grading my 2023 writing goals & resetting for Q4!
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- Опубліковано 11 лип 2024
- Let's chat writing goals & re-evaluating my 2023 plans for Q4. Also the first 500 of y'all to use my link will get access to one of Skillshare’s best offers: 30 days free AND 40% off your 1st year of Skillshare membership!: skl.sh/katecavanaugh1023
T I M E S T A M P S :
0:00 let's evaluate how I've done so far in 2023!
1:04 setting better goals than books sold or video views; also I don't like tracking words anymore?? WHO AM I.
1:59 NaNoWriMo caveat
3:07 still battling that white room syndrome
5:15 two thumbs waaaaay up on outlining my series!
5:52 the important of a newsletter & sponsorship shout-out
7:30 failing quarterly check-ins but looooving seasonal goals?
8:10 am I a single WIP writer now?
10:01 setting better reading goals for Q4
11:41 one hundred hours of drafting
12:05 more questions for youuu!
D I S C U S S I O N Q U E S T I O N S :
What are your Q4 goals? Does this whole October/November/December feel like a specific writing season to you? Is there anything you're trying to finish up before year end??
How do you go about drilling down on improving specific aspects of your writing (white room syndrome, dialogue, pacing, etc.)?
If you're someone who likes to work on multiple projects at once, when's a time when you've focused on only one? Was it for a deadline crunch or did you just ~feel like you should~? If you're a single WIP at a time kind of writer, have you ever dabbled in multiple projects at once? Why and how did it feel?
Do you have any revision-specific craft books you could share?? THANKS.
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I was more focused on goals before. There was a time when I wrote 50K a month and at the time of Nano, it was +100K. But, I ended up suffering from depression, serious family problems and then the pandemic, I went from writing all of this and happily, to 0 words a day and hating everything. Now, I'm a little better, despite the ups and downs, but I try to write at least 100 words a day; On days when I'm really depressed, that's my goal. So, sure, I don't write 50K a month anymore, but I'm getting into my writing groove again. Even though I now have a PhD, which ends up being more of a mental effort alongside creative writing.
With description, I always find that if you describe a scene, only pick out what that character would observe, not what YOU, as a person, would notice if you were in that scene. Eg, A person who lives on Green Street and who walks down that street every day might only notice new things there, like a strange car parked on the driveway of number 42, or scaffolding has gone up around number 12. Whereas a person walking down Green Street for the first time ever, might marvel at the cherry blossom on the trees, or a black cat sat on a lawn, or the Art Deco features of number 6. I hope that helps x
It absolutely does! It's always so important to keep our characters in mind first and foremost. :) Maybe I'll try describing the same scene from different characters' POVs and see how that changes things. It'd be fun! :)
This is excellent advice!
I love that! Great advice, thank you!!
Still dying over how cute those mushroom earrings are!
I absolutely love every time Kate is in the middle of explaining something, and an all of a sudden guffaw attacks her. I swear I guffaw right with her.
I completely agree with the “year is almost over!!” feeling.
It's definitely important to step away from our obsession with word count. Sometimes counting words can help motivate you. Say you're not feeling like writing. A quick and easy deal with yourself ("Just write 500 words and then I can stop stressing about writing and do other stuff") can be great. The main benefit of word counts is that it can give you a tangible goal. The main problem with word counts is that we often become too focused on word count and that can lead to several detrimental effects. The most common detrimental effect is thinking if you don't hit a certain word count you're not a good writer. Even as someone who hasn't used word count goals in years, I still sometimes find some of that word count residue is still in my brain. For example, the other day, I decided to use word counts again after not thinking about word count in, I don't know, maybe two years. I am currently working on a series. So, I tend to jump from document to another document (ad nauseum) throughout the day. Because of this, sometimes it's hard to know what progress I've made at the end of the day. Because the progress is scattered pretty much everywhere. For that reason, I thought the other day, "Let me count all my words, document by document, and then add it up at the end of the day to see how much progress I'm making." I did this for like a day and then stopped because I realized three things: (1) The stress of keeping track of word counts was just that stress. I don't need more stress in my day. Even a little more stress is too much stress; (2) Keeping track of word counts is work! Do I want to spend 15 minutes tracking words everyday or 15 minutes doing more writing work? That answered itself. (3) Focusing on word count takes your focus away from your work to this hollow representation of your work. So, you could have written THE best scene in your book that day OR had a huge breakthrough that will save you months of work YET if you don't reach X word count, your subconscious will label that day a failure when it could have been the best writing day you'll have all month. Ultimately, tracking word counts is a tool. Sometimes you need that tool. Sometimes you don't. I'm committed to only using word counts sporadically to motivate me when I need it. If I'm feeling good and already in the midst of working, I will not add more work, stress, and another distraction to my plate. Anyway, thought I'd share this because I know you are big on word count and now you seem to be trying to move away from that, and I think that's a good step.
