December Wrap-Up and Yearly Goals Review
8:00 AM
How do you introduce an ending to something?
Particularly when it is a year?
Do you rapture, do you cry, do you recollect?
I choose to do...all of them.
But recollection comes first, so let us get that out of the way by wrapping up December!
Particularly when it is a year?
Do you rapture, do you cry, do you recollect?
I choose to do...all of them.
But recollection comes first, so let us get that out of the way by wrapping up December!
In the Realms of Fiction
1. I've been continuing to work on The White Rose, trying to get that second draft in shape.
2. In other projects, I've been also finishing my one alpha project. The other in-progress alpha reading won't be started until 2020.
As you can see, not much happened here. It's just been slow and steady progress through the pages. Emphasis on slow.
Blog Happenings
For Working by Candlelight, I wrote 3 posts: The Veil of Black, What Christmas Music Can I Listen to in Advent, and How My Family Prepares for Christmas.
For Rebelling Muse, I wrote 4 posts: End of NaNoWriMo 2019, New Decade, New Look, The Sunshine Blogger Tag, and Writing Sibling Tag.
I wrote no posts for The Cat in the Barnyard, Rebellious Writing or Maidens for Mary this month.
And now we come to the longest portion of the entire post. Instead of doing what I did last year, I decided to show the progression of all the goals month by month and then give a summary at the end. We'll first look at the 2019 goals, and then I'll reveal the 2020 goals.
Let's hop to it, shall we?
A Look Backward: Looking at my 2019 Goals
1. Finish The White Rose - and have it ready for betas by May at the earliest.
Maybe if I stick with one WIP instead of trying to tackle the whole mountain at once, I'll actually get somewhere....
Quite honestly, this story has my heart - and the one that I want to send out to to the world first.
January Update: Wrote 4.1K for the whole month. Still no cohesive draft.
June Update: Wrote another 300+ scene addition because it wouldn't leave my head. During the last few weeks of June, I started prepping what I was going to work on during Camp NaNo.
July Update: While I barely added 5K words in during Camp, I worked through some major developmental roadblocks during Camp. Now the draft is approaching 39K words *screams*. Once I get it up to 65K (which hopefully will include all the missing plot scenes), the beta call will go out!!
August Update: The White Rose gained a few more thousand words, it's now up to 47k words. I'm right about 17k words away from the beta call, which is super exciting!
At the same time, I've been editing some of the old chapters to account for some of the new material. So even though I'm pretty sure that not all the scenes will be written before the 65k threshold, it will not be a totally raw draft.
September Update: The White Rose ended up jumping the editing gun - instead of waiting for betas like it was supposed to, I decided to forge ahead with the first round of edits. I grew disgusted with just how messy my first draft was, so I decided to write my second draft before I do the beta call. With the help of my alphas, I'm now creating a new plot outline, and I will be drafting the second draft during NaNo this year.
October Update: All the arcs and all the events got plotted onto an events timeline after much mental cursing and pulling of hair. Thank heavens for alphas, that's all I have to say about that. It's not a chapter map, but it will do for NaNo.
November Update: I managed to write over 40K for NaNo, but due to some curveballs, the full 50k was never achieved. This second draft is already doubling what the first draft was. I've elected to continue into December to try to get this second draft done.
December Update: The second draft is still plugging along. I'm now closing in on 50k, but I'm starting to hit that burnout again. But I'm going to keep plugging at it, so that the beta-reading can start in early 2020!
End of the Year Update: This process is taking much slower than I had ever anticipated, especially since I had all that time in the beginning of the year to get things straightened out. This second draft is a monster compared to the first draft, which is terrifying me to be frank. But, I shall continue on!
2. Finish Project Blueprint
This was my July Camp NaNo project - yes, the one that I failed around like a dead fish on. I am determined to finish this project before I lose all the notes.
March Update: I picked up this project again the first time since July to work on stuff for Fair Winds. Now, most of the notes have been uploaded, character sheets have been started and avatars have been finished! I'd say the Fair Winds section is about 70% done.
July Update: Some of TWR and FW's sections were worked on, but nothing was completed. *shrugs*
End of the Year Update: This project clearly is meant to be worked on one WIP at a time, rather than all at once. Hence each of these remaining projects will be tackled for those "prep" months before a NaNo event.
3. Get more print books.
Because of Operation Vintage Makeover, my bookshelf is being opened up. And frankly, most of my books are either middle-grade fiction or non-fiction books. Not a very pretty hoard.
