To be honest, the title of this post should be ”what did I do in 2014 & 2015”.
Unfortunately, the answer is Nothing. Writing wise at least.
I tinkered around the edges of I Can See You, but nothing more than that. I did manage to fill a couple of note books with random ramblings. I even organised these notes into my Scrivener file so I can work through them and tick them off when they are complete. Yeah, right!
To complete them you actually need to write.
Making notes and organising them is one thing. I need to transfer the thoughts to the page.
I’ve discussed this before, but I need a plan!
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Fresh New Year equals a fresh new start.
Sounds simple.
Read more. Write more. (I know, I know. I’ve said this before, many times!)
So I will make more of an effort to blog once a week on Saturdays. I will read more blogs and books in 2016. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t read a single book in 2015.
Small steps.
Get back into the writing habit and fall in love with my stories again. Make it part of my routine and maybe even refresh my blog theme as it hasn’t changed since I started blogging back in 2011.
Small, small steps. If I stick to the simple plan then even I have a chance. 🙂
Thanks for reading.
What are your plans for the year ahead?
Pete Denton 
I write a lot! May I suggest setting aside just fifteen minutes every day to write. Just fifteen minutes, not hard to commit to, right? Write say 25 words per minute (search and peck speed) that makes 375 words per day or equal to a whole book per year!
Thanks for the suggestion. Little and often is something we all should be able to manage. Might help me get back into the habit. 🙂
I would say “good luck” but its not luck that you need. You just need the determination to “get back in the saddle”. You can do it! I have faith in you!
Thank you. I feel focussed 🙂
Like you I haven’t written much for a couple of years, Pete ~ life and loss kinda got in the way. Many of the bloggers who formed my on~line community back when we started have also withdrawn and rarely write, whereas they used to post regular updates. I have a few notebooks of rambling thoughts but I’ve even found it difficult to keep that up consistently. And I’ve written no fiction at all ~ recently I discovered a computer file of short stories and couldn’t believe I’d written them!! As you say, I have to fall in love with it again to be more productive. Happy New Year ~ looking toward to more regular posts from you ~ and hoping that will inspire me! 🙂
I thought the same. I was looking up a few of the people who I started following in the early days and their blogs were either last updated in 2014 or completely vanished from the tinterweb world.
Hopefully we can push each other on to write more fiction in 2016 🙂
I never write much, not in terms of books/short stories etc, although I did do NaNo again this past November, I didn’t complete but I got around 42,000 words which I was really pleased with because the bones of the whole thing I wanted to write are there now, there are lots of gaps in it with instructions to me about what bits I need to write where. Now I need to actually go back and finish it!
Hope you achieve what you want to achieve this year – the thing to be sure though once you start reading and writing again, is are you still enjoying it, or at least do you feel you will be able to enjoy it again if you persevere? No point forcing yourself to keep doing it if it’s torturous! Hopefully you will find your enjoyment for it again though 🙂
42k for a Nano is a great start. I found a few [add more detail here] segments in my novel and I’ve done three drafts so not sure how I’ve missed them each time!
I do want to finish the book and let people read it. The last two years have gone by in a blur, but I still think about the story and the next books. I just need to finish it and I think things will flow again.
Maybe 50-50 on the torturous scale for now 🙂
My plans? Trying to regain some of the lot I totally lost when my hard drive crashed. My friends have some stuff, so everything is not gone…but…
Looking forward to more post from Pete.
Oh, no. I’ve been there before so share your pain. I now back everything up to dropbox. Helps me switch between laptops and keep updating the same file. I also routinely back up to a couple of flash drives and an external hard drive. A bit overkill probably but better to be save than sorry. 🙂
I hope you manage to recover more files.
Well done you started writing again already, our catch ups will be rescheduled and you just need to keep doing what you’re doing. Welcome back see the blank page as an opportunity not a threat
Thanks 🙂 We do need to rearrange our catch-up. I’ll tweet Mr H in a minute.
My plans for the New Year? Keep plodding on and try to accept the reality of being 65 while knowing I don’t feel it.
Happy New Year Pete and Good Luck !!
Hugs
I don’t like reality. That says I’m nearer 50 than 40, which I’m not prepared to accept just yet 🙂 All the best for 2016
Happy New Year! Looking forward to the adventures that await us in the days ahead. I wish you the very best in your writing. Every word counts…
Thank you. Adventures are great and I hope 2016 brings you many interesting adventures 🙂
I wish I could keep up with blogging. I love the shortness of the medium and the ability to discuss a wide range of topics. I love the ability to connect with other people. But my novel is my love and my goal is to finish my first draft and get the first 50 pages solid. My personal life is very busy, joyous but crazy and incredibly distracting. Some days I only write one day a week and I stay at home(so I don’t have the excuses of work). But I do a few things a years to keep myself motivated and inspired. This year I went to a novel pitch conference in New York. And an agent requested to see fifty pages of my novel so I have incredible motivation now!
Thanks, Shannon. Motivations like agents wanting the first 50 pages are very good at focussing the mind! It is about priorities and what you want to do most. Good luck with the novel. 🙂
Welcome back. 🙂
Thanks, it is good to be back 🙂
Small steps are the best way to start! I finally made some writing progress again last year as I began reminding myself that the process should be enjoyable above all else. I’m still working on that and hope to finish up a manuscript this year as a result.
great news. I hope you finish as planned. You’re right about enjoying the process. I think I’d stopped enjoying it and found it more of a chore. Hopefully I can get back to love the process and join you in finishing it sometime before the end of 2016!
Happy New Year. I’m pleased you haven’t given up on blogging or writing. It’s not easy when life gets busy to fit it all in but I tinker a bit with schedules, and manage something. I enjoy the blogging community way too much to let it slip away.
Good point. I have missed the blogging community. It’s drawn me back in 🙂
These are terrific goals. Go Pete! If I could make a suggestion–maybe set a page count or word count for writing and a time limit for blog visits–like an hour a week? I find if I have a concrete number it’s easier to hold myself accountable.
I’m revising Six Train’s sequel and publishing it this fall. I’m going to do a second draft of The Girl’s sequel this summer. I’d like to query my other YA book again. I’m taking a 5 day writing workshop and promoting all the published books. That’s all I can manage this year I think. 😉 I plan it all out in an Excel spreadsheet.
I do like good plans. I like the targets approach particularly blogging otherwise I get carried away! Nearly a quarter through the year already 🙂