If you did not quite make your goals, don't despair. You are not alone. And this is the place to check in every Monday in April for a little motivation and commiseration. I had a rough go last month primarily because of circumstances beyond my control. I hate that feeling. Just like this poor sot with the lawn mower. You have a plan and the best of intentions, but some unexpected force drags you in another direction. My mistake last month was pinning my goals to the actions of a 3rd party. It's not her fault she didn't get to it as quickly as I would have liked and I knew I was taking a risk, but I was full of hope.
Now it's time to shake off the road grit and patch my pants as I launch into my WIP for another month of madness. My goal is to get at least 3 chapters done. That is the only goal I am setting this time around. If my big benchmark from last month decides to put in its bid, I'll honor it in whatever way I can. Until then, I'm taking charge of this lawnmower and I'm gonna rock it!
What are your goals for April?
Thanks for hosting this month!
ReplyDeleteMy plans are to revise, revise, revise. I'm aiming for half my WIP, but I'll be happy if I can just cut out a bunch of words from my majorly overbloated MS.
Good luck everyone!
Oh, Jennifer! I know how painful that can be, but I've always found it liberating in the end. I'm glad I tightened and tucked and found a cleaner voice. Good luck!
DeleteFirst I want to give you a huge thank you. My March Madness bracelet is wonderful. It fits perfect-- and I'm fond of kestrels too. I'll have to take some photos and brag about it more later.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like I finished my March goals last night, so it is time for some new ones.
In the next week or two, I'm going to be getting back revision notes from my agent. Until then I want to keep moving forward on the first three chapters of a sequel and swap to revision when the time comes. After that, I need to drop the sequel and go back to my WIP.
Oh, Yay! You are so very welcome, Pat. Congrats on finishing those goals!
DeleteOh My. Your March is my April. No foolin'!
ReplyDeleteLOL, Mirka! Hang on...!
DeleteThanks for all your encouragement during March Madness. I'm so glad you hosted and I got to know your blog!
ReplyDeleteI, like you, pinned some of my March goals on someone else getting a beta read back to me in time. Needless to say, it didn't work out that way. Two weeks into March, I had my feedback from both betas, giving me just 2 weeks to finish revising (according to my entirely made up deadline) So I'm not done with my March goals. That's right, March has been extended until Friday. I will be celebrating April 1st, with all the other late fools, on Saturday.
As for April goals, my agent sent me a curve ball on Friday which I will be wrestling with for the month of April. So my goal is to a) accomplish this somewhat sekrit project and b) not be driven crazy by it. Good luck to everyone in April!
Thank you so much for the kind words, Alex! And I've loved getting to know you through the madness, too! I wish I could extend my goals, but I have no idea at this point what to count on, so I'm just forging ahead with the new project. Write on!
DeleteThanks for hosting, Mary Ann! I will keep that visual of the guy with the lawnmower in the back of my head for future reference. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI plan to revise two novels during this month. I'm so excited to be back to actual writing work that I figured I might as well use this extra mojo and set some ambitious goals.
Woot woot! You go, girl!
DeleteMarch Madness this year felt a bit like a trial by fire. I didn't achieve my one goal, which is submitting SOTS to agents, but I did work on other stuff, including new ideas, and I *read*. And I discovered a few things along the way.
ReplyDeleteThis month, I have absolutely no idea what will happen. I have a week off coming up and I plan to use it for writing (to the point of not even making other plans) and revising. I hope that includes submitting SOTS. That's my goal. But I'm also going to make time for fresh writing *without* any pressure on myself, which is why in the end I decided against Camp NaNo.
Hurray for writing without pressure! I didn't actually do NaNo this past November for that same reason. I just decided I would write every day and have a write-out every Friday night, no matter what I accomplished. We'll be here, cheering you on!
DeleteI'm going to copy Denise this month. I have two novels to revise (plus copy edits coming on the MG in the middle of the month, but that should be a breeze). Time for me to get off the pity pot and get back to work. I'm hoping April will give me a break from divorce heartbreak.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting April, Mary Ann. ^_^
((HUGS)) I'm actually shifting my goals a little, too. More revision that I had planned originally....
DeleteThanks for hosting Mary Ann!
ReplyDeleteMy April? Revisions! My edit letter finally came. Time to dig in. :0)
YAY! Go, JRo, GO!
DeleteI will join in! My April goal is to get the outline and first three chapters of my new project completed. Thanks for hosting, Mary Ann--it sounds like fun!
ReplyDeleteWoohoo! Welcome, Becky!
DeleteMy April goals are 1) to finish current revision of YA ms by end of first week, then 2) words words words on my new MG! (Okay, I'll have to get more specific with that second goal, but I'm still very focused on the first one!)
ReplyDeleteHe he he...who needs a word count? Go, baby, go!
DeleteHello, Mary Ann and fellow WIPsters!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to continue the goal-setting. My goals are set. They're in Twitterland. My hope is to keep them. Here's what I have lined up for April.
1) YA SF for Camp NaNoWriMo
2) Contemporary Fic for Savvy Authors April Boot Camp
3) Blogging A to Z Challenge
4) Round of Words in 80 Days Challenge
5) #wipmadness check-ins
6) Tweeting my word counts for the novels in progress
7) One of my workshops will end with us publishing a story on Smashwords and Amazon. I'll be publishing either my UF Short Story or my SF Novella. That will happen mid to late April. We'll see how it goes.
I'm happy my five-day old blog is doing well. Probably for May or June Madness, I'll work on transferring the blog to my own domain. For now, I like where things are and am building a readership.
In the last couple of days, I set up my writer page on FB, though I'll be focusing more of my time on Twitter and the blog. We were taught to cover all our bases, so I figure to do what I can to stay consistent across all social media platforms.
*Phew* I miss the keysmashing tots. We've worked around our schedules so that I could get as much time as I needed to accomplish my goals this month. I know I could easily lose a day of writing when I'm with them, but sometimes a mere hug from the babies seems worth it.
Thanks again for March, everyone. Let the madness continue,
Tonette
Wow, Tonette! You are rockin' it from one end to the other! Woohoo!
DeleteWow! Busy lady! :D
DeleteLOL. I watched the video over and over. The first few times, I watched in shock and horror (poor man!), but then I began to laugh. Not at his situation, but because that's exactly how I've felt recently!!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to keeping up with everyone in the group now that March is over. Off to check out Tonette's new blog!
Yep...the minute I saw this poor guy flying across the lawn and into the street I could relate. But I'm picking myself up and going at it again!
DeleteYikes! How did I miss this blog? I'm joining in for the WIPmadness for April. I didn't quite finish March's goal so I will finish line-editing WIP and then get back to revising previous novel which STILL has no plot.
ReplyDeleteThank you to everyone who encourage me or anyone else, just knowing I'm not alone in this insane journey helps bring me the energy I need to work every day. Write on, everyone!
*muttering* Must find plot, I know I left it around here somewhere. *wanders off mumbling*
YAY, Carolyn! I'll kick that plot bunny in the butt and supercharge his carrots for you... :-D
DeleteApril is the month to finish my revisions.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure glad that lawnmower guy is okay.
Hurray for revisions! And I'm glad the lawn mower guy is ok, too. That means there's hope for the rest of us!
DeleteOh, sorry, I totally forgot to check in!
ReplyDeleteMy goals this month include finishing going over my proofs from NO MORE GODDESSES and also to start a new project!
Thanks for hosting this month!