Final Count for 2023: 248,559 words

It's time for January Magic once again!! I'm back and it's going to be a photo finish this year to get to my goal. (At the time of writing this I still have 1,441 words to write but I'm confident that I'm going to get them!!) This is my tenth year with Wriye and I'm excited to once again be involved with such an amazing group of writers. I am truly blessed to have found this wonderful community of encouraging writers! I'm hoping that this year will be just as successful as past years.

Last year was... interesting. I broke all my rules, including my "Big Five" rule! This resulted in a strange state of rebellion and guilt...The novel that broke the rule wasn't meant to be a novel thus had no planned ending. (I almost always know where the novel is going but with this one I had no clue) This created a strange kind of limbo that no matter how much ramble planning I did... I couldn't seem to get past. Unfortunately this stalled my writing year out in March but I thankfully picked it up early after my work season and got writing in September! (This was also when I broke out of limbo and started working on the rebellious novel once again!)

As a result of my strange year last year, basically all my goals were just out the window. It sucks, but it happened, and yet I still want to accomplish these goals. As the title of my progress thread suggests, I'm going to try 2023 over again! This year's progress thread is basically a cut and paste of last year, but I'm not too upset about it. I'm still very optimistic about what I'm going to accomplish this year and I hope that I can keep up the momentum I've had this winter.

I'm going to take a crack at earning editing stars once again this year. Let's hope the allure of more badges will have its desired effect!

Oh! Don't forget to marvel at my badges. MARVEL!!

Write 250,000 words
Participate in at least one challenge a month

Read 2 novels a month

Plaster my Progress Thread with Badges

Finish 2 novels off my "Big Five" list

Finish "Underground"

Earn 20 "Editing Stars"

Finish Editing "Chaotic Galaxies: The Plagued"

January: 30,000 words
February: 30,000 words
March: 30,000 words
April: 25,000 words
May: 10,000 words
June: 10,000 words
July: 0 words
August: 0 words
September: 10,000 words
October: 20,000 words
November: 50,000 words
December: 10,000 words

Stories Started	4
Stories Finished	3
Stories Remaining	0

"Vanished"

"Daydream: Midnight Conversation at the End of the Apocalypse"

"Dream: Dream Journal"

"Dream: School's Out Early"

I did also start "Booker Legacy" but it's a Sims Legacy so it basically goes as long as I play that family in the Sims 4

My favourite section! I want to fill this with so many badges!!

The Big Five is back for it's Sixth year! For those of you who haven't heard me talk about it CONSTANTLY for the past four years, The Big Five is a rule that I've created for myself in order to combat a growing number of novels that I'd started, but never finished. The rule is this, to be able to start a new novel, I must first complete a novel off The Big Five list. Once I've completed one, I'm free to start a new novel. So far, it's been pretty successful! My goal is to complete two novels off this list by the end of the year.

Title: Vanished
Genre: Survival Horror
Status: In Progress (NaNo 2023)- RaTs Novel
Word Count Goal: 100,000 words
Summary: People wake up all over the world to discover that 95% of the population have simply vanished in the night. The survivors find themselves in what feels like an abandoned world, forced to survive without the comforts they once knew. Distraught and looking for answers, they slowly realize that the most dangerous thing in their new world is each other.

Title: Wolf in the Woods
Series: Coven Born
Genre: Horror (Vampires)
Status: In Progress
Word Count Goal: 80,000 words
Summary: The werewolves in the Coven Born world are usually a separate world from the vampires, each respecting the others enough not to interfere. They are a proud people with a complicated pack system and their own problems. The rogue werewolves have become emboldened, striking out at the larger clans with unusual frequency. Kale is a young werewolf who is loyal to his pack, but also desires to have life of his own outside of it. Through no fault of his own, he attracts the attention of a strange hunter who seems to know what he is. The clan has never had this problem before, being hunted on so many sides. They must figure out what's going on to preserve their way of life... perhaps it has something to do with the old vampire estate at the edge of town?

Title: Stranded
Series: Vector
Genre: Survival Horror
Status: In progress
Word Count Goal: 80,000 words
Summary: Alek and company find themselves needing to prove themselves to the survivors on the island if they hope to stay. As much as Alek would love to leave the others there and take off on her own, she knows she's crucial to the kids being able to live in relative safety. When a storm knocks out their generator, she must lead the team to the mainland to replace it. A task easier said than done.

