Well, I won NaNo. Handily, for once. The story's nowhere near "the end," something that's rare for me. My 18 outlined scenes took me through almost all 50k, and by Nov 25th, I validated my wordcount and claimed my victory earlier than I ever have.
The problem is, now I have another novel nowhere near "the end." Just like almost every other one I've worked on that I'll finish "eventually." I've got a stack of half-finished novels where I neared the end but got lost along the way or stopped halfway through. After five years of NaNo and swearing I'm back in the game, all I have to show for it is one complete novel, and I've been "editing" it since 2011. I've been trying to build a readership on social media with nothing for anyone to read. It's shameful. I am ashamed. And I decided yesterday I'm doing something about it.
I wrote out everything I want to, need to do. Every story I want to edit, rewrite, outline. And I dated them all. Every single one has a deadline now, and I'm hoping that posting about it will hold me accountable. Make me cast out the procrastination monster, evict the word "eventually," and move "now" in to replace it.
So what are the goals?
Goal 1: Finish the next step of all four short stories for the Aces
collection by Dec 31st, 2014. Two to finish editing, two to finish
writing and edit.
Goal 2: Write and edit this year's Sekrit Solstice Science-Fiction Fantasy Story Swap (a holiday short story exchange) by Feb 14th, 2015.
Goal 3: Plot and write the main story #1's shorts tie in to. Plotting by Feb 28th, written by May 31st.
Goal 4: Finally finish the edits on my one complete novel by June 30th.
Goal 5: Replot and finish three of my five incomplete novels by Dec 31st, 2015.
So that's it, summed up. My next year and change in writing. I want 2015
to be the year I get my first agent rejection. Or maybe my first agent.
Maybe I'll go the self-publishing route and get my first sales, who
knows? But I have to have things done first. Wish me luck? And if I
don't update, feel free to bring out the cattle prod.