End of year accountability

[xfirefly9x]

Instead of posting another mini challenge, I've got a question for everyone as we move towards the end of the year.

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What are you hoping to achieve before 2026 ends with your writing?

Once you've got an answer for that, what steps do you need to achieve that?

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Feel free to share, or just think about it on your own, whichever you're most comfortable with.

And would anyone like the occasional post to check in on progress for the remainder of the year? If there's interest, maybe I can put up a post each week or fortnight for updates on where everyone's at. :)

Comments

[tellshannon815]

I'm determined to finally finish a series I'd started about 3 years ago but had been struggling with the ending that I know has to happen, but was one I didn't want to (it's sort of complicated to explain. Let's just say I will never try to meddle with the timeline in Dark again.)

[amaleihna]

Good luck!

[xfirefly9x]

Ooh, good luck with it!

Would it help to bounce ideas for the ending? Or is it not so much that you're struggling with what to write for it, but more...that that's how the story needs to go?

[tellshannon815]

It's kind of how the story needs to go. To explain (assuming no knowledge of Dark - I don't know if you, or anyone else who might see this) knows the show) the character in my icon gets stuck in the past (1986) and his father, while trying to rescue him, gets stuck in 1953. In a moment of frustration after watching the episodes first time, I started a version where Ulrich successfully rescues Mikkel and brings him back to his own time of 2019, but finds he's broken the timeline; he's now in a timeline where he's married to the mistress he'd just dumped in his original time, while he's erased some other characters from existence and doesn't fully understand why. Meanwhile another character is determined to restore the original timeline. Her plan is the only real way of resolving things (this family line is created through time travel and shouldn't exist), so I know I have to restore them to where they got stuck in the past - there isn't a way to give them a happy ending, I know how I have to end it but it goes against what I originally wanted. That will teach me to try and mess with a timeline when I haven't finished a show and don't have the full context to it.

[xfirefly9x]

Got it, thanks for sharing that!

It sucks that the ending isn't how you were wanting it to be...though I hope that it turns out really well for the story that you're telling. ♥

[spaciireth]

I like this idea!

About this time last year, you shared a link in the Discord for a cozy fantasy anthology and I decided I'd write something for it, then I wrote 1500 words and forgot about it... but I recently picked it up! I'd like to finish it by the end of the year (I'm kind of aiming for finishing it in October but I don't know if that will happen). It's at about 4.5k now and I think will probably end up around 8-10k. Keeping consistent is my main goal. Monday - Thursday are my intended writing days.

[amaleihna]

You've got this!

[xfirefly9x]

♥

*nod nod* I remember you mentioning that you were working on something for that. Love that you've kept with it. I hope the words flow for the rest of the story!

[amaleihna]

I Omacha am hoping to write five more chapters of That Which Hungers, which is rather ambitious but I would prefer to aim very high than aim low. It is more fun to me this way :-) And your checkins sound like a lovely idea I would greatly appreciate them.

[xfirefly9x]

Hey, welcome to the comm. :)

Five chapters sounds like a great goal. What's the word count you usually aim for per chapter (if you have a goal like that)?

I'm going to have a think about how best to approach checkins, as much of this comm and how I run it is very impulsive and on the fly. Weekly might be easier to stick with, though? XD

chapter word count

[amaleihna]

I aim for approximately 1,500-3,000 words a chapter. Weekly checkins do sound optimal. May your day be most splendid :-)

Re: chapter word count

[xfirefly9x]

Definitely achievable!

*nod* I shall keep the weekly in mind.

Thank you!

[xfirefly9x]

Suppose I should share my writing goals for end of year...

I'm healing from some life stuff, so my main goal is to do all the things that'll help me get back on track creatively and with writing fiction, which I've not been able to be consistent with this year so far. I've written small things here and there, but I'd like to be able to write fiction daily again within a few months.

Something I'm going to do for this is completely unrelated to writing - daily meditation, especially guided ones. The last time that I went through similar life stuff, I was doing that regularly and it took only a few months before my brain was up to writing again. So, I think meditation made a huge difference and is worth leaning into again now to see if that will help.

Second to this, I'd like to finish my main WIP soon - not necessarily this year, but soon. So, something that I can definitely start on, even while I'm not quite up to writing fiction daily, is reading over what I've already written and taking down notes, making a bit of an outline based on what I already have. So when I'm back to writing more often, I'll know where to start with getting back into finishing the WIP.

And third - I'd like to do more with Worderlands the rest of the year. That's looking like weekly checkins for the rest of the year, though I'm going to think about how to include some other mini challenges along the way too. (Ideas are welcome!)