I'm going through something similar. I normally enjoy bouncing around with my projects but lately I've been really enjoying a more deep dive into ONE project. With that said, for me a deep dive is more like 2-5 days of being purely focused on that project. I can't imagine doing weeks/months! But good for you if you're doing that. Sounds great.
So, you are a much more experienced writer than I am, but I found a fun exercise to get rid of white-room syndrome. I like to zoom my mind's camera way in on a small detail in the potential scene - a rock shaking, a dew drop on a flower petal, the sun coming through a vase - and describe the scene as I zoom out to the main part of the scene. Sometimes I keep these in the story because they may be relevant, sometimes I scrap them and keep the main scene while appreciating the warmup, and sometimes I rewrite them from the character's perspective depending on which POV I am writing the story in. Anyway, love the earrings and the pup in the background! Go new goals!!
I will definitely give this a try! Sounds like a great exercise I can do "up top" near where I dump my plans for the scene. And thank you!! 🍄
@@KateCavanaugh squeeee! I’m totally fanboying because you replied to my comment! Oh be still my nerdy heart!!❤️
That is brilliant! 🤩💯🥳
Intuitive editing is my favorite book about editing
I'm getting back into the writing world - been out of it for a bit so it's nice to see you're still posting and updating us on your writing journey :)
For white room syndrome, I'm working on ekphrasis. I visit a museum or gallery (or just online if I'm feeling lazy) and pick an artwork. You sit and look at it for at least 5 minutes, noticing what's in the artwork. Then you write whatever comes to mind. I've been practicing detailed description of landscape and other scene paintings. My exercises aren't going to end up in a novel, but it's excellent practice :)
Goals for the rest of the year:
- continue editing Project Tour (romance) and get ready for March publication (maybe have a kickstarter?)
- draft NaNo Project Rush (supernatural thriller)
Improving specific aspects of your writing: As a pantser I take the scenes I've written and create a plan. Then I read both the WIP and the plan back and forth to flag issues or missing elements. I also find putting some distance; in terms of time; helps my process. It's at theses points I will draft or edit another work. So a hybrid approach, only working on one piece at a time, while working on two.
Intuitive editing is a good book on editing especially a first draft
Secrets to editing succes (Stanley and Cooke) and Refuse to be done: how to write and rewrite a novel in three drafts (Matt Bell); They seem to have useful suggestions but I'm stil in drafting mode for my books so don't know how they work in reality...
We love Write and Revise for Publication by Jack Smith (Writer's Digest Books) and Revision and Self-Editing for Publication by James Scott Bell (Writer's Digest Books)
On books on revision. I recently (this year) started reading some books that James Scott Bell writes on writing. There's a whole series and each includes some helpful exercises to use during revision. Basically he approaches revision with some underlying goals of what needs to happen during the course of the book, ways to interrogate what you've written to see if it is hitting a variety of criteria. For instance in his book that talks about Plot and Structure he asks, "why doesn't your protagonist walk away?" as in, as you're writing and revising is it clear why your protagonist is continuing toward the goal you've set for them? He also talks about extending the tension in a scene to make it more unbearable, to keep trying to see how long you can extend the scene for. I appreciate that his book has a variety of questions to ask yourself and implied exercises to do with your material that you've already written.
