Work-in-Progress Wednesday #007

It's Wednesday again! This day seems to come faster and faster each week.

Of course, these posts were started by the fabulous Kate, who is sadly without Internet right now after her big move. I hope that HR woman sets everything straight soon!

I don't feel that I made much progress this week. I've been really busy trying to keep up with my freelancing, and paired with my full-time job, my days have been filled with mostly work. And, I've been kind of down. Maybe it's related to not getting into that writing program. It's not so upsetting that I didn't get into OSU, but just sad that they didn't want me. And, I had decided to apply to the program last summer, at a time when I was feeling down and antsy and stuck, and applying gave me a plan, and if I got in, then I would have 3 years set out for me with mostly writing-related goals. Anyway, it was something to work toward, and now it's over, so I guess this week I've been a bit mopey and "Now what?"

Don't get me wrong--life is still going pretty well. I like my job. We're supposed to get our new contracts soon. It's spring and the weather has been mostly decent, and the sun makes me happy. My husband and I are planning our first Square Foot Garden. My four cats are all adorable and soft and friendly. Well, except Fangor. Most of the time she's pissed.

I just got invited into the Blog Chain (not sure where to link for that since it changes all the time), which is super awesome and exciting, and my first post will be up next week. I've also immensely enjoyed keeping this blog, and reading everyone's comments. It makes me think about writing every day (well, I always think about writing, but now I think in blog posts), and I'm excited to see how it will evolve and grow over the months and years.

And of course, I've been writing steadily. Steady progress! Which is the point of this WIP Wednesday. Last week, again, I only wrote on Sunday. I wasn't really feeling it, and Carolyn and I even cut our session short (it was cold and gross and rainy that day), but I did get through 20 pages, and now I only have 45 left! By the middle of April I should be done with my read-through, and I will have all my notes and my ideas for the rewrite. Something I had put off for so many years because I thought the task was too big will be finished in about 9 weeks. Not hard at all. Let this be a lesson to me that all projects, no matter their scope, must not be completed in a day.

So, now that I know I can write again, and stick to a project, and since my writing program is on hold for now, it's time to make some new writing goals to keep my mood afloat. I've been taking the slow-and-steady route, trying not to scare my normally procrastinating muse away, but now I think I need to push a little harder. Yesterday I read the fabulous interview on the QT blog about getting the call from an agent, and I was really impressed with everyone's responses, and they all seemed so confident and hard-working, and I thought, "I want to do that, too!" I want an agent. I want to start querying. I want to have anything at all of mine out there, being read, hopefully getting an acceptance, whether it be from a query or a short story. I read all these agents' blogs about all the queries they get, and I think, "If these thousands of people are querying, why not me?" Okay, my manuscript isn't ready. Yet. But, a lot of it is lack of confidence. It's a lot of, "I have to wait. Wait till I'm older or I've written more or read more or talked to more people, only THEN will I be ready."

I'm sick of that. I mean, how long am I going to wait, forever? No! I'm going to start pounding this stuff out. I want writing to be my career. Not just some activity that floats around in my head all day. Or that I perform once or twice a week.

So, goals: Umm..... Current WIP, which is the YA from my college days. I want that rewritten and ready for beta readers by the end of June. I don't know if that sounds like too long of a deadline, but I haven't rewritten a project of this magnitude ever, so I don't know how long it'll take. But with a deadline, I will push myself faster.

And, I just read about Tara Maya having a secret novel, and the truth is, last night I came up with an idea for my own secret novel! I'm going to tinker with that each week and watch it grow.

Short stories: I have some. I'm going to send them out to literary mags. And I'm going to write more. I have only ever submitted a short story to a magazine once in my life, so I think a fair goal is to complete 5 submissions by the end of the year.

The overachieving, unrealistic part of my brain is screaming at me to commit to harder and faster goals, but hey, I know myself pretty well by now, so I'm trying to be reasonable.

And now I have 3 new goals!

How are your goals and WIPs faring this week?