Monday, April 02, 2012

#WIPMADNESS April check-in, Week 1

Happy April, Wipsters! March Madness was truly on fire, and I want say thanks again to all the fabulous people who hosted and who participated. I'll be hosting the April edition right here on Mondays. Let's start by setting some goals for the month.

Goal #1—Since I was so fortunate as to finish my WIP in March, I'm going to spend the next couple of weeks brainstorming my next project. I know the subject, but I don't have a clear idea where it is going yet, so the first step is a shiny new journal. I have journaled through my last few projects, especially in the early planning stages. It helps me to get my head around the idea and explore the problems/research/plot points/characters... So that is where I begin.

Goal #2—READ. I need to catch up on some reading, which will help me decide on point of view and approach for this next book. It will also give my brain a break.  I'm going to start with LIAR by Justine Larbalestier. I just read John Green's amazing The Fault in our Stars, and bawled my head off, so I need something a little different. TFIOS was amazing, beautiful, and so on point, and it made me miss Indy a little bit. I know exactly where 86th and Ditch is and the Art museum and Castleton Mall (aka Hassleton) are. Which brings me to another goal:

Goal #3—Decide when and where the next book will take place.

As I await the edits from my agent, and hope she likes the ms enough to give me edits, I'll be pulling my thoughts together for the next big thing.

Where does everyone else plan to go in their journey this month?

30 comments:

  1. Lots of excitement for you Mary Ann!

    Me - Finish my book map (100 pages to go)
    Have fun with the A-Z blog challenge
    Put in a vegetable garden over spring break
    Attend Cheryl Klein workshop
    Start revising my WIP.

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    1. Wow, JRo! You have a lot going on! I loved Cheryl Klein's workshops at the SCBWI retreat a few years ago. She really tells it like it is! As for the garden, I'm considering a pallet garden. But alas, my spring break is over...

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  2. I'm glad wipmadness continues throughout the year... I'm going to shoot for 20K again. I only reached 13K last month. Hopefully I'll be finished sometime in May at that rate! :)

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    1. 13k rocks! Way to go! As Ghost Hunk always tells me...forward motion.

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  3. I ... kind of burned out towards the end of the month. Real Life ramped up and prevented me from being as productive as I'd intended. Not that anything that happened wasn't worth it. I loved March Madness!

    I'm keeping my goals simple, because in two days I'll be on a plane to Vegas, where I'll be for almost a week. So:

    1. One of the best things that came out of last month was the realization about what else I could do to fix the story. So that's going to be my focus for the month. At this point I probably won't get an agent before I turn 30, but I'd like to start querying in earnest by then. I'm taking my laptop with me. *Maybe* I'll be able to have some quiet time, too.

    2. I'd like to read some more. Maybe this week, on the plane and by the pool?

    Unless I need this week away, to let my mind rest. Maybe.

    Yes, lots of maybes here. :)

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    1. Real life can be a pesky little bugger at times. Definitely give yourself a little time to recharge. Besides, we all know that writing isn't only about words on the page. We writers are always thinking about our books, even when we don't think we are! Enjoy Vegas...and don't do anything I wouldn't do...okay, well maybe do a few things I wouldn't do...!

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  4. Thanks for hosting this month, Mary Ann!

    I've got only one goal this month - finish my current WIP. For once, I actually know where the book is headed and I've got notes jotted for the rest of the scenes; all that's left is to write them out.

    I'm *hoping* it all goes smoothly, but "this'll be easy" are famous last words...

    Good luck to everyone!

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  5. Ah, direction! It's a wonderful thing. You are on your way. We'll be here, cheering you to the finish line!

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  6. Oh, yippee! So glad to see the #wipmadness continuing. And how cool that you get to spend the month brainstorming and reading, Mary Ann. Two of my favorite things!

    Looks like everyone else has great goals piling up. My goal is to finish my latest revision, get one more round of feedback and then prepare for submissions. Eep!

    I'm so happy to be in our new house, but I only got to sit down with the WIP for the first time this morning. All those boxes are certainly distracting. Little by little.

    Happy Madness!

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    1. YAY for the big move! Don't worry. I've found that loaded boxes have infinite patience. And they like the one-on-one attention, so don't feel you have to blitz them all.

      So take your time and enjoy your WIP. And congrats on the new house and surviving the move!

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  7. Good morning and Happy April, gang!
    My goals are very similar to yours, Mary Ann. I'll be brainstorming a new story (in my journal) reading loads, and taking a first pass through a manuscript I drafted last year, making revision notes to self. Should keep me busy and alleviate some of the angst while waiting to hear from betas and agent lady. ^_^

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  8. Thanks so much for hosting, Mary Ann!

    I spent most of yesterday brainstorming my new idea, and today I'm just going to jump in and start drafting. I haven't felt this excited and eager in a while, so I really want to use that energy. I plan to try to get 2k per day.

    Oh, and I also LOVED the Fault in our Stars. Though I've never been to Indy :)

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    1. Fabulous! 2k per day is a great goal. I've got some ground work to do before I get to that sort of goal, though.

      I grew up in Indiana and lived the first 6 years of my marriage in Indy.

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  9. Yay! *waves hi to everyone* One whole day without checking in and I was lost, lol.

    Hope your edits go smoothly Mary Ann :)

    This month is what I'm calling my Active April. My goals:
    1) Deep-edit my steampunk novel
    2) Continue rough draft of steampunk WIP#2.
    3) Blog at least 3 times a week.
    4) Exercise 3 - 4 times a week.
    5) Submit a steampunk short story.
    6) Read at least 30 minutes daily (I've found that if I don't schedule in reading time, I won't make the time).

    And today, I start classes at the community college. I'm going for a Medical Office Specialist certificate. It will be a challenge for me to juggle my writing career, classes, homework, and house/personal stuff, but I'm up for it. At least I think I am ;)

    Wishing everyone a great April - I hope it starts out strong!

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    1. Wow, Marie! This will be an active April! I really need to do the exercise thing again. I know what you mean about juggling everything. I'm just thankful my job gives me some time to write during the day because I'd be mud if I only had the evenings for it.

      Where are you subbing your short story?

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  10. Uh-oh.

    All this #wipmadness-ing is going to be the end of me. I too am thrilled we're continuing. My goals will be much simpler this go-round, but still aggressive.

    #1 - Finish the novel I was working on last month (I', 14,000 words away, I think!).

    #2 (depending on the success of goal #1) - Edit through said novel once.

    I have a few non-writing related goals for the month as well.

    #3 - I'm addicted to energy drinks (horrible, I know) and will kick that this month. YOU ALL MUST HELP ME!

    #4 - I'm going to work out six days a week. I'm just coming off an ankle injury and can finally move semi-regularly without pain, so I'm hitting the weights (carefully) hard.

    Happy to see all of you here!

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    1. You can do it, Brandon! 14k away...woohoo! We are all behind you.

      As for the energy drinks, may step down to Dr. Pepper or Mt. Dew first and the work your way out of it. Be prepared for a headache or two though... We're here for ya, man!

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  11. I'm so happy to have #wipmadness continuing. Staying in touch with fellow sojourners really keeps me conscious of my goals. Thanks for hosting the April version, Mary Ann!

    As for those goals... they won't be quite as ambitious as last month's. For one thing, I have grandchildren coming for a week's visit mid-month and I want to devote lots of "doting" time to them. :) But I'd like to (1.) sort out the ending for my current WIP and add significant words, even if I don't actually get it finished; (2.) write and query the one magazine article that I didn't get to last month; and (3.) leave extra time for reading. That sounds very doable to me.

    Marie, your goals look daunting to me. You must be a higher-metabolism type. LOL! But you go, gal, and let us know how you're doing.

    Brandon, those energy drinks will drive you bananas! Maybe taper off with colas, coffee and also some brisk walks to get an oxygen substitute. The workouts should help. :)

    Denise, it's great to hear you're on a writing roll again... and I hear it has a Christmas theme???

    Good luck to everyone who is continuing on the path and to those beginning new directions. Here's to an AWESOME APRIL!

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    1. You must take time for those grandbabies. They sound like very workable goals. Enjoy it all!

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  12. Yay! I'm so glad to have a place to check in this month. For the last few days I've been wandering around the internet, kind of lost without March Madness.

    My April goals are:
    1. Start a new novel and get at least a couple of chapters in.
    2. Start my revision of the current WIP once I get crits back from CPs.
    3. Enter the agent judged competition on Ruth Lauren Steven's blog.

    Happy April, all!

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  13. My goals this month include:

    1) Continue working on one revision chapter a day. Well, Monday through Friday.

    2) One review a week for YA Books Central. I usually post my reviews on Saturday evening/Sunday morning. This week reading GRAVE MERCY will is nothing short of brilliant.

    3) I also need to not beat myself up with the whole agent quest. Right now need to work on getting this one project to shine. Need to not be impulsive and send out queries when it's not ready. And trust me, it's so not ready right now.

    4) Get stuff ready for my part of http://veiledvirtues.com/Summer-Teen-Reading-Party.php

    5) Decide if I'm going to join RWA or not. It's kind of expensive: $185 to join both the National/regional charters but Nationals is this year is in Anaheim. Decisions. Decisions.

    6) Work with my fairy plotting master, Joyce Sweeney. I so need some of her magic dust right now!

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    1. I so understand getting distracted with queries and agents when you should be focusing on the manuscript. Just knowing those things are on the horizon is distracting in itself. Good luck polishing up your WIP! I'm sure you'll get there much faster than youe realize.

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    2. Wow! You are busy, Kim. But you usually take no prisoners, so I know you kick those goals with style!

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  14. Hello, all! Well, my March Madness goal was to be query ready by April 1, which I was. And I sent out my first couple queries on Sunday and today ... got my first request! Woo-hoo!

    But querying aside, my goal for April is just to get some notes and brainstorming down on my Shiny New Idea - if a full outline comes out, great, but it may need more simmering time. Otherwise, I'm planning to do a bunch more reading than usual. I hadn't thought of a number-of-books goal. I'm just planning to read-read-read!

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    1. Way to go, Joy! Congrats on a request already! Fingers crossed for more good news...

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  15. Greetings! This is a quick (and late!) check in. Thanks for hosting us this month!

    Today I am working on my goals for April, fine tuning them so have measurable ones. Will be back.

    Go team #wipmadness!

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  16. Tonette dela Luna4:48 PM, April 06, 2012

    I'm excited that the madness continues! :)

    I would have posted sooner but I've been busy packing and working on Script Frenzy.

    Goals for the month:

    1) Finish my 100 page minimum goal for Script Frenzy (by last night's count I'm at 31 pages so far).

    2) As I'm going on holiday Monday for two weeks, I'm trying to squeeze out as many pages as possible. If I finish this script, I want to work on a couple more, time permitting.

    3) Continue with WIPs, as ideas come to me, but my main focus this month is Script Frenzy.

    4) Continue reading as much as possible in various genres. Are there people out there who like reading more than one book at a time? Depending on the content, I do that. Much like switching between WIPs, I find that it helps keeps things fresh--at least in my own twisted mind, of course. :)

    Have a lovely Easter weekend to those to celebrate it.


    Cheers,

    Tonette

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