Teen Writers Bloc

I suck at sticking to New Year’s Resolutions. It’s so easy to go big when you know that, really, in the end, there are no consequences. Except, of course, for failure. But when you’re aiming so high, you know it’s almost inevitable, and there is some strange comfort in that.

So every year, I make this big, ambitious list and record it in the planner I so enthusiastically buy to record my daily goals and accomplishments.  And by the end of January, it — along with said planner — is long forgotten.

This year, I’m hoping recording the list on this blog for all the world to see will offer me some threat of accountability for my oft-delusional ambitions. If not that, at least there will be Dhonielle checking in with me on IM at 1 a.m., asking me how many words I’ve written today.

I’ve said here before that I am a master procastinator. That still holds true. But also, for the past two years, my life has been chaos, induced by both a baby and a venture into running my own writing business for a living. So making time to write has been a major problem for me.

Adding grad school to that mix hasn’t helped the craziness much. But the idea is that having real, set deadlines will force me to write. Because apparently, working in journalism for ten years has engrained in me this weird notion that I should be paid for the hours spent tap, tap, tapping away at the keyboard, that my writing deserves to be compensated. Well and good, but to get a book deal, you’ve got to have already written the book.

So that’s my incredibly long-winded way of saying that this is the year that I will actually write the book. I’ve got two long-stewing works-in-progress, and my major intent for 2011 is to finally finish both of them. That’s right, finish. This means completed first draft, major rewrites, final revisions. I want to get both of these novels to a place where they’re ready to go out to agents and eventually publishers, to stop coddling them and dilly-dallying and mucking about with my outlines.

Thankfully, I’ve got my weekly Monday writing group, whose enthusiasm and feedback will help me plow through and motivate me with regular — serious — bi-weekly deadlines. This is the kind of accountability I need. And the fact that their big picture feedback is fabulous will also help me chug along. Of course, in addition to this is the grad program’s traditional Tuesday night workshop, the second semester of which is intended to kick our asses. Which is just what I need.

The Monday workshop folks have also come up with a strategy I’m hoping will force me to keep my ass in the chair and write. We plan to meet up in the school lounge for two or three hours at a time, take a half-hour to get the gossip out of our systems, then sit down, shut up and write. The idea of getting out of the house and into a formal this-is-my-writing-time setting is appealing and hopefully will keep me from regressing into, ‘Oh, but I must read about Paris Hilton’s latest dalliance, or check out my favorite writers’ blogs to see how much they’re getting done.’ It’ll be clock-in, clock-out work, so it will make me take writing time more seriously.

Then there will be my weekly writers’ retreat with my husband, Navdeep. Our plan is to have a once-a-week set check-in, where we’ll talk about our progress, our goals, and go over pages. This is essentially to keep us both on track and honest, to make sure we’re hitting both our weekly word counts and moving forward in the big picture progress.

Finally, there’s just me. In the end, that’s what it all comes down to. This is the year I have to let myself take this seriously, to get things done. If my aim is true, it will get done. So I’ve set a goal of about 2500 words a week — that’s not overly ambitious, as I’ve in the past. It’s five days a week, 500 words a day. Or two days of 1000 and one of 500. Or 2500 in one frenzied fell swoop. In any case, a very manageable goal. If I hit more, yay for me! But I should be able to do at least that much.

I’ve got a great motivator looming on the horizon. It’s the annual ASJA conference. This is, in actuality, a journalism conference. But besides working the freelancer vibe, it also extends an opportunity for meeting with agents. I had six last year, and all six asked to see my work when I was ready. Was it ready? No. Will it be ready this year? Damn skippy it will.

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