Title: Alpha: Proof of Concept
Series: Beta
Genre: RPGLit
Status: In Progress
Word Count Goal: 80,000 words
Summary: Alex wakes up in a dreary, dark, world with a strange sense that everything is wrong. While she knows who she is, who she is feels foreign, with large gaps missing. For one, she has no idea where she is, and finding a nearby town only deeps that feeling. The people around her are strange, and talk at her, and not really to her, and yet seem to know her by name. It's a very strange feeling that Alex can't quite put her finger on. Others arrive with same the much affliction, and they quickly realize that whatever is going on, they're going to have to follow the strange quests that the villagers insist on giving to them. Hopefully they can figure out where they are and how to escape before the time runs out because they are living on borrowed time! Before the Beta, there was the Alpha, and this is one Alpha that no one is ever going to talk about!

Title: Underground
Genre: Survival Horror
Status: In Progress
Word Count Goal: 80,000 words
Summary: Sherry woke up in what could only be described as a pod in an underground bunker, surrounded by 23 other pods of sleeping strangers. With very little in way of memory, save for an impression of who she was, she wanders through the bunker trying to piece together what happened. She had no memory of entering the bunker, or even hearing about a bunker! What was she doing here?! Slowly, the first five of the sleepers wake up, one at a time, all as confused as she is. No one has any memory and the pods seem to indicate that its now 2318! A strange DVD waiting for them confirms that this is no joke, that they were essentially kidnapped as candidates to save the human race from a horrible pandemic which is only days away from destroying humanity. Shocked, the five sleepers must face their new reality while fighting to remember what they lost. When they exit the bunker they discover that nature has taken over, nearly erasing the evidence that humanity ever existed. Little do they know the extent of how nature has 'taken over', or the dangers that lie beyond the concrete walls of the bunker.

My Ideas section are for the novels that I'm considering writing. I find that writing them down really brings them to life, as a declaration that 'YES, One day, I'm going to write this novel!' Each year I add a few more to the list and keeping track of them really does help. I've had to demote "Hidden in Plain Sight" down to an idea even though it's in progress because I needed space in the Big Five. With any luck it will be my Resurrection April project! (I hope I finish one of my Big Five by then so I can work on it!)

Title: Beta: Next Gen
Series: Beta
Genre: RPGLit
Status: Basic idea
Word Count Goal: 80,000 words
Summary: The latest and greatest gaming company in the world has come up with a new technology which is supposed to blow the world of VR wide open. A rare few get an invite to their BETA!! Which consists at three solid months living on site at one of their gaming studios. The gamers arrive, assuming they're about to test a bunch of basic VR games only to realize just how wrong they are. The gamers find themselves in a VR world so real that you were sure you were there, all thanks to the Next Gen headgear. It's a gamer's dream! Except for one small problem... there's no way to log out, and the game company has a full three months before anyone will realize the gamers are in trouble!

Title: The Change
Series: Vector
Genre: Survival Horror
Status: Basic Idea
Word Count Goal: Unsure
Summary: Basically I really love the world I created in "Vector". There was just something haunting about the "changed", trapped in their mutated bodies. I would like to set another standalone book at the beginning of the infection, surviving through the first stages when people still had hope that it was just a few isolated incidents. That change of mindset to "this is the end" will be interesting to play with, as those first survivors suddenly realize that its probably time to get out of the city. There is just so much play when it comes to the "changed", a lot of possibilities for what monsters I can create to unleash upon my poor survivors!

Title: Inside Out

Genre: Survival Fiction

Status: Basic Idea    

Word Count Goal: 80,000 words

Summary: It happened without warning. In a blink of an eye the Earth was ripped apart,  sending massive chunks of rock out into space. Then, in the next second it was all pulled back together in a distorted puzzle which was roughly circular in shape. It's pieces did not go back into place, however, with many of what was once the surface now finding itself on the interior of the planet. The atmosphere was almost entirely destroyed, with only a small amount having been caught back up in the gravity of the Earth's reformation. Billions died. But not all. The story follows a group of survivors who just happened to be within the safety of a fortified building when the event took place. They now find themselves in what can only be described as a 'corridor' leading towards the center of the world. They find themselves looking up at the tops of a forest which now makes up the roof of the massive corridor. They must decide whether to risk heading to the surface, where the atmosphere is all but gone, or venture further into the center of this new world, following the strange light in the distance which will take them through parts of the world which had once been halfway across the world but now exist right next to them! How will they survive? Did any others survive? Any wildlife? And what is the strange light in the distance?

