Giveaways
Erin L. Schneider
Goodreads Giveaway: SUMMER OF SLOANE
Goodreads Giveaway: SUMMER OF SLOANE

Goals

Spring Writing Bootcamp Check-In

Yes, I know it's Tuesday...and I'm a little late checking in.

It's been a crazy few weeks / months, but as of last Friday, things will hopefully begin to settle down a little. Maybe. 

Regardless. I have high hopes for getting some serious writing and reading done. And I've already managed to check off a few things from list of goals!

APRIL GOALS:

  1. Work on my new YA Contemporary / Adventure WIP: NAME OF THE GAME (NOTG). 
    UPDATE 4/22: I wrote an entire chapter on Saturday. Not sure where in the story it will go (somewhere up close to the beginning), but I wrote it - and it was so much fun!
  2. Continue to read / finish CP's MS!
    4/22 UPDATE: I'm almost finished with the first pass / read of one of my CP's newest MS's - and I love it - you hear me HS? I LOVE IT! I've got two other CP's that I'm dying to read for (one is a re-read on a story that has been LONG OVERDUE - yes, KFO, I'm talking about YOU! And one CP that I'm finally getting to read an entire story for, for the very first time - yes, BG, that's YOU!).
  3. Host / participate in a Word Sprint or two!
    4/22 UPDATE: Yours truly will be hosting THREE Word Sprints this week: Wednesday - Friday, all of them at 2pm EST. Join me?
  4. Cheer on my fellow Team Rainier writers!
  5. Read 5 books minimum. 
    4/22 UPDATE: So far I've read FEVER and SEVER by Lauren DeStefano, to close out that series - which I thought was okay. I started in on the beast of hardbacks - what is 613 pages of DREAMS OF GODS & MONSTERS by Laini Taylor, and I'm about halfway done. And as mentioned above, I'm almost done with my first pass on a CP's newest MS - so that means I still have ONE more book to finish before this month is done!

MAY GOALS:

  1. NAME OF THE GAME writing goal: minimum of 10,000 words for the month.
  2. Host / participate in a Word Sprint or two! 
  3. Same goal as April, cheer on the awesome that is Team Rainier!

 

How is everyone else doing? I hope your writing and reading is coming along for the month of April...but not to worry, we still have May ahead of us, too!

Spring Writing Bootcamp: Check-In #1

As part of the YA Buccaneers Spring Writing Bootcamp, I posted my goals here the other day!

Today is the very first Monday check-in and I'm happy to announce:

I've already completed my goal for March!

I know, I know...it's only the 10th of March and I still have 2/3 of the month to go! But, I swear I didn't cheat. Pinky promise I didn't set a lame goal. Because I set this one late last month when I was neck deep in agent / CP revisions and was thinking it would take a lot longer. It's just that everything kind of came together over the past couple of weeks and I was able to push through much faster than expected. I tied up a few loose ends this past week, re-read my MS in it's entirety, and was able to hit send to my agent on Saturday. And man does it feel great!

I won't hear back from her for a couple of weeks, as she has a ton of reading that came in just before mine - but I think I'm okay with that...and I could definitely use the time to maybe relax just a little. Or, yanno, start in on my April goal?

Aside from that, I'm super excited to also share that we've announced the Accountability Teams for our Spring Writing Bootcamp -- and can I just say, I have THE. BEST. TEAM. EV-VER!!!!!! 

TEAM 2 

Yep, we're Team #2, and we're otherwise known as:

I know I may be biased, but I have no doubt in my mind that this team is going to BRING IT. We've got some lofty goals (okay, some more so than others) and by the time this three months is up, there is going to be some amazing writing by all. I'm already so proud of this team for stepping up to take the challenge, so I know that's only a glimpse into what's to come.

So to all those "other" teams out there...I hope you've got your hiking boots laced up tight -- because you're in for a hike!

September Writing Challenge - Are YOU Game?

 

What's Your Writing Goal?

 

I recently joined a fabulous on-line writers group: The Write Brained Network, which I'm absolutely loving! 

Every month, they start a new discussion called WordWatcher's, where anyone who wants to participate, sets a writing goal - be it number of words for the month, by week, day, amount of time, etc. - it doesn't matter how you measure it, only that you do in some way and that you actually try to obtain it. 

Last month, I started to do this on my own (it was before I'd joined the WB Network). And it wasn't about cramming to get as many words on the page - but instead, it was all about working towards a realistic goal of getting quality words into my WIP (work in progress, for those that might not be aware of that acronym). Setting a goal, striving for it, then finally achieving it - it equates to the same feeling of finally checking off one of your "To-Do's" on the long list of To-Do's (for all of you "list" people, you know exactly what I'm talking about...and I know you're out there!).  

Besides, who would I be, if I didn't compete against myself?

So, with that - here are my stats for August: 

Week of 8.1 - 8.8: 4,548 
Week of 8.9 - 8.15: 6,091
Week of 8.16 - 8.22: 15,849 (12,877 completed just between that Saturday, to Sunday night)
Week of 8.23 - 8.29:  8,617

Total Word Count for August: 35,105

Now granted, the third week of August was something of a phenomenon for me - especially to hit almost 13k in just TWO days! But who am I to argue with my muse, when she finally decides to pop in for a visit? Truly, this is something that's only happened three times this year...to be able to write without wanting to stop. Not even wanting to get up for food - and having to be reminded by my fabulous critique partner, to not forget my day to day job of living (and yes, a BIG thank you to Heidi - my CP - for sending email reminders to actually pry my fingers away from the computer every once in awhile!). It was the thought that I'd become one of "those writers"that finally got me up - well that, and I really had to use the restroom!

 

Either way, I blew my writing goal out of the water...in fact, I pretty much quadrupled it. 

Considering the huge success August was for me - what is a realistic goal to set for September, you might ask?

Well - again, I'd like to make sure that I'm not just writing down words, just for the sake of writing them down...but instead, I'd like to see if I can continue to keep my muse entertained enough, to stick around for the next several weeks. So, my writing goal for September is going to be 10,000 words / week. Still way up there, as far as I'm concerned...but hopefully obtainable, considering my efforts last month.

 

And with that, I ask you - what's your writing goal for September? What are you going to attempt to achieve this month - and how will you do it? Come on, I know you're thinking about it! 

I'll post my updates every week, as I go: 

9.1 - 9.7: 4,926 - 5,074 short of my weekly 10k goal...but I'll make it up before the end of the month!
9.8 - 9.14: 
9.15 - 9.21:

9.22 - 9.28:

 

Are you ready?