And now, my Kindle is on life support....and am not planning to replace it anytime soon as I don't have the need of it that I did a few years ago. Which means, that I need to build my own library.
March Update: While on vacation at the end of the month, I went thrift store shopping and got a decent book haul: Black Beauty, Divine Comedy, The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Anne Catherine Emmerich, The Hound of the Baskervilles, How to Find Your Soulmate Without Losing Your Soul by Jason and Chrystalina Evert, A Brush with Shadow by Anna Lee Huber, as well as a reference book called Inside the Victorian Home and an Italian cookbook.
July Update: 4 new fiction books were added to my shelves Kilmeny of the Orchard by L.M. Montgomery, Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter, Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter, and Mossflower by Brian Jacques. And one non-fiction was also added, but what consequence is that?
August Update: I got 2 more print books from my parent's collection (Jane Eyre and The Secret Garden), and I bought another non-fiction book for research purposes. I've already had to rearrange the bookshelves at least twice since I got them *sigh*
December Update: For Christmas, Lia gave me 4 new print books: The Emily series by LM Montgomery and The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables by Catherine Reid. I have not rearranged the shelves again yet....
End of the Year Update: Over the course of the year, I've acquired 20 books! Considering I haven't gotten books for a while, that's a decent haul! I'm very happy with myself.
4. Eliminate another 10 movies from the To-Watch list.
While I didn't achieve this goal the last time, I have a full year yet! I know that I plan to visit Ohio at least twice, which will help :).
April Update: I watched one listing on The List, and that was P&P 95. I haven't taken it off the list as Lia hasn't seen it yet.
September Update: I finally made some progress on this yearly goal!! Lia and I consulted "The List" and went through several movies in the 7 days that I visited her. They included:
End of the Year Update: I was SO CLOSE. I watched 9 things off of the To-Watch before December and I was really hoping that our traditional movie haul at Christmas would take care of the 10th. Alas, while they were some excellent TV shows, no movies from the list made it. *sad face*
5. Watch Season 5 of WCTH and possibly get a season on DVD.
Netflix gypped me this December, so I still haven't seen Season 5 yet. And even though it promises nothing but drama and tragedy, I really really want to see it.....
January Update: Did get a DVD of Season 5 movies for When Calls the Heart. Will be watching this soon, I hope. (I know it's not the complete season, but it's better than nothing!)
April Update: I got Season 1 on DVD! I couldn't believe it when I saw it on sale at a Christian bookstore...so of course I picked it up. While the other seasons were also sold there, they were rather expensive. So, I'll wait to pick them up later on Amazon or something.
October Update: I watched the Season 5 "movie collection", which had several episodes of Season 5 intermixed into it. So I watched the big moments of Season 5 that I wanted to without getting my heart smashed to bits. Oh, and I did watch my DVD copy of Season 1 *heart eyes*
Sooooo, I think we can call this one completed?
End of the Year Update: I technically cheated on this goal, but it's close enough for government work. I don't think I shall watch any episodes from either Season 6 or 7 due to Reasons, though I will be following several "ships" that are sailing *wink wink*.
6. Finish the draft posts - including old tags and linkups
I was actually hoping to finish this before the end of 2018, but apparently that is not happening (as well as a few other things). Right now, I have 18 draft posts that either have to be written out, thrown away, or transferred to another blog.
January Update. I finished one longstanding tag, The Lilah Music Challenge.
May Update: I did publish one old post
(Begone Pheasant), and got rid of another one that I will never finish.
Once I get back to my computer, I'll be knocking out two more that have
since become rather rotten. Which should bring me down to 12 posts to
finish.
June Update: After a lot of ditching and writing, I managed to get the draft posts down to 4. 3 are posts connected to the Meet the Books linkup, and the other is the Marvel tag by Christine Smith. All the other tags (Disney Princess, Greatest Showman, #CoverLove, Voted Most Likely, and Forging the Fellowship) have been written and slated for publishing between July and August. Which is wonderful, because I can now develop new content (finally!).
Maybe if I stick with one WIP instead of trying to tackle the whole mountain at once, I'll actually get somewhere....
Quite honestly, this story has my heart - and the one that I want to send out to to the world first.
January Update: Wrote 4.1K for the whole month. Still no cohesive draft.
