March Motivation Thread

[Chilari]

I'm not as good as Phil at fancy names for things, but even though I didn't manage much last month, I did feel it helped and I figured some more of it would be good for this month. But rather than set a common goal, I'm gonna make this thread a bit more free. You can set what writing goal you want, and come March 31st, we'll see how well we have done. So here we go:

March Motivation​

1. Set your own goal.

2. Declare it in this thread.

3. Post regular updates on your progress towards your goal throughout the month.

4. At the end of the month, report on the success of your goal.

I will edit this post to record goals posted below.

Goals can be anything related to writing - word targets, habit forming targets, development or editing targets. Just as long as it is measurable and achievable within the 31 days of March.

If you want to check in every day when you write, Phil has created a thread for that in Writing Groups. So clock in over there, but you can discuss your goal and how you're doing on it whenever you like here too.

Participants and Goals

Chilari: Write for seven consecutive days for one hour each day, twice during March. (one set of seven consecutive days done, one set to go).
Svrtnsse: Finish Chapter 8 (finished outline); write at least one hour every single day.
Philip Overby: Finish first draft by 22 March. Finish 3 short stories. Start editing Novel #1. Start brainstorming Novel #3.
Steerpike: Finish and publish first installment of WIP (with editor); write first draft of novella.
Ruby: Write for 30 minutes every day.
Aspasia: Completely plan out 2 projects. Write 1k words. Decide major elements of scifi project.


Landmarks on a goal are in green in brackets. Completed goals are turned green and bold.

Who else is in, and what is your goal?

 

[Chilari]

To expand on my own goal: I want to develop a habit of writing every day. In February, the best I managed was four consecutive days. If I can write for seven consecutive days, on two separate occasions (or better yet, 14 consecutive days) then that goes some way to forming a habit of writing every day. I can't be too ambitious this month, though - as I am moving house in the latter half of the month.

 

[Svrtnsse]

My goal for March is to complete Chapter 8 of my WIP. I just finished Chapter 7 yesterday and I'm very much looking forward to the next passage of the story.
I intended to attempt writing at least an hour a day. It worked out for February and I should be able to pull that off again this month. Note that it's one sessions of at least one hour each day. Any excess time from one day won't carry over to the next and any lost time can't be made up by doing more the following day.

 

[Philip Overby]

I plan to keep doing the signing in, singing out thing because that worked for me last time. The goal is to finish my first draft of my novel by March 22nd if possible.

 

[Steerpike]

My Goal:

Finish and publish the first installment of my YA/Teen WiP and write a first draft of my novella idea from start to finish (no words down on paper yet as of this posting).

 

[Philip Overby]

I wanted to add I plan on using this group for updates but the Writers Work thread for keeping up with my sign ins. I had planned on continuing the sign ins offline but I felt it helped me a lot to do it publicly. I think I may finish my goal early though so I may need a new one before long.

I'm a big fan of groups as you may have guessed!

 

[Ruby]

Hi Chilari I can see there are two threads now to motivate us to continue writing. I'm hoping to write every day and finish the first drafts of my two WIP's. My goal for March is to spend at least 30 minutes a day writing them. That doesn't sound like much, but I can usually manage over 1000 words in that time. My long term goal is to get published, but first I have to FINISH IT!

 

[Steerpike]

My YA/Teen work is with the editor now. Yesterday I wrote 5000 words of the novella.

 

[Philip Overby]

Looks like I need a new goal (for this week anyway). I finished up my six hours, so I think I'm going to go for an added bonus amount of two additional hours before March 8th is here. Still creeping towards my goal! It's looking like I'll make it before March 22nd if things keep going the way they're going. Tons of editing to come though. My favorite part...And for TWO novels no less! Ugh and double ugh.

 

[Philip Overby]

Goal blasted to hell and back. New goal is editing two novels and working on shorts. For March, let's say the following:

1. Finish up three shorts.
2. Start editing Novel #1.
3. Leer at Novel #2 from across the room.
4. Start brainstorming Novel #3 (which may be a rewrite of a previous novel, not sure yet).

 

[Chilari]

Hold on Phil, could you specify what you've achieved? Have you actually finished your first draft?

If so, congrats! I've updated the original post assuming you have done so.

 

[Ruby]

Congratualtions Phil for finishing writing your novel! Well done!

