Starting Something New
And learning to finish it.
I was talking to one of my friends the other day. We hadn’t seen each other in awhile, so we were catching up on all the new things in our lives and it hit me that we never talked about things we finished.
We’re great idea people, but finishers, not so much.
And I know part of that is because we don’t want to put an idea out into the world unless it’s polished to a shine. But how good is the idea if it never sees the light of day?
I don’t want to be a starter without also being a finisher anymore. I have a whole folder of shiny new ideas to write about that fizzle out when the next new idea comes into my head. It’s gotten ridiculous and out of hand. And it’s time to stop.
Every November, I participate in NaNoWriMo (aka National Novel Writing Month) where the goal is to put 50,000 words to paper. They don’t have to be good, no one ever has to read them, but you need to sit your butt in the chair and write.
I get jazzed for it every year. I buy myself little treats to urge myself along. I set up my writing area for “maximum productivity.” And I haven’t lost in quite a few years.
But… (you saw that coming, right?)
I haven’t published a single book. Most of my novels never see “The End.” Heck, most of them never get seen by anyone but me.
This year is different. I finally finished my first novel and gave it to beta readers. I’m in the process of rewriting the heck out of it because they pointed out what was missing. By the end of the year, I will have it polished as much as I can hope to have it (mostly because my sister is taking her red pen to it).
My goal is to have a finalized novel, ready to send to agents, by January 1, 2020.
Having said that, you have my permission to bug the hell out of me to see if I made that goal.
It’s not the only thing I’m working on. I’m going to be doing 30 day challenges for the next three months. September is Abs and Squats, so I’ll be letting you know how that works out.
Wish me luck!
Weekly Goals
Let’s just get this out of the way, there are a lot of fails this week. I got sick twice and the second illness wiped out all my energy.
Go to class: Fail.
Go to the gym twice: Success. I managed to squeak in my sessions in between sicknesses.
Write 7K words: Fail. You’d think this one would’ve been easy, but I had no energy to sit at my desk.
Sew 10 dice bags: Fail. I made it halfway to my goal.
Read a book: Success. I finished two: The Power of Habit by Chalres Duhigg and The Texan Duke by Karen Ranney.
