Sunday, March 13, 2011
Posts Tagged ‘Serious Writers’
Last week, I mentioned my goals as set with the Serious Writers for the month of March:
- finish an essay on the topic of anger to submit to a contest by March 16th
- submit 5 new query letters for freelance articles
- submit one other essay (I have several choices) for publication
- propose my freelance workshop to three potential online venues
Today’s update:
- anger essay has been finished but still needs work
- submitted one query, received a rejection a few days later with a request to resubmit the idea in six months (I’m taking that as a positive).
- have not submitted another essay yet
- have not submitted the workshop idea yet
On a different note, I decided to apply to the Kenyon Review Writer’s Workshop in June. Kenyon is near and dear to my heart–I grew up in the next town over and rode my bike to campus frequently growing up. I knew I could never afford college there and I didn’t have the grades for admission, but I loved it anyway. This summer, I want to expand myself outside of my usual writer workshop/conference comfort zone and thought Kenyon would do the trick.
And they accepted me! I got my letter yesterday before going out with friends, so I’m really thrilled to be participating in that at the end of June. Definitely put a boost in my creative step with that news.
How about you? How are your goals coming along? Feel free to post what you’d like to accomplish this week. For me, I’m going to center on sending out four queries and approaching one workshop venue. I’ll let you know how it goes…
Monday, March 7, 2011
March Serious Writer Writing Goals
I wanted to start setting my writing goals on Sunday but yesterday proved too much to do for that. Ok, maybe not too much, considering that after my grandma’s 81st birthday party, I basically sat around with the boy watching hoops all afternoon. He monopolized the computer–that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.
Thursday I met with the Serious Writers–who are now down to three (me included) and we set our tri-weekly goal for our next coffee and cookie gab session. My 3 week goal is as follows:
- finish an essay on the topic of anger to submit to a contest by March 16th
- submit 5 new query letters for freelance articles
- submit one other essay (I have several choices) for publication
- propose my freelance workshop to three potential online venues
So far, so good. Saturday I managed to finish most of the second draft of the anger essay but as always, I’m tearing out my hair over the conclusion. I submitted a query letter Saturday too, to a new market I’ve not yet written for but that I’d like to break into. I’ve not approached the second essay yet–want to get done with the anger one first, and I finalized my freelance workshop proposal (I’ve taught this several times online , just needed to refresh the proposal) and am seeking out venues.
Not too bad. I’ve also got a couple of additional goals I didn’t mention on Thursday that have something to do with a secret little writing project I’ve got going–worked on that Saturday as well. All in all, the muse is cooperating. Gotta remember to get her more chocolate today–she’s far more compliant with chocolate.
How about you? What are your weekly, bi-weekly, tri-weekly or monthly writing goals? More importantly, do you have enough chocolate (and whatever other vice(s) your muse requires) to get you there? 
Friday, July 4, 2008
Goals with the Girls
Just back from a nice gab session at Panera’s with the Serious Writer girls. Every three weeks, we all meet and congratulate, commiserate and cogitate on our writing and writing process.
It never, ever, ever (did I say “ever?”) fails that I come home ready and raring to write from these coffeeshop gatherings. Whether it’s a renewed focus on my fiction or a new attitude toward my articles, the SW girls always get me moving (and it’s not just the threat of owing $5 in three weeks for lack of meeting the goal.)
Here are my next goals. This will be a busy three-week period, because the 25th-August 2nd I’ll be away on vacation (working at summer camp–better than any vacation anywhere), and there’s no time to mess up.
1) Finish chapter one in the new fiction work (untitled as of yet)
2) Submit romance genre article on July 24th (not due til Aug. 3 but I don’t think my brain will be back in writing mode after camp)
3) Submit article editor requested today (yay!) for diabetes magazine (due the 17th, would like to turn it in by the 15th)
I think that’s good enough. Not to mention I’m still taking the plotting-your-novel-using-the-Tarot online workshop (SOOOoooo much fun!), so I have to keep up with that as well. Suddenly, my summer went from slow to slow down in just a day. I like it that way
What about you? What about your writing goals for the next three weeks? And how will you reward yourself? I’d love to hear!
It's pretty simple, really. I'm a writer who loves writing about writing, and sharing all the tricks of the trade with other writers. And when I'm not writing, I'm thinking about writing. I have a hunch you know what I mean :)