I'd recommend browsing the whole series but there is one specific book that is about revision.
Personally I enjoy the quarterly schedule/seasonal schedule because it provides a good balance of structure and flexibility. It provides enough time to get in a lot of focused work but also gives the added freedom of knowing that there's a definite end point where things can be changed and readjusted. I find it easier to concentrate under these parameters because if everything is working perfectly it is easy enough to mirror Q1 into Q2 but if things aren't working in Q1 there's motivation to think about what would be worth changing in Q2. Over the years I've realized that writing has no end point or end goals and it becomes really necessary to set satisfying end points in order to have that relief and rest before heading right back into it. Even if publishing is the goal there's always another story to write unless the plan is to stop writing. Q4 is usually more like an end/start of the year around November for me as well. This year there's a whole mess of life things going on so writing is just happening as it fits within that. But the quarterly system has made it easy for me to kind of plan for that and plan to get back to things properly in Q1 of next year.
Glad to see you giving yourself flexibility beyond the metrics. They're useful up to a point. Looking forward to a newsletter and also, hopefully you find the right balance of frequency (for yourself and your subscribers)--some of my favorite writer newsletters are infrequent but I actually re-read them because the author's personal writing style really shines through.
I feel you so much with the white room syndrom. I tend to add description as the LAST thing or at least definitely not in the first draft. One thing I found helpful in the more so revision phase is The Rural Setting Thesaurus and The Urban Setting Thesaurus books. I sometimes feel like it's a cheat, but at the same time if it helps, it helps right?
As for revisions, the book: Self-editing for fiction writers is one that was recommended to me. I haven't actually read it cause collecting books and reading them are two different things LOL, but maybe it will be helpful.
I definitely tend to do more writing in the second half of the year than the first- mainly because of NaNoWriMo, but also because the end of the year is approaching and I’m trying really hard to hit my writing goals. 😊
Book mail is magical! :D
I will just go with the flow. The later part of 2023 and most of 2024 is going to be very busy, so, anything I write it will already feel like a victory.
My overall goal is just to turn my outlines into written pages.
Good luck!
I had to rewatch the last three minutes over again because I was too focused on how cute Zelda was, LOL.
great video and i LOVE your earrings!! 🍄🍄
I am going to be using your semester idea next year in which I have a theme for the different seasons. I'm going to take a winter season from Thanksgiving until March 1st. During this time I am going to do a little editing up my romance. But the main focus is on reading and watching movies. I just feel it is time for a rest. And then I'm going to set monthly goals not quarter goals for the rest of the year. I have two projects that I would like to see completed by the end of 2024. But I also have a number of classes that I have already paid for that I want to complete. And I'm reducing the number of books that I plan to read 24 next year. This is because I want to increase the number of movies that I watch.
For a revision book recommendation, I haven’t actually implemented this advice yet because I’m still in the drafting stage with my current project, but I recently read a book called Refuse to Be Done by Matt Bell. In the book, he talks about his entire writing process which is focused around three drafts. His first draft is basically a discovery draft, and then he revises for drafts two and three. You can read the entire thing if you want but personally I recommend skipping to the sections on drafts two and three for the revision advice. It’s the only book I’ve read that has offered revision advice and I’ve been on the hunt for good books too. It’s so much harder than finding books on how to write a first draft!
Also Wonderbook has a good section about editing but is more a general craft book
I really like Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Dave King and Renni Browne
very much recommend
its been a minute since I read it and I remember it being better for line edits than big revisions. I need to check it out again so maybe I'll read it next 👀
There's a book published by Writer's Digest called How to Write a Page Turner, it was decent but the thing I took away from it was just how important tension is to a story. I figure that's something that's easier to see in revision than in drafting; maybe this counts as a revision book? Haha, I know there's not a lot that are explicitly "for revision."
