My 2010 Writer's Year in Review

How can I resist publishing something on 1/1/11!

I officially proclaim my activities in writing for 2010. Including my fourth quarter,as a writer, I:
• Participated in 24 sessions of my bi-weekly writer’s group, taking in pages every single time.
• Wrote 24 blog entries, not counting my check-ins.
• Attended 6 evening workshops, 2 full day writing conferences with multiple sessions, 4 writer’s party/networking type events, 4 readings.
• Wrote three flash fiction stories, which I submitted to contests (didn’t win), and completed one other short story.
• Completed 9th draft of one novel, involving some substantial revision to the opening, and had someone critique that version (almost final!!!) It had been critiqued as a whole previously by 5 people. Wrote a new query letter.
• Completed 3rd draft of another novel, and had three people critique whole novel (writers’ group has regularly been critiquing pages). Wrote a synopsis and revised chapter outline. Did some initial editing after the critique, especially to opening chapters to make characters more sympathetic. Needs cutting.
• Made substantial revisions to first four chapters (out of a 10 chapter novel) young adult novel begun many years ago.
• Not counting writing my blog entries, I wrote on 25% of days; adding in blogs, writers’ group, writing events, I did something related to writing on about 46% of days. Not bad given I had one of my hardest work years since I’ve been self-employed.

Here is what I said I would do last January (my reso-goals), and how well I did these things (or why I didn’t.)

1. Complete revisions of my novel on the travails of two women in their middle years (by March 1), obtain further critique from three trusted reviewers (by April 15), make final revisions, prepare manuscript to send out to agents by June 1. What happened: Completed revision (by mid-July) and obtained critique of three people. Because one of the critiquers was involved with me in development of the screenplay on which the novel is based, the timeline has been changed to suit her schedule better. Will have draft 4 ready by summer.
2. Write short synopsis and query letter to be reviewed by six people each. What happened: See above—not quite ready for prime time.
3. Research appropriate agents and send to 5 a month once manuscript is ready, for a total of 30, if needed by end of year. What happened: See above. But should have bit the bullet and done this with the first novel.
4. Write on average two blog entries a month (can cheat and make at least four of these primarily photographic in nature). What happened: SUCCESS!!! And I didn’t even cheat!
5. Write six new short stories for Maine collection (average length-4000 words), or approximately one every two months. What happened: Completed only one additional story in the series, but DID write three flash fictions, revise first novel, and make substantial progress in revising young adult novel (which was not part of the plan.)
6. Read on average one good novel a month (slow reader…)—already in my possession, used, or borrowed. Only buy new if attending a book signing. What happened: Pretty much met this goal. Maybe bought a couple more books than I said I would….
7. Spend at least 20 days in Maine to get inspired for #5. What happened: Spent 22 nights in Maine (over 8 trips) and went to the Maine Diner at least once on most of these trips (for inspiration!)
8. Skim through all magazines, reading only what really interests me (vague, I know—sometimes you have to go with your gut), and complete by end of month in which they arrive, in order to make time for 1-7. What happened: Better at this, but not quite there. Tend not to finish magazines if I am in the middle of a good book.

Biggest disappointment: Didn’t write that much fresh material this past year—most of it was revision. Also, only work submitted was the three flash fictions.

Biggest accomplishments: Believe that novel #1 is just days away from being ready for submission. Made a real breakthrough in presenting the protagonist in a more sympathetic light. Also, feel good about my discipline in writing my blogs regularly. Now to work on getting more of a readership!

2010 Second Quarter Check-in plus March

I started out this year doing a monthly “check-in.” That didn’t work. I think it might be quarterly now. This one is the second quarter plus March.

Here’s what I did well: I attended my writers’ sessions, kept up with my goal for my blog of two entries per month, attended regular writing events, and did some major revision on my two novels.

Here’s what I didn’t do so well: I did little new writing, I didn’t do as much reading as I would have liked, I didn’t write on as many days as I would have liked, except in June, when I got on a roll one week. But sometimes, you just have to give it a rest. March was depressingly wet, and I ran out of steam in April.

• Participated in 8 session of my writers’ group.
• Wrote and published 8 blog entries.
• Attended the following events/classes: “Winedown” at Harvard Book Store, where they celebrated the short-short in a slim little volume printed on Paige M. Guttenberg (the story I wrote was not selected. Odds-about 6-1); “Grub Gone Blue” (my story was not selected for this event either. Odds--about 40-1; two sessions of “Writer’s Life at Cambridge Center for Adult Education”; evening workshop at Grub on Revision; evening workshop at Grub on Dialogue; Muse and the Marketplace (Grub Street’s full day writers’ conference); “She Writes” 1st anniversary party (networking event).
• Organized my writing papers.
• Did on site observing for my short-story collection based on the Maine Diner.
• Read Those Who Save Us, If You Follow Me, and Olive Kitteridge. (Kind of a pathetic period for reading….)
• Wrote a 3-minute fiction story (600 words) for NPRs contest-“The Curve Ball,” using the words plant, trick, button, and fly. I was pretty pleased with it, but it wasn’t a winning entry (competition 5000:1)
• In addition to blogs, short story, and writing events/writers’ group, wrote on 26 days--6 days in March, 4 days in April, 6 days in May, 10 days in June. All writing was major rewriting of the first 90 pages of one novel and 70 pages of the other to make protagonists more likeable and the stories more engaging. Also, took out extraneous material, and revamped query letter for one novel (after doing some research).

February Check-in

So February didn't seem as productive, but I guess it was okay, especially since the month was short.

1. Revised Chapter 1 several more times, chapter 2 a couple of times, chapter 3 once, and gave a cursory revision to chapter 4.
2. Wrote two short-shorts and submitted them to contests. No success.
3. Wrote two new blog entries.
4. Participated in two sessions of my writers' group.
5. Didn't do as much reading as I would have liked. Finished a couple of novels I'd started earlier and am about half-way through another.

I'm feeling a little discouraged about the whole business (see first March blog entry), but maybe it's just the winter blahs.

January Check-in

I made some resolutions in January about my writing. In the spirit of my public commitment, I plan to report each month how I’ve been doing in relation to those resolutions. So here goes—



1. Revisions. I’ve revised the first chapter on novel #2, with some approval from my writer’s group. The first few pages were the hardest-I’m almost there! Just 38 chapters to go before March 1??? (But it’s the first 8 chapters that need the most work.)
2. I completed a first draft of a short story from my diner series, and have begun another.
3. I wrote two blog entries, as promised.
4. I have almost finished a 600+ page novel—maybe not great literature, but good ideas in terms of fast-paced, page-turning plot. More on that in a future blog entry.

At the time, it didn’t feel like I was doing enough, and I’m not quite on target with the revisions, but there is movement.