Title: The Light of Fluxanya (working title)
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Status: Basic Concept
Word Count Goal: 80,000 words
Summary: Welcome to a world where magic is a thing that a lucky few are born with. These newly discovered mages are whisked off to training schools across the world to be trained on discovering, and wielding their magic. In the past these were military schools which taught mages to be the last line of defense against the Shadows. When the Shadows were defeated by a powerful mage three hundred years ago, they slowly changed into something different. Magic became a status symbol and the stronger the mage, the more popular and important a mage would be. Anya finds herself newly admitted to one of these schools with only the knowledge that she has magic, but no idea what kind of magic she has. Being from a poor nomad family with no idea what her magic is puts her at the very bottom of the social ladder. Can she survive this popularity contest which she has no desire to be part of? What kind of magic will she discover inside her.

Title: Hidden in Plain Sight
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Status: In Progress
To be honest, I'm not even sure why I started writing this novel. It was a dream I had a couple years ago... but I started it, so I'd better finish it! It has literally been on the Progress Thread since my very first WRIYE!!
Word Count Goal: 80,000 words
Summary: Anya and her fellow Crystal Bearers are in trouble on their world. They are hunted for their crystals by ruthless Crystal Bearers obsessed with the power they contain. In order to keep them safe, Anya opens a portal to our world and smuggles them through. She thought they were safe as refugees in this new world but after three years one of them is killed, their crystal missing! Someone she brought with her is a traitor, but who? Anya must work with a skeptic police investigator to try to use his clues to piece together what is happening, without revealing what she is.

I was so confident that I am actually going to fill out this section this year that I made it a heading image! This is where I'll outline the various series that I'm working on, most of which I am actively turning into a trilogy, hence my Progress Thread Title.

Series: Choatic Galaxies
Genre: Science Fiction
Planned Novels: 15 novels (at least)

    "The End of Humanity" - Published

    "Blood" - Published

    "The Plagued" - Editing

    "The Orphans of Rottan" - First Draft Complete

    "Hope in the Darkness" - First Draft Complete

    "Sand and Fire" - First Draft Complete

    "Escape" - In Progress

    "Into the Mist" - First Draft Complete

Planned "History Books": 3 novels (at least)

    "Exile of the Voloushins" - First Draft Complete

    "The Great War" - Planned

    "The Void" - Planned

Concept: The Earth has been destroyed by the mysterious Order. The Series follows one of only two surviving humans as she teams up with a group of ragtag nobody's for survival. Destiny seems determined to pull them into the sights of the Order, a seemingly unstoppable opponent with weaponry and armor that's well above the capability of any of the other species in the known galaxies. So little is known about them by the worlds they terrorize leaving most people to avoid them wherever possible.

The Known Galaxies are a dark and unforgiving place populated by many different species. It's a vast and unique place with many planets all having their own challenges. If it isn't the Order, then it's the Blood Traders, Slavers, or the various Warlords and Gangs that control the different planets. Follow along as our group tries their best to avoid trouble while falling into it at every turn. Welcome to The Chaotic Galaxies.

This is a many book series surrounding many different characters. The History Books are novels surrounding events that took place centuries before the main action and are mentioned in the series.

Series: Beta

Genre: RPG Lit

Planned Novels: 2 novels (at least)   

     "Alpha: Proof of Concept" - In Progress

     "Beta: Next Gen" - Basic Idea

Concept: A notorious game developer has come up with the next thing in gaming! TRUE immersion virtual reality that's so real that you feel like you are there! The Immersion headgear draws you into the game while you lie still, the most revolutionary gaming technology the world has ever seen. One problem... while the gear has been meticulously designed and coded, its adaption to the game the developer choose to use for its first test, was not. They were more interested in rushing to market and to start raking in the BILLIONS they were likely to make. Despite warnings, they signed a dozen players up for an ultra-secret alpha test.

The Alpha test goes horribly for the testers as they are trapped in a brutal game where death is permanent and the players are so lost in their characters that they don't even know who they are! They must fight to figure out where they are and get out before the extent of the game's system is reached!

With the Alpha buried deep, the game developer moves on to the next stage, the Beta, sure that the problems of the past are behind them. Unfortunately, there is more than the game bugs to compete with, as the game testers find themselves trapped within the game world! To make matters worse for the gamers, the developer has three months before their families will even realize something is wrong! How will they escape the virtual world when it seems like it is against them!?

   

In an attempt to actually convince myself to edit (which I need to do so badly), I have come up with a new concept for this year's Progress Thread. My love of badges (which is well known), prompted me to create my editing stars. Each time I edit a Chapter in any novel, I get to add one star here! With any luck I will fill this page with stars by the end of the year! I'm not sure if it will work, but it's worth a try. (I mean, I really, really love badges! Like a LOT)

Thanks to galactic-pirates I now also have the coveted "Finished by Deadline" Star. This can be earned by finishing my editing by my defined deadline! As suggested by galactic-pirates, having a firm deadline may help me achieve my editing goal! Let's see if the allure of this beautiful Star will be successful!

