Hi there, Lucy! I plan to:

(1) update, revise and post for review two short stories I've been working on this past month ("Ronin: The Combat Journal of Mark Bullet" and "A Matter of Debt Concerning the Gentleman In Baltimore").

(2) update, revise and post for review the first eight chapters of the novel Huckleberry Fang (Huck Finn re-imagined as a Southern Gothic).

(3) reach out to the Book Country Community for ideas on how we can better support, promote and further the careers of talented writers who have published here.

(4) submit at least six older stories to paying magazine and on-line markets.

(5) complete new drafts of older poems (one a day till Christmas) and, finally

(6) finish reading the stack of books on my "reading now" bookshelf. (I hear those outcries! "Hey, reading isn't a writing goal." I can only tell you—for me it is. Reading and writing go together like . . . avoid cliche; avoid cliche . . . deep sleep and a drool-drenched pillow.) 

PS. Yes, I still "labor in the salt mines" at my nine-to-five. Sleep is on the back-burner till the new year. Wish me luck . . . 

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 12/18/2015, 10:28 PM--

I want to get the new Destiny's Bond to at least 20,000 words before the year's out. I'm almost to that goal, but am now churning through a rough chapter that's slowed my progress down.

I've got to get it done or I'll be disappointed in myself . . .

As for what I want to do next year:

(1) Finish and polish Destiny's Bond until it shines to the best of my abilities.

(2) Write and submit at least three short stories to various magazines/online magazines--yes, I'm kinda hoping my writing skills have gotten to a point where I can submit to magazines and not be laughed at for mediocre writing.

(3) Keep writing

There. I've got this year's and next years priorities straightened out

How about you, Lucy? What are your goals for the next thirteen days?

Holy cow! You 2 are amazing. No sleep till 2016!

Right now my goal is to figure out some last-minute Christmas gifts . . . But once the holiday is over, I am hoping to have a full draft of my WIP done. It still has some holes in it, some scenes that either need to be written or to have some transition inserted between them. As I was working this weekend I also realized that as I do this I am finding inconsistencies, so I need to fix those. I want to be done with the draft and then spend January tightening it up and editing out big chunks.

--edited by Lucy Silag - Book Country Director on 12/21/2015, 11:27 AM--

Over the next two weeks I will

1.  watch the website of the preferred publisher for my novel, waiting for a reopening of submissions

2.  finish my query letter

3.  finish a short story for a regional writing context

4.  finish a short story to submit to a literary magazine

5.  write a short article for a local community events newspaper

6.  submit a proposal for a writers' workshop to a regional exposition

7.  submit a proposal for an authors' table to be run at a regional exposition

8.   reach out to a friend who has just sent his first book to the printer

9.  clean the barn: organize my files to see if I have the makings of another short story collection

10. suggest to my granddaughter (she's six) another collaboration on a picture/story book

--edited by Perry on 12/22/2015, 7:42 AM--

I don't think my goal is very big. More, they're wishes I hope to fulfill. I'd love to be able to say, "OMG, I actually got something published!!!

I have a list of online magazines who might be interested in a few short stories I'm wanting to write. One I'm already writing, the others . . . they're still developing in my head, lol

Of course, that's assuming my Craft is up to par yet to be published. I like to think so, but we'll see. You never know until you try, after all.

I will try to figure out something meaningful to write for my newspaper column. My last column was about socialism--what it is and isn't. It struck a nerve, with everything from admiration to hate coming at me, and also some productive discussion from multiple political viewpoints. The one before that was about my experiences as an Army wife, and nobody had a problem with that. So I want to write something meaningful that gets good discussion going.

Also, I'm going to contribute to my journal--my love letters to the future. And if any of you writers aren't keeping one, I highly recommend the practice.

Lucy wrote, "Wow, Perry! You must not sleep either!"

 I sleep enough. I also have a long commute to and from a full time day job, and farm chores when I get home from work. My schedule requires efficiency and productivity in my few weekly writing hours. I wrote the list this morning, and have already knocked off numbers 3, 6, 7, and 8. I get my share of rejections, but enough of my things are published so that I'm motivated to move forward every day. 

@Amber, Lucy, Perry, RCGravelle: Good luck to us all!

PS. RCGravelle: Love what you wrote on your BC profile: "I write for people who like what I write." Hear-hear! For that matter, so glad you're here. I find the commentary you post throughout these threads to be sober, thoughtfully-worded, incisive contributions to ongoing discussions. You come across as a very grounded, intelligent person who chooses her words with deliberateness and care. It's good to see you posting more frequently!  

PPS. I'll be starting a new, just-for-fun gonzo thread soon: "The Never-Ending Book Country Story". It will be an invitation to contribute 10-30 sentences to an ongoing fictive narrative, said authorial contributions to be made no more than once a month. Watch for it! I'll announce it here when it launches. 

...........................

Later that night (1:30 AM, to be precise): http://www.bookcountry.com/Community/Discussion/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=8589938264 

It's here! Posted under GENERAL WRITING CHALLENGES. I hope we all have some fun with this.

One more writerly [sic] thing to do before 2015 ends: post to the thread! Amuse your friends, appall your neighbors, cause visiting agents and editors to groan and claw at their eyes! They can't stop you, because there are no rules. (Well, ermm . . . actually there are rules. But only four of them! Four little rules that are simple to understand, easy to implement and completely non-restrictive; I promise. Now go! Check it out! Help us write a ten-thousand page collaborative opus.)

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 12/23/2015, 7:40 PM--

Happy 2016, everyone!

. . . . I didn't make my 20,000 word quota. I would have, but I got depressed and didn't feel like writing. I was 1,200 words short

On the upside, I'm back to feeling normal, so I'm back

Well, I am emerging from my writing cave . . . bleary-eyed, with hunched shoulders . . . I do not have a full draft of my WIP done. I have 9 chapters of my WIP done (or at least, fully drafted). I have a big mess that is supposed to be the other 7 chapters and the epilogue.

Writing is hard, guys.

Happy 2016!!