Tuesday, December 30, 2008

I Don't Need No Stinking Resolutions LOL

"In 2008 I hope to write more novels, edit more, and get a few stories polished enough to send out and keep my fingers crossed that one (or more) find homes."

That was the remark I made on my blog last year about what I expected out of this year as far as my writing was concerned. It wasn't necessarily resolutions, cause they just fill me with disappointment in myself if I don't do exactly what I plotted and planned out. No, instead, I will call them my hopes and desires- those hazy, misty dreams that I'm determined to fulfill.

As I had said in my blog last year...I used to do resolutions, but I never kept any of them, so I don't technically "set" resolutions for myself, but prefer to just keep the list "at the heart of the matter" so to speak.

And so- did I accomplish the things I hoped in this past year? Well, I've written 4 novels this year alone and I'm working a 5th one. I did do a lot of edits and revisions on all my stories, but the polishing enough to send any out? No- not this time around.

I researched publishers and agents midway through the year after I finished the fourth novel I had written this year (8th in total) and discovered something I should have known/thought about a bit sooner than before I wrote 8, going on 9 novels. I need to lengthen them a bit more than 50-55K or so. There's only a fair few that accept manuscripts with that kind of word count and I need to make sure I've got enough of a story to leave my options open to submit to other places when I get my first rejections.

So what do I hope to do in 2009?

Finish this 9th novel I started and won with during NaNo and then start doing more revisions, additions of scenes, editing and polishing of all my novels to start this year off. At this point, writing the next novel can be put on hold, even though it's part of my new four book series of which my 9th novel is the first. Perhaps I will give myself the first half of the year to work the revisions and get up my courage to start submitting. After that I could possibly write 2-3 more of the novels I intend to- if I get 3 written, that would finish out the 2nd four book series I plan to write at this time.

Of course, I will also give myself the freedom that, IF one of my unwritten characters starts to talk to me or beg for their story to be told, I will go on and write that novel, when it's ready to be written. It's how I've written most of my novels so far- I am at their beck and call and when the pull is strong enough and the call comes, I have to answer it. I am a slave to the written word.

Of course, I better enjoy this "freedom" to write at will while I can. I don't have any real deadlines, other than those self-imposed, but I know that if and when I do get published, there will be times when I have to multi-task between edits of a soon to be released as well as the current WIP and so on and so forth.

So I'm ready- ready to work through my novels and prep not just my novels, but myself, for the next road in my journey to publication.

Tomorrow I'll post about my other hopes for the year to come, but for now, I think I've rambled on enough. Have a wonderful day!

No comments: