Sunday 13 October 2013

Progress on my writing targets - how much have I achieved?

Some time back, I set myself some targets in my writing. You can see them here. I looked back over them today, and have surprised myself with what I've achieved.

1. Get Rurik ready for York; York is a dim and distant memory now, but Rurik was there! Admittedly he got conflicting reviews (!) and since then, has been tweaked to reduce the 'ring problem', but that means he's...

2. ...ready to submit to agents again. Over half term next week, I shall be hunting children's agent details, ready to send Rurik out into the world again... And if all else fails, I may self-pub.

4. Plot ideas for a new book; (and yes, I've missed number 3 out - I'll come to that in a minute!) I have begun to jot ideas for not one, but TWO completely different stories. One fantasy, one historical. I've been very organised (for me) and kept them in separate notebooks so they don't get confused, and I've taken the 'just do it' approach to Ani's story, which has been a bit of a revelation.

5. Be more disciplined about writing; since giving up work, I have not felt under as much pressure to write, which oddly, has meant I've been more productive. I have the freedom to clean the house in a morning for example, then write for a couple of hours in the afternoon. The Ultimate Blog Challenge has helped, as have the challenges on terrible minds and the latest charity collections by the short story group I belong to. On the whole - yes, I now write every day - blog, flash, on the laptop, in a notebook, on rough paper...

Finally.

3. Self-publish Granny Rainbow; She's formatted, looking lovely, and out with some young readers at the moment. Laura is working hard to get the pictures finished this month (studies permitting), and I am waiting to hear when I can meet the local publisher to see if he wants to take Granny on. If not, I'm ready to go POD. A friend is playing with cover ideas and I've also been researching local independent bookshops with a view to asking them to stock a book which has been written and illustrated by local folk ('It's a local shop, for local people!' The League of Gentlemen). All this - without a physical book in my hand. I think it's the area where I've had to do the most, yet I'm still a way off achieving the end result. But it will come, hopefully before Christmas.

So there you go.

Squidge is on track and feeling good, though she's becoming aware that she needs to stop herself from getting too distracted by all the 'little' writing projects and keep focussed on the bigger WIP's.

15 comments:

  1. Well done! My 'targets' rarely get so concrete, but it's good to occasionally have a look back to see how far you've come. Best of luck with the self-pub projects.

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    1. Thanks, Sandra - I usually don't set proper targets, but felt it was important if I am to be a serious author. Think I'll have to set a few more...

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  2. Well done Suidge. I'm still trawling through an edit on my WIP, which got some positive feedback in York, but it's heavy going. Was hoping it would be submission ready by now. Sadly no. Still this blog challenge has been great so thanks for that :)

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    1. So good to have a fellow cloudie on the UBC with me! Editing's a hard one to pin down, timewise, as it can be so fluid depending on what gets thrown up during the process. Just stick with it - your writing is so good!

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  3. Hi Katherine, I remember writing some goals, probably int he way of New Years resolutions, and then coming across them 6 months later and realising how much I achieved. Amazing how that works. Good for you. Do you think it has something to do with the subconscious? Sometimes I do. You know, like planting some idea in the sub and then leaving it there to grow. Who knows, and, it doesn't really matter, as long as we keep moving in the direction of what we want out of life. :) I'm visiting from UBC, and, I also live in England, in OXON, but only for about half of the year. :) Nice to meet you.

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    1. Hi Veronica - thanks for dropping by! I think setting goals is good for keeping it in your head - otherwise, it's too easy to fall back on 'tomorrow' and never get the thing done. I'm terrible for that, so I'm chuffed I've managed to do so much.

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  4. bigger writing projects? wow nice. are you working on publishing something or is it a writing challenge?

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    1. Amarnik - hoping to publish a book of seven short stories for children, all about a character called Granny Rainbow. (One is reproduced after appearing in 'Reading is Magic', so it's six new stories). Working on submitting a full-length novel to agents before the end of the year, then two storylines in progress at the moment.
      Fingers crossed Granny should be published before teh end of this year - watch this space!

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  5. Squidge, you've achieved so much in the short time I've known you through being a member of the cloud, you ought to feel very proud of that achievement. It's good to see also that you are doing a 'Flick' of sorts, by way of organizing your many projects, which I'm sure will be enthusiastically accepted by your target audience however you manage to produce/market them. It's only a matter of time before your great stories are out there - and I for one know you will do it, your determination comes through in your writing. May the force be with you. x

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  6. Agree with all of the above, Katherine. You deserve to make it 'big time'. Your commitment, not just to writing, but to life in all its guises does you proud. Let me through to the front so I can cheer you on! Stevie Mark x

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  7. Good luck with your targets, Granny Rainbow sounds great. I hope all goes well, what age are the stories for?
    Tarquilla

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    1. Thanks, Tarquilla - GR was aimed at 8-12 yr olds, but having received, hot-off-the-press, some feedback from a reader at the upper end of that age range, they may end up down-aged (made up word!) to 5-9ish...

      Granny Rainbow and the Black Shadow featured in 'Reading is Magic' but will be making a repeat performance in my self-pub venture - check out where I've been published for details.

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    2. Doh - repeat performance...meant repeat 'appearance'...

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