not exclusively a book about revision, but my favorite writing craft book is "from big idea to book: create a writing practice that brings you joy" by jessie l kwak. it hits on every step of the writing process from idea generation to publication options, including a sizable section on revision, & the attitude of the writing throughout puts a lot of emphasis on figuring out what works for you, rather than being prescriptive about how writing ~should~ be done. i return to it whenever i'm feeling stuck in any part of the writing process (which is more often than i care to admit lol)
I tend to make a scene based on the five senses and OMG it's great
A new revelation for me, is the idea you use internalizations much like punctuation in sentence structures on that level of writing. On the scene level you can place internalizations much like commas in sentence structures. There are 20 sentence patterns like that to fool around with and use to space out internalizations randomly in our motivation and response units that make up our situations within scenes that have TRD's at the end of them. Action or dialogue bookends of M&R units like: Action - internalization - Dialogue. Internalization being dramatic beats made up on interiority modes: Sensation, Emotion, Introspection, Recollection etc... I'm basically working on what's call style at the moment.
I'm sort of opposite to you with regard to working on multiple projects. Historically, I've only liked working on one at a time as I feel that it helps me get immersed in the world better. That said, I am planning to alternate between a longer project and a series of shorter projects next year, so I hope that goes well.
My Q4 goal is to finish draft two of my novel (Nano rebel here) and yes, Q4 always seems like a great writing season for me, if not only because of the Nano comp + all the holidays. 😆 I've never been able to do multiple projects at once, so kudos to you for that, but I hope you find one WIP at a time to be fun/useful/productive!
i haven't read it yet but I too am trying to endeavour into the editing process and have just picked, on the internet's recommendations, "Intuitive Editing"
Janice Hardy’s book on revision is a chunk but helpful
The reason why I hadn't posted about revision before is because I don't write fiction (and certainly not novels) but there are some essays on revision in "The Practice of Poetry" edited by Robin Behn and Chase Twitchell [1992]. Also you might check out On Writing Well by William Zinsser. I haven't read these in a while since I'm in grad school so I'm getting a lot of feedback for revision from professors, peers, etc. But I also think that the process of revision, simplified, is 1. identify your goals for your writing 2. identify craft features of your writing and name what effect they have and 3. if the qualities of your writing doesn't match your goals, then you've found what you need to change.
I listened to the Great Courses book "Effective Editing" by Molly McCowan when it was offered free on audible and liked it so much I printed out the associated transcript. That is honestly the only book I've read solely on editing.
Oooh I’ll have to check that out, thank you!!
in 2018 I wrote a short story and it never got revised lol
My goal this year was so simple and easy to track - ‘Stay on one project!’ And I have, all year so far! But i feel a second, unspoken goal creeping in that is finishing the project within the year. I never made that my aim yet I feel a pressure to do it?
I can't believe that we're in Q4 / Nano season 🤯 I'm interested to go back and review my goals. I went completely off the rails from what i thought I might do, and yet, it was my most productive writing year ever. So...*shrug*? Lol
A few years ago I picked up a book called The Last Draft by Sandra Scofield, but I haven't actually read it yet so this is more of a notification that it exists than a recommendation 😅
I was going through the comments on my last video when I requested this and received the same recommendation!!! I have it on hold at the library right now and should get a copy in soon. :) I'll let you know how it is and if you should take the plunge on reading it after all lolol.
@@KateCavanaugh Yeah, I was the one who just recommended it in your last video (Just took it back to the library today). It's a must have. I just bought it as well, it came yesterday. So many ideas for revision in there, Sandra has another older book as well "The Scene Book: A Primer for the Fiction Writer." Great book too, if fact it's quoted in her other book many times - both books a must have.
Did you have to say the Newsletter word? ARGH. I've been totally off line where my newsletter is concerned, for at least 6 months. Sigh. I should use it. I'm paying for Mail chimp. Okay. One thing at a time. I am walking in the house without a cane most of the day. (Hurray!) Doing regular chores. And writing again, hurray! So I guess I can think of the Newsletter....later. Love your video, hugs and kisses. Stay well!!!!
What lake in Arkansas?!