Writing goal updates

Earlier this year I set four writing goals for myself.

1. Finish a first draft of something
2. Revise an earlier novel
3. Write a short story
4. Write more consistently

I’m happy to say that I *am* writing more consistently than I was and I’ve started numbers 2 & 3. Goal number 1 is kinda not cooperating, so I’m changing tactics.

The story that I had originally hoped to finish the first draft of is so broken right now that I really don’t know where to begin fixing it. I have some ideas but I think one of the biggest issues is that this particular story is one that I technically started when I was 14, then trunked until after college. I’m not the same person I was 10+ years ago and I’m not interested in the same things in the same kind of way I was then. So I’ve decided that this one is getting re-trunked for now. I might pull it back out later, but we’ll see.

I have several other ideas floating around that I’m interested in writing. One of them is a middle grade (MG) fantasy in the style of Diana Wynne Jones, who is my writing idol. A second idea is a Victorian romance. I’ve already started the MG book and I have a rough plot idea, but I’m not super interested in writing that at the moment. But I don’t know for sure what direction I’m going with the Victorian romance either. So currently I’m researching and fine-tuning both ideas. Later this year I’ll work on one of them and *maybe* try NaNoWriMo in November. (That’s super iffy though.)

Last month I mentioned that I was starting a short story for my July Camp NaNo project. I’m glad to say that I won again! Of course, I set my official goal so ridiculously low that I wrote almost half of it the very last night of camp, but hey! It kept me motivated.

I’m still working on that story and hope to finish it this month. As soon as I’m done with it, then I’ll see where I am with research/fine-tuning and either start a new story or continue with my revision in September.