My Earned Stars:

Oh yay you still have your star. I was going to offer to send it you again if needed. Good luck with everything! I hear you on 2023 not going as hoped but I believe in you. You are going to smash 2024 and I have my pom-poms ready to cheer for you *cheer*

I love the editing stars! Good luck this year.

Oh I love your thread! It definitely has a lot going, but you're doing amazing. So many great things to show!
The editing star is a great motivator for sure! It's too pretty to not try to get! Great luck ahead on this new year!!


A message from Punkin, who sat on the keyboard while I was typing. It's his version of good luck:
t6*-+
o g.*-*.=/9

January 1st: 2,810 / 250,000

Writing Goals:

-Write 30,000 words

-Write "Vanished"

-Write 25 days out of 31

Editing Goals:

None for this month, 

Challenges:

Start the New Year Off Write: 2,810 / 2,500

31 OC Challenge: 0/6

Consistency: 0/7

Other:
Add 1 Series to my Series Page

Read 1 book

Yearly Writing Goals: (A.k.a: The Big 5)
-Finish "Vanished"
-Finish "Wolf in the Woods"
-Finish "Alpha: Proof of Concept"
-Finish "Untamed: Stranded"
-Finish "Underground"

Thank you for your encouragement galactic-pirates , ninjakittyofdoom , and AuthorAsh ! Please thank Punkin for me too!! Everyone is welcome to use my editing stars/ challenge for their own progress threads too!

The New Year has started, my Progress Thread is created and now it's time to figure out my goals! As much as I'd like to start working on earning some editing stars I have to recover "Chaotic Galaxies: The Plagued" off my dead hard-drive to start. My hard-drive in my desk top completely failed a couple of weeks ago and took with it all my writing, pictures, and games. Thankfully it was not the main hard-drive that contains Windows but I'm definitely freaking out about the pictures and writing that I lost. As soon as we get our vehicle back from the shop I hope to get my computer in to get a new hard-drive and hopefully the tech can recover what was lost. I managed to find backups to a lot of my older writing, and thankfully my most recent writing is all in 4thewords, but there is definitely a lot in between that was lost. (Including the five edited chapters of "Chaotic Galaxies: The Plagued", and my updated "Chaotic Galaxies: Database". I'm also pretty sure that the middle of "Chaotic Galaxies: Into the Mist" is also missing...

Basically, I'm trying not to internally freak out until the tech tells me that he can't recover that data. (There's also a lot of pictures of my son that I lost as well so I'm praying those can be recovered!!)

Anyways... I've chosen a very obtainable goal that won't stress me out for this year. I'm going to follow the Progress Thread trend this year and concentrate on the joy of writing. This is not the year to stress over word count, it's a year to enjoy crafting amazingness!

Oh no! 😱😭 I am so so sorry about the hard drive failure! That is awful poor you. I will keep everything crossed that the data can be recovered. I read your Chaotic Galaxies a couple of years ago for the WriYe challenge so it’s great to hear you are working on more. Good luck!

OH NO Not the tech! I will cross all my fingers for your retrieval of all the pictures and writing!!

OH NO I really hope everything can be recovered!

January 11th: 10,470  / 250,000

Writing Goals:

-Write 30,000 words

-Write "Vanished"

-Write 25 days out of 31 (10/31)

Editing Goals:

None for this month, 

Challenges:

Start the New Year Off Write: 2,810 / 2,500

31 OC Challenge: 0/6

Consistency: 9/7

New Moon Madness: 518 / 1,800

Other:
Add 1 Series to my Series Page

Read 1 book

Yearly Writing Goals: (A.k.a: The Big 5)
-Finish "Vanished"
-Finish "Wolf in the Woods"
-Finish "Alpha: Proof of Concept"
-Finish "Untamed: Stranded"
-Finish "Underground"

I'm been doing fairly well writing consistently (except for yesterday). I'm steadily working on "Vanished" but I've also been playing around on my Sims Legacy Story that I'm working on. It's not really a story as much as its a journal with screenshots of my current legacy sim. I really like looking back through the generations at all the pictures, and reading the story I created around them. (Especially when I pick the game back up after a few months of not playing) It's not exactly helpful in the scheme of achieving my writing goals, but it does keep me writing.

I haven't gotten a chance to get my computer into be looked at yet, but hopefully soon.

My goal is to continue to write each morning and just steadily move towards completing "Vanished". If I take a detour to enjoy writing on my Sims Legacy Story, then so be it. I don't want writing to feel like a chore and writing what's keeping me motivated can only help my novel in the long run. At least that's the theory. I hope everyone's January is starting off well!

