Ramblings of a Samurai and his Duct Tape

Setting some goals

Wow, been a while since I've updated this beast. This spring weather has had me feeling good, and now that I don't have any more assignments to do for my "Invalid Item"  classes, I've been letting myself take it easy. Well, there's that, and signing up for classes for when I go back to school this fall semester.





But now it's time for me to get my act in gear and get to writing. I found out about the Hubbard Writer's of the Future contest, and I plan to place in it either this quarter or the next. So there's the goal. That entails writing a story with a maximum of 17000 words, editing and polishing it, and then submitting it by the end of June. And should I somehow not win with that first story, have another one ready and polished to submit by the end of September. I've learned a lot this past year about writing, and I feel I've developed the skills that I can do this. As long as I put in the time and effort, I can do this. I've downloaded the anthology of last years winning stories, and of the stories I've read so far, I feel I can do better than at least the third place stories. The first place stories I've read so far have been really top notch, so I know competition will be fierce. But I can do this!





Oh yeah, last week I bought a Nook! I am loving this wonderful piece of technology. It's been much easier to read while I'm on my breaks at work than it is to write, so I'm shifting my efforts around a little. Read for pleasure, and to study fantastic stories (such as the anthology winners) so that I can pick up clues about how other published writers wrote their stories, and my eyes won't hurt from reading for too long on a screen. And then there's the chance to sit out in this nice spring weather and read too. Think I might do that for a while after I get myself restocked on my groceries.





Trying to decide now on what kind of other goals I want to set for myself. Without assignments to do I've been slacking, so should I set myself some word count goals? Nothing too far out... That 50000 words in November really kicked my ass. I slacked and couldn't get myself moving right for those first 2 weeks, made some progress in the third week, and then pounded out 20000 words in the last 5 days of November to just barely make it across the threshold of 50000 with an hour to spare before December. Weekly goals? Bi-weekly word counts? Or should I just go on pages...





Well, I need to pound out a 17k story here, so let's start off with a goal of 8k words by the 21st. An easy enough goal to start out with. That gives me 7 days to write a little more than 1100 words each day, and one day to think about what kind of story I want to write. Though I have three of my current characters and their worlds on my mind, maybe I should start with one of them? I do plan to extend their adventures at a later date far beyond the 17k mark into their own novels, but it could be a nice launching point...