Goals -- What are yours?

[David DeLee]

I thought it would be interesting to start a thread about people's writing goals for the coming year. To start off I'll give you mine:

 

For 2011 I intend to write a minimum of 365,000 new words of fiction.

I believe this will take the form of four completed novel (between 60-90k each) and 14 short stories (avg. 6,000 each).

 

How about you. What are your writing goals for 2011? Let us know.

 

David DeLee

[I. J. Parker]

Sorry.  For me it's quality rather than quantity.  I'd like to come up with a new subject, after I finish the current novel. I might also like to do another short story.

[David DeLee]

Every writer is different, but I've never believed slow equals good and fast = bad. 365,000/year words sounds like a lot but when you do the math it really isn't. When I am in writing mode I write at a rate of about 750 words per minute. So 365,000 words a year is 1.5 hours of work per day. That leaves me with the rest of the day to either edit that section I've written, edit the previous days work or plan out the next days work. Of course that leaves me with no days off, no days that I can miss. So for me, my plan is to write 1500 words per day (about 6 pages or one decent size scene) M-F. That gives me weekends off or to use as make-up days if I miss a day. Just approaching it like a  day job.

[cj forrest]

You are going to give Isaac Asimov a run for his money.  Asimov was once asked if a huge asteroid was falling toward earth, and all life was going to be obliterated, and you only had five minutes until impact, what would you do?  He answered, “Type faster.”  Now that was a guy that loved to write.  It seems to be the case with you too.  CJ

[Jon Loomis]

750 words per minute?  Really?  That's something like three double-spaced pages.  In a minute.  According to Wikipedia, "the fastest typing speed ever, 216 words per minute, was achieved by Stella Pajunas-Garnand from Chicago in 1946 in one minute on an IBM electric."  Really good typists can do 120 wpm; reasonably good ones can do 70-90, and two-finger guys like me average around thirty.  Takes me a couple of hours to do 750 words on a good day.

[David DeLee]

No, typo on my part. 750 an hour is what I meant. Which for many is actually a slow pace, also I'm a 2-finger guy too. But I am also a very detailed planner, so when I write fiction, I've got a pretty good idea of where I'm going so during a writing session I don't send  lot of time staring off into space trying to figure out what I want to say or where the story is going for me. I safe that for when I'm driving and do other tedious, daily tasks.

Test yourself one day -- I bet you bang out words faster than you think you do.

[JackBludis]

Wow, 750 words a minute? That's ten times as fast as a very good secretary can type and almost twice as fast as I can read.

 

Just kidding, I'm guessing you mean per hour.

 

And you are on target when you mention those off days.

 

Jack Bludis

[David DeLee]

Yes, probably could use those sec'y when it comes to my editing and spell checking believe me.

 

I think if I do 750 words per hour and I achieve 1500 words a day (approx. 2 hours worth of work) Monday-Friday (that's the plan, that's 7500 per week, and 375,000 over 50 weeks, giving me two weeks off and not working weekends (or more likely time to make up for the inevitible slip-ups due to colds, family obligations, emergencies, etc.)

I think its important to build in time for and expect missed days, so they don't derail you.

 

Also, if I shoot for 365k and only attain 300 or something like that, I'll still be happy because I will have produced tons more than I did this year.

[cj forrest]

This is a good idea for a thread, David.  Somehow posting our goals here for everyone to see will make us more accountable to them.  That’s the thought I assume you had for it.  I hope everyone writes a post here because it will be inspiring to read everyone’s ambitions.

For me: I want to finish illustrating a children’s book I recently wrote and have it completed no later than May.  I would like to color my pencils for it in Photoshop, but since I’m not experienced with that software, I’ll need to tackle its learning curve. I also want to find an agent or a publisher for it, but I know that takes time.  As for the rest of the year, I can’t think that far ahead. CJ

[John Dishon]

Do you have a tablet, such as a Wacom Tablet? That will make your Photoshop experience easier.

[cj forrest]

Ohhhhhhh, man, do I wish I had one.  I should add this as another goal for 2011.  I’m broke as hell right now so I can’t afford it.  I was fooling around with a Wacom a while back and loved it.  Many of the better illustrators and popular book cover artists like Todd Lockwood work on a Wacom almost exclusively.  My hope is to scan my pencils in and edit and color with the Wacom.  I’m not a great colorist.  I have some red, green color blindness and I struggle mixing the warmer colors needed in fore grounds.  I get lost a bit when working with acrylics and oils, and working with a traditional color medium forces me to constantly change my light sources to depict the delicate changes.  With Photoshop or Corel Painter on a Wacom, I’ll have all the colors pretty much graphed out on the computer screen for me to chose and experiment without fighting external lighting conditions and guess work.  If you see a dopey artist on the street corner holding up a cardboard sign reading, “Will work for Wacom,” it’s probably me.  How about you?  Do you do much illustration work?    

[John Dishon]

Graphic design is a hobby for me, but I mainly focus on cover design and typesetting. I can't draw or paint very well. A friend of mine has a tablet, but I've never used one.

[Eric Christopherson]

365K words? Seriously? Thats three plus completed novels. Faster that Stephen King's output in his prime. Good luck ta ya though.

 

Me, I want to finish a first draft of my WIP by the time my first child arrives in May.