Hi Chilari, I've just noticed that you've posted that my goal is to write for 30 minutes every day. Oh dear, I'm not sure if I've done that this week, as I've been suffering from writer's block. You see, I've been stuck on the time travel aspect of my WIP, and all the complications of paradoxes and trying to decide what "rules" to apply. Then yesterday, I suddenly realised what to do: I'll just simplify it and try not to have any paradoxes.

Today, I reread the first chapter of the other WIP. This is the first chapter of the original book, (the other later one is a prequel) which has been rewritten lots of times and there are many versions on my computers, blog etc. Today I spent a couple of hours rewriting it. I also wrote a list of the chapters, so far of the other WIP, which is its prequel. I'm not sure whether to scrap the first chapter altogether as I have another completely different version of the plot and another first chapter which may work better.
I probably should try to reach the end and stop worrying about the beginning...

Btw I've also got to write my 3rd post for the Caged Maiden Fat Cat challenge and find out how to write Dark Fantasy.

Also, btw, have you noticed there's a new camp Nano event in April? Are any of you going to take part? I did the one in November and found it inspiring.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I'm still on target. I haven't signed in every day, but I've managed to write for a full hour at least once each day. I finished the outline for chapter 8 and I've started on the first scene of it.

 

[Philip Overby]

Congratualtions Phil for finishing writing your novel! Well done!

Also, btw, have you noticed there's a new camp Nano event in April? Are any of you going to take part? I did the one in November and found it inspiring.

Thanks Ruby! I'm taking part. I'm going to be using it to edit though. My name is PhilipOverby on there (no space.)

And Chilari, yes, I finished my first draft. Yay! I found that working everyday was the only way I'd get there. It was slow going, but I did it. I guess persistence does pay off.

 

[Ruby]

Thanks Ruby! I'm taking part. I'm going to be using it to edit though. My name is PhilipOverby on there (no space.)

Hi Phil, I've just registered for it, too. My name is JacquelineM8888 and I've listed you. I hope that's ok? I want to use the Nano camp to continue, finish and edit the book I started for NaNoWriMo in November last year. I found it inspiring and wrote 50,000 words but it's not even finished first draft yet! Do any scribes want to join us?

 

[Philip Overby]

Hi Phil, I've just registered for it, too. My name is JacquelineM8888 and I've listed you. I hope that's ok? I want to use the Nano camp to continue, finish and edit the book I started for NaNoWriMo in November last year. I found it inspiring and wrote 50,000 words but it's not even finished first draft yet! Do any scribes want to join us?

I listed you as well. Are you sure you want to be in a cabin with me though? I can be quite persistent. Are you writing? Are you writing? Are you writing?

 

[Aspasia]

Hey all,

So I've hardly written anything this year so far, I need to turn that around! I have three projects currently going ... I would like to completely plan out two of them and get a major start on planning out the third. I would love to write 1k words this month (low goal I know ... but better than 0 which was last month's total ...). In short :

1) Completely plan out 2 projects
2) Write 1k words
3) Decide major elements of scifi project

The two projects I want planned are for Camp NaNo in April. I'm silicon there, btw. Would love to have some more writing buddies! I plan to use April to really get back into writing every day -- enough of this "nothing feels right" / "I don't feel like it"! I have so many ideas, I just want them to become more than bullet points in a file now. I need to get back into writing!

 

[Chilari]

I'm on the fence about Camp NaNoWriMo. It didn't work out last time I tried, and April's looking like it might be a bit of a tricky month - work deadlines and travel up to Manchester, I'll probably still be moving my stuff into the new flat, I've got a craft fayre I need to crochet things for, my Dad is retiring and my birthday is also in April - so it could be a bit hectic.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I somehow ended up getting an entire week off from work. During this period I'm intending to do two one hour sessions a day until the current scene is done or I go back to work again (8 days), whichever comes first. The exception will be Monday, which is St Patrick's Day and during which I won't be getting anything done at all.

 

[Aspasia]

It's exam hell week here, so I haven't made much progress. Writing ... no. Planning ... a little bit! One of my stories is at 75% planned, the other probably 25%. It's slow going, but I'll catch up a lot after this week is done. Just when I actually have motivation to plan/write, I don't have time! Getting some great half-formed ideas for the scifi project though. Turns out my horrible microbiology lecture is good for something!