linked me to your writing series. I enjoyed [and learned a great deal from] the series but I’m enjoying getting to know you as well. I missed your time in Egypt while you wandered and searched for a job, but was just as pleased to read that you had found one that brought blessing. Good luck with the goals. I have similar goals of slow and steady for this summer to happily balance out of school children, my job as a seamstress, domestic goodness, cultivate writing, lose weight – all in good humor. I’ll need some luck as well.
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Kaye, my goal is to just WRITE. I can so feel your pain. 2011 was NOT my year in so many ways. Health-wise, writing-wise, etc. But I have hopes for 2012. That is, if I can get my back straightened out so that just typing doesn’t hurt! Praying for you, my friend!!
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Write. I have at least three short stories I plan to finish and submit. A couple of articles due. A boatload of book reviews. And my 2011 NaNo wip to finish drafting. I’d like to get the bulk of that done by July. If I can end the summer with all of it done, it will have been a very good summer.
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My goal is to finish my first manuscript by August, have it edited by November, and self-published by Christmas.
My most current goal is to finish my first published piece – a christian magazine wants something to publish next month! I’m so excited!
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