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What I'm writing in YEAR OF THE DOG

I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
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How I did on my writing goals for 2006

Captain’s Log, Stardate 01.06.2007

Year of 2006 in review: Warning: This is probably of no interest to anybody except me. But since this is MY blog, too bad.

Long-term goals:
Complete three manuscripts by December 2006. Uh . . . well, I did two manuscripts, that counts for something, right? Okay, okay, so I slacked off...
Take my ACFW Mentoring group through my articles based on TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER by Dwight V. Swain and critique their first three chapters by September 2006. Completed on time!

Short-term goals:
Write three short stories this year--be more prolific! Well, I was very anti-prolific
Write at least one article each month. I started by Story Sensei blog, so I think that counts as at least as an article a month.
Critique one piece each week on Writing.com. Didn’t even do it. This was just wishful thinking. I’m also realizing I need to be more careful about my time, and I’d rather do judging for contests and critiquing for my crit partners and my Story Sensei business.
Update my website each month with something new. Yup, did that.
Write in my blog at least once a week, but preferably everyday for accountability of my writing progress. I became a blogging fiend this year. I blogged way more than I thought I would.

Daily goals:
Spend one hour each day critiquing. Well I did critiquing, but not everyday.
Spend at least four hours each day writing or researching for my ms. Didn’t do as many hours as I wanted to. Spent too much time blogging and doing other things.
Spend three hours each day in marketing, website, blogging, and learning craft. Pretty sure I got this done, but I need to cut back on my blogging.

Project goals:
Finish first ms by April 30th, but finish first chapter to send for critique at Mt. Hermon Christian Writers Conference by March 15th. (I changed to a new manuscript on January 15th, but I finished On May 17th, in 4 months and 2 days!
Finish second ms by August 30th. Nope. Finished in mid December.
Finish third ms by December 30th. Maniacal laughter.
Complete my articles based on TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER by Dwight Swain by May 31st. Finished May 20th!

Learning goals:
Read one book on writing each month. I did read a few writing books, but not one a month. I need to do better next year.
Read at least one article on writing each week. I think I did this, thanks to putting my magazines next to the toilet.

Well? How did you guys do on your 2006 goals? What do you want to improve for this year?

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