June Update: Wrote another 300+ scene addition because it wouldn't leave my head. During the last few weeks of June, I started prepping what I was going to work on during Camp NaNo.
July Update: While I barely added 5K words in during Camp, I worked through some major developmental roadblocks during Camp. Now the draft is approaching 39K words *screams*. Once I get it up to 65K (which hopefully will include all the missing plot scenes), the beta call will go out!!
August Update: The White Rose gained a few more thousand words, it's now up to 47k words. I'm right about 17k words away from the beta call, which is super exciting!
At the same time, I've been editing some of the old chapters to account for some of the new material. So even though I'm pretty sure that not all the scenes will be written before the 65k threshold, it will not be a totally raw draft.
September Update: The White Rose ended up jumping the editing gun - instead of waiting for betas like it was supposed to, I decided to forge ahead with the first round of edits. I grew disgusted with just how messy my first draft was, so I decided to write my second draft before I do the beta call. With the help of my alphas, I'm now creating a new plot outline, and I will be drafting the second draft during NaNo this year.
October Update: All the arcs and all the events got plotted onto an events timeline after much mental cursing and pulling of hair. Thank heavens for alphas, that's all I have to say about that. It's not a chapter map, but it will do for NaNo.
November Update: I managed to write over 40K for NaNo, but due to some curveballs, the full 50k was never achieved. This second draft is already doubling what the first draft was. I've elected to continue into December to try to get this second draft done.
December Update: The second draft is still plugging along. I'm now closing in on 50k, but I'm starting to hit that burnout again. But I'm going to keep plugging at it, so that the beta-reading can start in early 2020!
End of the Year Update: This process is taking much slower than I had ever anticipated, especially since I had all that time in the beginning of the year to get things straightened out. This second draft is a monster compared to the first draft, which is terrifying me to be frank. But, I shall continue on!
2. Finish Project Blueprint
This was my July Camp NaNo project - yes, the one that I failed around like a dead fish on. I am determined to finish this project before I lose all the notes.
March Update: I picked up this project again the first time since July to work on stuff for Fair Winds. Now, most of the notes have been uploaded, character sheets have been started and avatars have been finished! I'd say the Fair Winds section is about 70% done.
July Update: Some of TWR and FW's sections were worked on, but nothing was completed. *shrugs*
End of the Year Update: This project clearly is meant to be worked on one WIP at a time, rather than all at once. Hence each of these remaining projects will be tackled for those "prep" months before a NaNo event.
3. Get more print books.
Because of Operation Vintage Makeover, my bookshelf is being opened up. And frankly, most of my books are either middle-grade fiction or non-fiction books. Not a very pretty hoard.
And now, my Kindle is on life support....and am not planning to replace it anytime soon as I don't have the need of it that I did a few years ago. Which means, that I need to build my own library.
March Update: While on vacation at the end of the month, I went thrift store shopping and got a decent book haul: Black Beauty, Divine Comedy, The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Anne Catherine Emmerich, The Hound of the Baskervilles, How to Find Your Soulmate Without Losing Your Soul by Jason and Chrystalina Evert, A Brush with Shadow by Anna Lee Huber, as well as a reference book called Inside the Victorian Home and an Italian cookbook.
July Update: 4 new fiction books were added to my shelves Kilmeny of the Orchard by L.M. Montgomery, Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter, Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter, and Mossflower by Brian Jacques. And one non-fiction was also added, but what consequence is that?
August Update: I got 2 more print books from my parent's collection (Jane Eyre and The Secret Garden), and I bought another non-fiction book for research purposes. I've already had to rearrange the bookshelves at least twice since I got them *sigh*
December Update: For Christmas, Lia gave me 4 new print books: The Emily series by LM Montgomery and The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables by Catherine Reid. I have not rearranged the shelves again yet....
End of the Year Update: Over the course of the year, I've acquired 20 books! Considering I haven't gotten books for a while, that's a decent haul! I'm very happy with myself.
 |
| boy is some rearranging in store... |
4. Eliminate another 10 movies from the To-Watch list.
While I didn't achieve this goal the last time, I have a full year yet! I know that I plan to visit Ohio at least twice, which will help :).
April Update: I watched one listing on The List, and that was P&P 95. I haven't taken it off the list as Lia hasn't seen it yet.