Oh that Sims Legacy project sounds fun. I still have my fingers crossed over your PC. Good luck next week! *waves pom-poms*

February 2nd: 44,633 / 250,000

Writing Goals:

-Write 30,000 words

-Write "Vanished"

-Write 25 days out of 31 

Editing Goals:

None for this month, 

Challenges:

Consistency: 1/7

Other:
Add 1 Series to my Series Page

Read 1 book

Yearly Writing Goals: (A.k.a: The Big 5)
-Finish "Vanished"
-Finish "Wolf in the Woods"
-Finish "Alpha: Proof of Concept"
-Finish "Untamed: Stranded"
-Finish "Underground"

Wow, I've really been horrible at updating my Progress Thread. I've also been doing a lot of writing, but not a whole lot on what I 'should' be working on. I've had three big dreams that I spent the last couple of weeks writing. One ended up being three parts, as I came up with a third part that I just wanted to write out the idea a little bit so that turned into quite that large dream recording. I'm usually lucky if I get one small dream recording in a month, let alone three. Two of them were just really weird, but had a cool aspect in them that I wanted to record, and then the recording just kind of got larger than I expected.

I completely forgot about the OC Challenge. Even though I only signed up for 6 of them, I didn't write a single one. It completely left my thoughts and didn't show up again until the end of January. I did manage to finish January with a fairly decent total of 40,627 words but they were definitely in different projects than I expected. To be honest, January has been a weird month. Work is in a strange place right now, a lot of people are unhappy, the boss is making a few steps that we're just not understanding and everyone's worried... so it's just been... unsettled this month. We had an employee have to quit for personal reasons (he had to help his parents run their store), and another who quit (which was totally understandable), so that unsettled everyone as well as both were great, long term employees. I've inherited a chunk of their work which is both interesting... and unnerving because it's even more responsibility.

Anyways, ya, it's been a weird month, but I was still creative and I kept the writing happening each day, so I think that's more important than if I ever 'use' what I wrote. I enjoyed the detours into the three worlds that my dreams created, so that's what matters! Oh!! And the computer place was able to save my writing file from my dead harddive!! I didn't lose everything!! I am sooo relieved! That fear really killed my creativity but now it's back safely on my new, improved, harddrive. On two of them now just to be safe!!

February 2nd: 44,633 / 250,000

Writing Goals:

-Write 30,000 words

-Write "Vanished"

-Write 25 days out of 31 

Editing Goals:

None for this month, 

Challenges:

Keeping Warm in February: 0,000 / 2,500

Consistency: 1/7

5K Weekend: 0,000 / 5,000

Other:
Add 1 Series to my Series Page

Read 1 book

Yearly Writing Goals: (A.k.a: The Big 5)
-Finish "Vanished"
-Finish "Wolf in the Woods"
-Finish "Alpha: Proof of Concept"
-Finish "Untamed: Stranded"
-Finish "Underground"

Wow, I've really been horrible at updating my Progress Thread. I've also been doing a lot of writing, but not a whole lot on what I 'should' be working on. I've had three big dreams that I spent the last couple of weeks writing. One ended up being three parts, as I came up with a third part that I just wanted to write out the idea a little bit so that turned into quite that large dream recording. I'm usually lucky if I get one small dream recording in a month, let alone three. Two of them were just really weird, but had a cool aspect in them that I wanted to record, and then the recording just kind of got larger than I expected.

I completely forgot about the OC Challenge. Even though I only signed up for 6 of them, I didn't write a single one. It completely left my thoughts and didn't show up again until the end of January. I did manage to finish January with a fairly decent total of 40,627 words but they were definitely in different projects than I expected. To be honest, January has been a weird month. Work is in a strange place right now, a lot of people are unhappy, the boss is making a few steps that we're just not understanding and everyone's worried... so it's just been... unsettled this month. We had an employee have to quit for personal reasons (he had to help his parents run their store), and another who quit (which was totally understandable), so that unsettled everyone as well as both were great, long term employees. I've inherited a chunk of their work which is both interesting... and unnerving because it's even more responsibility.

Anyways, ya, it's been a weird month, but I was still creative and I kept the writing happening each day, so I think that's more important than if I ever 'use' what I wrote. I enjoyed the detours into the three worlds that my dreams created, so that's what matters! Oh!! And the computer place was able to save my writing file from my dead hard dive!! I didn't lose everything!! I am sooo relieved! That fear really killed my creativity but now it's back safely on my new, improved, hard drive. On two of them now just to be safe!!