Time to light a flame under each other! Last Friday we all shared our weekend writing goals. When I posted my goal for all of you to see, I was really motivated all weekend to meet my word count! Knowing I had to report my progress to everyone, kept me going when normally I might have quit.
So, if you want us to keep you accountable for your weekend writing goals, post your goals in the comments. Then on Monday, we'll check with you to see how you did. (Update: For those who take the weekend off, let us know your writing goal for next week. Then next Friday we'll ask you how you did.)
This might encourage you to come up with a tangible goal for yourself: write a certain number of words, edit a chapter, write a short story, get a contest entry in. Set a realistic goal and let us know what it is so that we can help hold you to it!
My goal again for this weekend is to write 1500 words on my WIP.
Since I'm in the middle of my WIP, I'll leave you with a weekend writing tip for MIDDLES:
Think of the middle as a series of increasingly intense battles. Worrying the reader is the primary goal of the middle and we can do this by stretching the tension and raising the stakes. If the situation can be made worse, then so much the better. (From James Scott Bell's Plot and Structure.)
P.S. Eileen, did you meet your writing goal of 5ooo words this week? (Update: Eileen wrote 1500 words today and met her week's goal! Great job!)
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Great tip for the middle! I'll bear it in mind, definitely.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe it's the weekend already. Time flies. Sigh. Okay, so my goals are the same. 1000 words a day, esp. since I slacked off the last two days and only did 400.
Have a great weekend!
Hi Jessica. So 3000 words for the whole weekend? You amaze me! You'll be finished with your book before you know it!
ReplyDeleteI hope you meet your goal!
ReplyDeleteNo goal for me, though. I always take the weekends off.
I don't seem to get much done on weekends-- I do it during the week. BUt I'm in the middle of doing some line edits on two books for friends--so maybe I will finish one!
ReplyDeleteHi Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteYou must be one of those lucky writers that actually gets writing done during the week! That's so cool! Not me though. Weekends are my binge writing time.
Hi Terri,
ReplyDeleteI'm always a little jealous of writers who can get a lot of their work done during the week! You don't have as much pressure on the weekend to get as much done. We can hold you accountable for the line edits, though, if you want!
Hi Jody,
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge fan of James Scott Bell's Plot and Structure. I recently decided to start following his advice for setting a regular time to sift through ideas.
Sorry, no goals for me this weekend, either. I cram it all in during the week!
Good luck to you all!
Jill Kemerer
Cold or no cold, I'm aiming for 1000 words a day. And hopefully some sanity to go with it.
ReplyDeleteHi Jill,
ReplyDeleteOh, you're another lucky one to get the weekend off! And I agree, I LOVE James Scott Bell's writing books! They are so practical!
Hi T.Anne,
ReplyDeleteI'll be praying you'll get your word count done even with your cold! Does your hubby take the kids and give you the time? Mine tries to keep the kids occupied for me! Then I get to have a little sanity while I write! :)
Jody, I really appreciate your accountability offer. It's so very helpful to know others are struggling too, and interested in your accomplishments in this writing journey.
ReplyDeleteI did JUST reach my goal of 5000 words this week. This story is really starting to purcolate for me now. Maybe I'll get the first draft done before the women's retreat I'm going on April 17th. That might be too much of a challenge though, we'll see.
If you don't mind, again, since I don't write on weekends, I'll put my WEEKLY goal as another 5000 words for next week. May I be as successful as this past week.
May we ALL reach our goals! Thanks again for this opportunity to be held accountable, Jody! You're an inspiration. So glad I found you in this huge web world!
Eileen, that's so awesome that you met your goal!!! You must have worked hard today because when I checked your blog earlier you had 1500 words to go!
ReplyDeleteSo, we'll ask you at the end of next week if you met another 5000! Keep up the good work!
I'm so glad I found your blog too! Your love for the Lord and your devotion to Him are truly an inspiration!
I finished my WIP this morning!!!!
ReplyDeleteSo my goal is now to polish up the end as well as I can. I have somebody critiquing my partial for an agent, and when that's finished, I'll send it off. That's my goal for next week. I guess for this weekend, my goal is to get that ending perfected!
Hi Lady Glamis,
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited for you! What an awesome accomplishment! When I finished my last novel, I took the whole family out to dinner to celebrate! So what are your plans?
Sounds like a great plan to finish polishing up the ending this weekend. And then getting it ready to send next week. We'll hold you to both!
my plan is to finish my next chapter, so roughly 3500-4000 words. yes, keep me accountable! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Jeannie,
ReplyDeleteWow! That's a huge weekend goal! We'll ask you Monday how you did! Maybe I need to think about increasing goal! I'm starting to feel like a wimp. ;)
Jody, thanks for your comment over on Jaime's blog. And I don't think you sound like a wimp! If you only have writing time on the weekend, plus need to have SOME down time, 1500 is a worthy goal.
ReplyDeleteI used to write 1500 a day, five days a week, but if I can't swing staying at home after the divorce, I'll probably turn into a weekend writer as well.
Hi Christina,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by!
And thanks for making me feel better about my writing goal! At least if I set it realistically, then if I meet more, I'll feel really proud of myself! Right?
My goal... ugh, it's hard to write a goal. My weekend is going to be CRAZY busy (I'm allowing myself to go into my day job on sunday afternoon to get caught up, it is MUCH needed to add sanity back to my life)
ReplyDeletePlus, I'm in edit mode, so it's hard to quantify. So, my goal will to be to edit 3 chapters this weekend. I hope to do more than that, but we'll see:-)
Hi Krista,
ReplyDeleteEditing three chapters is a great goal for a busy weekend. That could end up being a really big goal if you end up having a lot of rewriting! We'll ask you on Monday how you did!
And try to stay sane! Sounds like you have a lot on your plate right now!
Here I am a day late already reading your post...so that will tell you how my life's going right now. No goals, other than to survive the weekend between caregiving stints in two different locations. :)
ReplyDeleteWord Veri = mollawar
Hi Angie,
ReplyDeleteSometimes those life issues throw big obstacles in front of our writing goals, and all we can do is stop. Hope you survive the weekend!
I'm alive! Thanks for checking on me! I haven't written at all this weekend, sad, but true. We went to my oldest son's house for some March Madness & pizza Friday night and Saturday was a work day at our church. I just got back from my in-laws (3:30pm) and am about to start writing.
ReplyDeleteSo...here are my goals for the weekend. (And I am going to include Monday since I have a comp day and can write ALL day!!!!) Put me down for 1200. Hopefully I can get it done.
Hi Sherrinda!
ReplyDeleteYou are so-o-o LUCKY! You get to write ALL day on Monday? What a dream!
Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend with family! I'm so glad you're still alive! :)
Celebrate? Hmmmm, not ready to celebrate yet. Maybe when I've sent off the partial. :)
ReplyDelete