September Update: I finally made some progress on this yearly goal!! Lia and I consulted "The List" and went through several movies in the 7 days that I visited her. They included:
- Wonder Woman
- The Last Jedi
- How to Train Your Dragon 1
- How to Train Your Dragon 2
- How to Train Your Dragon 3
- State Fair
- An Affair to Remember
- My Big Fat Greek Wedding 1
End of the Year Update: I was SO CLOSE. I watched 9 things off of the To-Watch before December and I was really hoping that our traditional movie haul at Christmas would take care of the 10th. Alas, while they were some excellent TV shows, no movies from the list made it. *sad face*
5. Watch Season 5 of WCTH and possibly get a season on DVD.
Netflix gypped me this December, so I still haven't seen Season 5 yet. And even though it promises nothing but drama and tragedy, I really really want to see it.....
January Update: Did get a DVD of Season 5 movies for When Calls the Heart. Will be watching this soon, I hope. (I know it's not the complete season, but it's better than nothing!)
April Update: I got Season 1 on DVD! I couldn't believe it when I saw it on sale at a Christian bookstore...so of course I picked it up. While the other seasons were also sold there, they were rather expensive. So, I'll wait to pick them up later on Amazon or something.
October Update: I watched the Season 5 "movie collection", which had several episodes of Season 5 intermixed into it. So I watched the big moments of Season 5 that I wanted to without getting my heart smashed to bits. Oh, and I did watch my DVD copy of Season 1 *heart eyes*
Sooooo, I think we can call this one completed?
End of the Year Update: I technically cheated on this goal, but it's close enough for government work. I don't think I shall watch any episodes from either Season 6 or 7 due to Reasons, though I will be following several "ships" that are sailing *wink wink*.
6. Finish the draft posts - including old tags and linkups
I was actually hoping to finish this before the end of 2018, but apparently that is not happening (as well as a few other things). Right now, I have 18 draft posts that either have to be written out, thrown away, or transferred to another blog.
January Update. I finished one longstanding tag, The Lilah Music Challenge.
March
Update: Finished the Nameless Tag, and The Get to Know Me Tag this
month. I have 4 tags to catch up on, and several linkups posts that will
be going out soon. And then there are those 3 draft posts that insist
on hanging around...*sigh*
June Update: After a lot of ditching and writing, I managed to get the draft posts down to 4. 3 are posts connected to the Meet the Books linkup, and the other is the Marvel tag by Christine Smith. All the other tags (Disney Princess, Greatest Showman, #CoverLove, Voted Most Likely, and Forging the Fellowship) have been written and slated for publishing between July and August. Which is wonderful, because I can now develop new content (finally!).
End of the Year: Officially, there are 5 draft posts now. However, one is an old post that was taken down, and the other is a permanent draft post that is hosting my icon pictures. So that leaves three: two of which are Meet the Books, and one is the beta call for TWR.
And now that those goals have been reviewed, what is coming up for 2020?
A Look Forward: Setting Goals for 2020
1. Create a publishable manuscript for The White Rose
Jan-Feb: Finish 2nd Draft
March-April-May: Break - beta reading?
June-July: Edits - July Camp NaNo Project
Aug-Sept: Beta/gamma read
Oct-Nov: Break/NaNo project
Dec: final formatting of TWR - look to publish?
2. Start establishing the author platform
Since publication is a definite goal, I want to start extending the "Catherine Hawthorn" persona beyond the blogosphere. This is also going to take some specific goals, which will be determined later on, closer to the end of the year when TWR is in shape.
3. Write either "Rose of Culmore" or "Shattered Chandelier" for April Camp NaNo
After such intensive writing on TWR, I will need something a little...shorter. And I need a change, working on TWR for the last few NaNo events is rather boring.
4. Participate in NaNoWriMo
I'm not sure what the project is going to be this year - but my guess is that it's either going to be finishing the second draft of Fair Winds or...maybe starting PST or SOI?? Who knows??
5. Cross off 10 more movies off "The List"
This is now a standard yearly goal because otherwise...we never would be able to tackle that list. Like ever. At this current rate, we'll finish it in another...8 years. Plenty of time, right?
6. Make at least two trips to the library.
Seeing as how the bookshelves can't handle any more books and the Kindle selection is lousy, I've decided I need to frequent the library again. And maybe frequent the library across town too...
Jan-Feb: Finish 2nd Draft
March-April-May: Break - beta reading?
June-July: Edits - July Camp NaNo Project
Aug-Sept: Beta/gamma read
Oct-Nov: Break/NaNo project
Dec: final formatting of TWR - look to publish?
