ROW80 2013 – Hindsight; Foresight

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As promised, here I am with a look back at my 2013 ROW80 writing objectives, and a bit of what I’m cooking up for 2014.

I’ll look at each of my five categories, in turn…

2013 Blogging:

I did well with posting relevant content and developing new ideas. I evolved themes for each of my three main blogs, and incorporated at least one regular feature into each. I offered more high-concept content, gave more glimpses into my life, shared more widely and bravely, made new friends, and had a lot of fun!

While I did create new headers, begin using Flickr and editing my photos more adventurously, I didn’t spend nearly as much time and energy on layout and design as I had intended to. Things still awaiting my attention are sidebars, mission statements, about pages, editing and updating, and other housekeeping matters. Additionally, I haven’t yet moved The Unfettered Life from Blogger to a new home at WordPress, or investigated what would be involved in setting up a website.

2014 Blogging:

Winter is a good season for nesting. I like to spruce up our home, and my virtual homes, too. So it seems like a perfect time to focus some attention on the layout and design aspects of my long-neglected Blogging Action Plan.

I’ll also be building a better overall blogging habit – posting regularly, building queues, answering comments more steadily, sharing more widely.

I will be brainstorming what I want in a website, and begin the process of moving The Unfettered Life to a spiffy new home.

Chameleon’s Dish, manuscript hard copy.

2013 Writing:

I had a banner writing year. I created flash fiction, essays, and novels. I completed two Trueborn WIPs, and nearly a third. I began three more WIPs in the series, and have a better idea of what the series will be, and what stories still await writing.

Reading Cathy Yardley‘s Rock Your Plot shifted the way I approach novel plotting from pantsing to an open-ended form of plotting – more like devising containers to hold scenes, a skeleton upon which life will be built. I used a few elements of the process in my two July Camp NaNoWriMo projects, The Stars Are Fire and Perchance to Dream. I liked the results well enough that I employed and tweaked the entire process for my November NaNoWriMo project, King of Shreds and Patches. Largely due to the prior planning, I was able to complete a 122,000+ word rough draft WIP in 30 days – and it’s easily the best first draft I’ve ever written.

Although I had hoped to complete To Be or Not to Be well before the end of the year, and missed by several scenes, I am very pleased with the progress I made, overall. Beneath it is a solid foundation of new learning and better habits that will certainly increase my writing productivity.

2014 Writing:

I will be focusing on completing the rough drafts of TBONTB, TSAF, and PTD.

There are at least four more novels to be drafted in the Trueborn double series. I will complete at least 2 of these in the coming year, as NaNo pojects.

I will be exploring my gestating Star Trek: Enterprise fan fiction novel concept, as well as the Last House story collection concept, in the form of short pieces or flash fiction, during April and May.

Pre-editing notebook for Chameleon’s Dish.

2013 Editing:

Editing took a backseat through a lot of this year, but I did make some notable advances. I read Cathy Yardley‘s Rock Your Revisions, and am applying the early steps of the process to Bounded by a Nutshell. I have already completed my initial pre-editing notes for its companion novel, Chameleon’s Dish. I feel that both WIPs will benefit greatly from the process, especially since both were pantsed NaNo novels, and very rough, but have good storylines and a lot of potential.

I also employed the first several steps of Sarah Selecky‘s Deep Revision blog series, using three of my existing short stories: “A Splash of Red”, “Morning Coffee”, and “Peach Liqueur Love”. These were set aside for noveling projects, but I felt I was finding depth in all three stories, and ideas to carry forth to others.

I made very little project on my poetry WIP, Queen of My Infinite Spaces. I had intended to completely revise this as an experiment in self-publishing.

2014 Editing:

I will plan and complete the first revision passes for Chameleon’s Dish and Bounded by a Nutshell, and make pre-revision notes for Blood and Breath.

I will complete the Deep Revision process with the three short stories in progress.

Family room desk, in situ.

2013 Hometending:

As far as basic home and writing matters, I did well. I established some good habits, and have a strong sense of where I want to go with each, long-term.
I avoided certain aspects of my plans, though, especially investigating small business learning, website creation, and wholly occupying my new study.

2014 Hometending:

I’ll continue with my physical and virtual hometending plans – resetting rooms, cleaning files, and inhabiting my study.

Takin’ care of business with a couple of goofy kids!

2013 Lifetending:

This was another area in which I made huge shifts. I stretched in many ways; serving as a sponsor, getting involved in various online groups and WANATribe, and living a more connected and conscious life in general.