This month I'd love to...

November 2024 Writing Goals

It's November, and the month sort of just crept up on me out of nowhere. I managed to make October productive, but it was a chaotic type of productivity, the kind that fizzles out after some time and leaves you feeling burnt out and tired and not much interested in anything.

I want to have a productive November, but I also want it to be an organized, disciplined productivity. Before I get into how I think I might accomplish that (and possibly put out a novel by end of year), I want to list my writing goals for the month.

1. Complete the Prologue for The Black Hare interactive fiction.
        (about 30% complete at the moment!)
2. Complete Chapters 1-5 for The City of Light.
3. Get 20 subscribers to my author newsletter.
4. Share 1 free writing resource.
   

I get into each goal in a little more detail later on in this blog post. 

I wish I could add more onto the list, but that's already pretty heavy, right? So, how am I going to keep myself accountable, and how am I going to really make this happen?

1. Writing sprints with other writers. there's a tiny little competitive part of me that actually wants to write as much as possible when I'm doing writing sprints with others. 
2. Writing discords and online communities for accountability. I'm always looking for a good writing community to be a part of, and always looking for fellow writers who can help keep me accountable. So far, I've been blessed to find a whopping 4 separate discord servers which have been awesome for me as a writer.
3. Organization and dedication. To be honest, I struggle to commit to projects long-term. It's an age-old problem that I must contend with, but I've been getting better about it lately. So, as a result, I'm leaning into my uber-organized ways to help me keep myself accountable to my projects. These goals are one way of doing that; the other will probably entail a spreadsheet to be updated daily. 

It ain't much, but I hope it's enough to keep me on track this month. And feel free to check in with me at any point and ask me where things stand. I'd appreciate the extra accountability! 

The Black Hare: Prologue

The Black Hare is my first big interactive fiction. There are 2 different story routes, and 4 different character routes, so we're talking about 4 distinct experiences which lead into 8 separate endings. I'm excited to work on it, and I don't want it to be too long. My goal is to make it about 4-5 chapters long, but first, I need to release a prologue to whet my readers' appetites. 

The prologue is about 30% complete. I've introduced the 2 main routes and I've done 2 out of the 4 characters' route beginnings, but I still need to complete the other 2 and I also still need to funnel that into the next big plot point that gets the story going. 

That might be a little confusing, but it's all going to make sense one day soon, hopefully! I really look forward to having the Prologue ready by the end of November 😊

The City of Light: Chapters 1-5

When I said earlier that I was falling in love with my fantasy series again, I wasn't kidding. I honestly believe that the writing I did for my fantasy series - the writing I'm still doing - is some of my best work. Anytime I go back to re-read my stuff, I fall in love all over again, and want to keep writing. It brings me such joy. So, I've decided it's time to take it up again.

I'm starting with The City of Light, and since I already had an early unfinished draft of this book, I need to take some time this month to review the first 5 chapters, edit/re-write them as needed, and then figure out how the rest of the plot is going to unfold. 

Author Newsletter: 20 subscribers

If you haven't seen, I re-opened my newsletter, using Google Groups this time, because why not. It works. And that's really all I need. Plus, having everything on Google - this blog, my author email, the newsletter, my stories and resources on GDrive, etc. - it just feels more convenient for me. 

I do remember I had subscribers in the double-digits in my previous newsletter, but because I closed it down... I lost all those subscribers. I'm now rebuilding. It's a little sad to think about starting from zero again, but better late than never, right? Or something like that! 

I know that my odd little newsletter-on-Google-Groups decision will be a weird one for subscribers, and that might turn some readers away, but I'm hoping that most readers won't mind it, especially since it truly does just function like a newsletter from their side of things, and only makes things easier for me from my side of things. 

To regain the number of subscribers that I had, I think I'll be working on some reader magnets. I'm not sure what they'll be, exactly, but I hope that I can wrangle up something fun and exciting for readers to enjoy!

Free Writing Resource

One of the decisions I made earlier on this year was that I really wanted to give my fellow readers and writers more free resources. Things that you can actually get something out of; things you will actually use. It's been a bit of a hit-and-miss situation with the writing resources so far, mainly because I'll admit I haven't really given them the dedicated posts and design effort that they deserve, so I'm hoping to change that starting this month. 

This month's free writing resource is going to be: a book in a year planner.

⭐Remember to check out my shop. Literally everything there is free until the end of the year.⭐