2. Start establishing the author platform
Since publication is a definite goal, I want to start extending the "Catherine Hawthorn" persona beyond the blogosphere. This is also going to take some specific goals, which will be determined later on, closer to the end of the year when TWR is in shape.
3. Write either "Rose of Culmore" or "Shattered Chandelier" for April Camp NaNo
After such intensive writing on TWR, I will need something a little...shorter. And I need a change, working on TWR for the last few NaNo events is rather boring.
4. Participate in NaNoWriMo
I'm not sure what the project is going to be this year - but my guess is that it's either going to be finishing the second draft of Fair Winds or...maybe starting PST or SOI?? Who knows??
5. Cross off 10 more movies off "The List"
This is now a standard yearly goal because otherwise...we never would be able to tackle that list. Like ever. At this current rate, we'll finish it in another...8 years. Plenty of time, right?
6. Make at least two trips to the library.
Seeing as how the bookshelves can't handle any more books and the Kindle selection is lousy, I've decided I need to frequent the library again. And maybe frequent the library across town too...
7. Finish the vlogs that Lia and I recorded.
I've put off editing some vlogs that Lia and I recorded back in September. One, at least, is now out of date due to my procrastination, and so I need to get moving...
I've put off editing some vlogs that Lia and I recorded back in September. One, at least, is now out of date due to my procrastination, and so I need to get moving...
In Conclusion
I could say almost the exact same thing about 2019 that I did for 2018. 2019 almost seemed a continuation of all the stress, rollercoasters, and such that were supposed to be left behind last year.
But...my mom and I have had this "intuition" that 2020 was going to be a fresh start. I don't mean that in a flimsy half-hearted way.
I firmly believe that 2020 will bring a big jump forward in the literary ventures. Whether that means The White Rose will go for publication or some other story will be written...it is up to the Good God to decide.
2020 promises to be a pivotal year.
Scribbingly yours,
Catherine
2020 promises to be a pivotal year.
Scribbingly yours,
Catherine
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10 comments
"Maybe if I stick with one WIP instead of trying to tackle the whole mountain at once, I'll actually get somewhere." MOOD.
ReplyDeleteFelt like I was running circles all year and got a bunch of stuff done, but no one big major thing, so it LOOKS like I didn't get ANYTHING done...
Wow, 20 books this year? That’s pretty impressive! (Wishing you the best of luck with rearranging the bookshelf yet again. I’m too scared to even start my bookshelf rearrangements. XD)
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a wonderful 2020, Catherine, and best of luck with all your goals! Next year is going to hold amazing things for you in the writing world. <3
I'm so glad that you were able to see The Last Jedi!!! It is one of my favorites. <3 Good job on all that you got done! I'm eagerly awaiting the beta call...
ReplyDeleteHere's to good things to happen in the New Year!
Oh, my gosh, you watched An Affair to Remember? The one with Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne? I love that movie sooooo much! I hope you enjoyed it!
ReplyDelete(Also, don't forget me on that beta-reading list for The White Rose. I know I didn't say a whole lot critique-wise, but it was mostly because I was really enjoying it.)
(Also also, shoot me an e-mail about the time you're coming back to Ohio!)
Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
No, it was the version staring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. I think you're thinking of Love Affair, which An Affair to Remember is a remake of.
DeleteWill do, my friend! And don't worry, you're already on the list since you're an alpha :).
Merry Christmas and A Happy New year to you too!!
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 1 is so funny!
ReplyDeleteI hope you meet all your goals, happy new years! <3
HAPPY NEW YEAR, CATHERINE!!! I hope you can smash all those 2020 goals!!! <33
ReplyDeleteWow! You got a lot of progress done on your goals!!
ReplyDeleteI love that you have a list of movies to watch. My brother and I are starting to make one of movies we want to rewatch, but we haven't yet bothered to watch any of them. Instead, we just got sucked in the hype-hole that is The Mandalorian #sorrynotsorry
I love that you are so pumped for 2020! I can't wait until you open up a beta call (I seriously would love to read it!). Are you still thinking of going to Realm Makers?
Don't be afraid of disappointing anyone. That's not the point at all. The draft you send to betas is not the finished product. The beta's job is to help you make it the best it can be. Don't stress over it. You've got this!
DeleteI hope you are able to go so we can meet up!!
Best of luck with your goals!
ReplyDelete