Writing Goals Update 2/3/2019

[disgruntled_owl]

1. Words Written this Week: 2,959. This week I primarily wrote brainstorming notes and draft text for my fic, which I hope to finish by the middle of this month. I achieved the daily word quota for my Get Your Words Out pledge level (411 words) three days this week. I also completed my first GYWO check-in for January. As of 1/31, I wrote 7,053 words, putting me around 5 percent of my 2019 goal (150,000 words). This is still behind where I need to be, but I did surpass the mini-goal I set last week (6,370 words for the month), given that I started the GYWO challenge about halfway through January. Gotta keep my head down and run my own race. 

2. Write in the Morning 4+ Days per Week: Achieved, mostly by moving my Craft on My Commute reading to my ride home. I realized that I should have some more specific rules for this item. So, to be able to check this box, I need to write for 20 minutes or more before noon.  

3. Friday Morning Writer Date: Achieved. I also found a hotel in Maine for my late winter/early spring writing retreat so I now have a longer term treat to anticipate.

4. Write Two Original Stories: No progress this week (see #5).  

5. Write to Prompts for Story Ideas: Achieved a little bit. I did one or two exercises from the LeGuin book but mostly focused on my fic (#1). I realized that I needed to reframe this exercise so it will be more useful.

I got demoralized this week because I’ve been clinging to the unrealistic expectation that as I keep doing these exercises, a grand, comprehensive idea for a story is going to strike me like a bolt of lightning. That’s a lot to ask of 10 to 15 minutes of freewriting in response to a prompt. At the bare minimum, a good story needs 1) a character that readers care about, 2) the key desire or motive that drives her behavior, and 3) obstacles that stand in the way of what she wants. When I do this freewriting, I might come up with a good example of one of these story ingredients if I’m lucky. So, I started a list in the back of my notebook with three columns labeled “Character,” “Motive,” and “Obstacle.” If I write for a prompt and I find myself working with an idea that I might want to pick up and play with again, I put it on the list in the appropriate category. Hopefully this reframing this will help me manage my expectations about each exercise: if I show up to do it, that’s good, and if I generate something I can add to one of these columns, that’s great. Maybe the list will help me see connections between ingredients from different exercises, and I can come up with more complete story premises that way.  

 My sense of demoralization is borne out of a common fear, of course. I worry that I’m not imaginative enough to come up with a compelling original story idea. There’s always a clock ticking in the background when I write; I worry that I’ve started to take writing seriously too late in my life and that I’ll never get a good original book written (naturally, this definition of good is vague so that I can build up the maximum amount of anxiety). When I can keep my head clear, I know these thoughts are irrational and unhelpful. I can’t force an idea and giving up does nothing but make me feel defeated. The thing really is for me to have faith, and to keep showing up to write.

6. Post Personal Fanfic: Some progress this week (see #1). 

7. Craft on My Commute: I read most days this week and finished up Steering the Craft: A Twenty-First-Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story by Ursula K. LeGuin. I also listened to part of Episode 234 of the DIY MFA Radio podcast, in whch the host interviewed David Corbett, author of The Art of Character.  It was interesting to learn more about the interests and writing strategies of the author of one of the best (if intimidating) writing guides I’ve read. The podcast option continues to be helpful for this project because I carry a change of clothes and shoes to work during the winter (two on gym days) and sometimes it’s nice not to have to carry a book on top of everything else.