Newer, Stronger, Better

I'm resetting my goals. Writing comes first.

It's been very easy as an unpublished writer to set the writing aside, especially now that I have a business to take my time. But I think I need to ease back from that.

Here's the thing. The business is good; it's supposed to solidify retirement, but it's not "my" thing. I supported it financially, and now have many things to do with it. I've been working very hard to do my part and show that I'm invested.

I don't know that my efforts are as well-received as I thought. I know what I've been doing would be helpful in the long-run, so I won't totally stop, but ...

I can slow down.

My writing. That is my goal. That's for me. That could be my retirement plan. But I need to focus more on the day-to-day of it. The improvement of style. The writing. The editing. The querying. Get myself in place for my own future.

Work for the business can fill in gaps in my day, if needed. Little side projects to offer me variety as I need it. Why bust my hump when no one understands why I'm doing what I'm doing?

So my new goals are stronger and better in the writing realm. They must be.

(If it seems weird to set goals in summer, consider that I am coming up on a birthday. Each birthday is each person's true "new" year.) 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Breakthrough!

Those several runs through the manuscript I talked about last week? Yeah, no. First off, as I started reading I realized I was BORED within three pages, so I stalled for a day, until I remembered another bit of writerly advice: "Delete the first scene." I went back in, starting at the second scene as if it was the beginning of the entire book, and it worked! I made some notes of places to drop in information provided in the previous "first" scene, and was much more interested in the story. Second, I'm a multi-tasker. They say that's not always a good thing, but it works for me in this case. I'm an editor. I see the details and the word-changes and the "needs to be expanded" all at once. I simply CAN'T with the "go through it once with a focus on X, then again to focus on Y..." I can't. It's too slow. That's probably very good advice for people who aren't trained to notice errors in writing, but in my previous
Read more

When Life Intervenes

Life happened this past week/weekend, so my progress slowed, but it's okay. Still plugging away at the edit almost every day. Scene by scene. I'm optimistic to finish this draft by the end of the month. Then I'll do a full proof-read and probably start looking for readers. Alpha readers? Beta readers? I'm not even sure which would be the right terminology. I'll figure it out. In addition to the recent life concerns, a friend is in town this week. She's not staying with us, and knows I'm working, but having that "I'll give you a buzz sometime" ringing in my ears always leaves me with a feeling that I don't want to get too deeply involved in any project. It feels like a personal flaw and I'm trying to overcome it. I should just do what I need to do and feel unapologetic if she calls me and I'm busy. I'll get there. The new book I started working on, slowly, as the muse strikes me, is getting to a point where I feel I need
Read more

Distractions

We all have distractions. The trick is finding a way to move forward around or through the distractions. Lately, life has taken a turn and dropped an extra plate in my lap. Not a problem in the long run, but the last week or two has been rather chaotic trying to keep all the plates spinning on the pole and ending up dropping one or two. The good news is, I actually made some good progress in my WIP, I think. At least it's getting organized so that I can , at some point, make "good progress". The slow news is in the editing work. I sorted out my editing work in Scrivener as I needed, but then stalled. I had made a list of things that need to be done to the manuscript, and struggled with the next step. So today, I'm moving beyond that. It's very freeing to release yourself from your own rules. Who says things need to be done in a certain order? So I sat down with the printed manuscript to start putting my hand-written changes into the document, prior to diss
Read more