Hello! Rolling in slightly more on time this year, due to, you know, not having to wait on a cancer diagnosis.



Hello, and welcome to my thread! Last year was rough for a lot of us, but I found myself spending a lot of time being frustrated, because I had the kids around all the time (ALL THE TIME) and then, when I did manage to scrounge up some free time, I had the hardest time focusing and not procrastinating. I logged a lot of hours on my phone coloring app, just saying. That being said, I still managed 150,000 words, a winning Nano, and a number of other projects, including ones related to my word of the year, which was education.

For 2021, my word is polish, and I'd like to take what I learned last year and use that to take several drafts and complete them to the point where they can be published. Hopefully.



I still do have some stories in the drafting stage. If all goes well, I hope to switch between revision and drafting projects every month or so.

Drafting

• Sequel to City of Hope and Ruin (in limbo, but you never know)


• Through the Forest Dark and Deep (aka the Changeling Story, about 55K)


• World's Edge (also about 55K)


• Others as they pop up (and they always do)

The majority of my time will probably be spent in revision. (Please let me know if any of them sound interesting and you'd like to beta. I would need feedback ASAP on Boughs of Fate, just FYI.)

Revising

• Boughs of Fate (Book One of the Ri'shan Trilogy, high fantasy) -- Essentially my magna opus, have been working on on and off since 2004. Malana and Danath are just trying to get through training and life, until a prophecy pulls them into a war.


• Rings Among the Stars (scifi horror novella) -- Lia's job as engineer is to hold her failing space station together--at least the parts she knows exist.


• What Lurks Beneath the Bleachers (YA horror) -- Sara has all the normal teenage things to worry about: her part in the school musical, her crush, her archnemesis, and the fact that her best friend has been kidnapped by an angry ghost.


• Excalibur-1 (science fiction) -- The intrepid voyages of the starship Excalibur, dealing with centuries-old conspiracies, a mysterious orb, and one officer-exchange dinosaur.


• Broken Mirrors (YA or MG fantasy) -- Winnie is a witch. Kayleigh is a princess. They are best friends. This goes poorly.


• Not So Bloody Murder (paranormal cozy mystery) -- Ash's new landlord is found dead outside her spirituality shop, seemingly killed by a vampire.

Other Writing Goals

• Query picture book


• Create and publish at least two SkillShare classes


• Look into additional Writers' Motivation products/books/workbooks

Aside from writing goals, I'd like to read my usual at least 50 books a year, and continue working on my illustration skills. I liked picking a book off my TBR list each month, so I think I'll continue on with that.

Here's to a hopefully productive year!

GOALS



Writing Goals
-Read through Book One
-Collect comments from betas
-Layout editing plan
-1 RaTs response
-Finish and polish first part of serial short
-Pick 3 agents to query for picture book (and query!)
-Pick topic for next SkillShare class
-Finish client edit
-Write editing letter for client


Other Goals
-Read 4 books (including Uglies)
-Draw 4 pictures
-Try out new art supplies I got for Christmas

Wish me luck!

Good luck! Sounds like a full plate. What art supplies did you get for christmas? (I'm curious)

Hello, galactic-pirates! I'm glad you asked.

I got a set of alcohol-based markers, a 72-color set of colored pencils, and a variety of sizes of pen nibs.

Good luck in 2021, Kandy!

Those are some nice presents. I feel like I need to try these alcohol based markers, since they keep coming up.. 👀

Best of luck in 2021, Kandy! I hope you get some time away from your kids.

Thanks, guys!

Just checking in, nothing to cross off yet--I'm mostly focusing on my client edit, which must get done!

I've finished the editing portion of my client work, so hopefully soon I can get to my own projects.



Writing Goals
-Read through Book One
-Collect comments from betas
-Layout editing plan
-1 RaTs response
-Finish and polish first part of serial short
-Pick 3 agents to query for picture book (and query!)
-Pick topic for next SkillShare class
-Finish client edit
-Write editing letter for client


Other Goals
-Read 4 books (including Uglies) (2/4)
-Draw 4 pictures (2/4)
-Try out new art supplies I got for Christmas (in progress)

How are you guys?

FREEEEDOM



Writing Goals
-Read through Book One
-Collect comments from betas
-Layout editing plan
-1 RaTs response
-Finish and polish first part of serial short
-Pick 3 agents to query for picture book (and query!)
-Pick topic for next SkillShare class
-Finish client edit
-Write editing letter for client


Other Goals
-Read 4 books (including Uglies)
-Draw 4 pictures (2/4)
-Try out new art supplies I got for Christmas (in progress)

Still spending too much time playing Among Us, but oh well.

Wow lots of things ticked off the list! You are doing great.

hey, if you can spend a lot of time playing among us
and still get that much of your list crossed off?
i'd say you're definitely doing something right!

Yay for finishing the editing work!

Great job!

Good lord, where did the end of January go?

I spent a lot of January playing in an Among Us tournament, and I actually made it to the final and came in 8th overall!



Writing Goals
-Read through Book One
-Collect comments from betas
-Layout editing plan
-1 RaTs response
-Finish and polish first part of serial short
-Pick 3 agents to query for picture book (and query!)
-Pick topic for next SkillShare class
-Finish client edit
-Write editing letter for client


Other Goals
-Read 4 books (including Uglies)
-Draw 4 pictures
-Try out new art supplies I got for Christmas (still have one set to try)

Feb goals in a few.

Okey dokes, onto February!



Writing Goals
-Collect comments from betas
-Play around with potential Book One solutions
-2 RaTs responses
-Submit shorts
-Pick 3 agents to query for picture book (and query!)
-Slides for next SkillShare class
-Record next SkillShare class

Other Goals
-Read 4 books (including Uglies)
-Draw 4 pictures
-Try out new set of colored pencils

I've read back through Book One (and also Book Two, because my husband suggested starting Book One with a scene near the end of Book Two, and then walking back, and I couldn't remember the scene in question well enough. Part of me feels like I should read Book Three now, too, but I did just read it a few weeks ago, so thus far I have avoided doing so) and the beginning is definitely a little disconnected. I've got some ideas to fix things, which I'll probably be trying out in RaTs throughout the month. I've also contacted a few of my betas with the hopes that they can look at the beginning and suggest things, though I haven't heard back from everyone yet.

(If anyone else feels like they're good at pacing and wants to take a look this week, let me know!)

DOING STUFF



Writing Goals
-Collect comments from betas
-Play around with potential Book One solutions (in progress)
-2 RaTs responses (in progress)
-Submit shorts
-Pick 3 agents to query for picture book (and query!)
-Slides for next SkillShare class
-Record next SkillShare class

Other Goals
-Read 4 books (including Uglies) (1/4)
-Draw 4 pictures (1/4)
-Try out new set of colored pencils

The alt first chapters are giving me some issues. Well, Malana's is. I'd forgotten that Dan's point of view is way easier to write, probably because he tends to be a hot mess. So I've got to work on Malana's some more to make it, you know, not suck. Hopefully I'll get them done and up over in my RaTs board later today.