My progress is a little stalled. Part of it has to do with submitting a work. Maybe others can ignore the pending acceptances and rejections that are coming your way after you submit, but I can’t.

I’m trying to focus on my WIP 2042, but a part of my mind is always thinking about what acceptance or rejection might be sitting in my inbox waiting for me to read. Though I have so far received positive responses to my submitted work, it’s hard to not worry about what reply might be waiting for you to read, and which will no doubt knock you from your momentum.

What parts of my brain aren’t deviated with what might be in my inbox is considering what to do with the positive remarks I have received. What qualities are important to me in a publisher? What parts of the writing process do I want to focus on, to grow my career on?

I managed to accomplish my goal three nights this week, but that’s nowhere near the kind of production I need to complete my work in time for the deadline. So in order to get myself focused I’ve taken a calendar and plotted out how much I need to achieve each day to finish my work by March 1st.

I use Google calendars, so I can move around activities as I need to. Move up an assignment if I get things done faster, or down if I accomplish them slower L, than I anticipate. It also makes sense for planning out how you’re going to do projects in a longer setting (like the projects I want to do for the next several months).

I’ll check in next week and let you all know if the calendar/list is working for me, and how I’m progressing on my work.

And if you get a chance don't forget to stop by Nocturnal Nights to see my interview of my friend Tina Donahue. She's an amazing writer, with a lot of great advice to share and fun stories to tell.
http://tabithablake.blogspot.com/2011/02/interview-of-tina-donahue.html

I had a great week this week. With the deadline of submitting by the end of the month pushing me forward I managed to either meet my three page a day goal or exceeded it every day. I’m starting to feel much closer to the flow. I’m still not back to my regular output but I’m much closer. And I’m enjoying it as well.

I made my goal of submitting a work by the end of the month, and have so far received a positive response. It looks like Midnight Mirage may find a home, which I feared for some time wouldn’t happen (though it may do so under a different name, hold tight on that).

In order to further motivate me, I’ve put together a list a projects I’d like to finish up or work on this year. If I maintain my goals I believe this is a very do able list.

2011 Projects

-Finish all the Holiday list series
(Naughty List and Midnight Mirage are done, that only leaves three more).
I’d like to have all these books written, if not published.
-Post Apocalyptic New York – which I’ve so far called 2042 until a better title comes to me
This one is due for an open call by the end of February and will be my project for this next month
-Wandering off the path – finish edits and submit again
-Missing pieces – edit and submit.
-All for my baby (MMF) – write, edit and submit.
-Mistress Nina
-Secret Admirer

Projects I’d like to finish if I have time (may not be actual titles)
-Beau and the Beastress
-Pride and Prejudice and bondage
-Missing memories
-Secret Desire
-Secret Crush
-Fire Dancer

Only time will tell how many of these projects I will be able to complete this year, but I’ll do my best. And of course there’s always flexibility for any new ideas that comes my way.  It seems some of my best ideas come upon quickly and if I don’t take advantage they disappear.

So what idea do you think is the most interesting? Are there any you want to know more about?  Let me know what you think.

Also if you have a second stop on by Nocturnal Nights to read my friend Em Petrova’s guest blog. She discusses the feeling of insecurity and unknown that go along with writing. Something I can definitely relate to. Its what I’ve been stuck in for over a month.
http://tabithablake.blogspot.com/2011/01/feeling-in-dark.html

I did much better this week on my goals, in large part due to my giant project at work finally being completed. Now with a new employee to take over some of my responsibilities, I shouldn’t be so over worked again until the year end, hopefully.

I accomplished my goal of writing three pages for five days this week. It disappointed me that I didn’t manage to exceed that goal any night, but given I often had to work to achieve my goal, I am still happy with my results.

Additionally, this week I got an idea for a special call that has a set deadline. No excuses. A few months ago, when I was in my flow, I could have been able to write this story and revise it in a month, but right now, I’m not sure. I’ve made some progress on it, and so far I’m really pleased with what I’ve written. But it is going slower than I’d like, and much of the research is slowing me down (I’m not used to this kind of research, but it’s important to me that it be as accurate as possible).

This next week my focus will be split between moving forward on my new WIP with the hard deadline, for now titled 2042, but hopefully will get a better title once the work progresses further. And getting Midnight Mirage submitted, to complete my third goal, to submit something every month. This will be my first submission of the year. All I have to do is finish revising a bit and write the synopsis to get it submitted.

Wish me luck!

I haven't done anywhere near as well on my New Year’s resolutions as I hope to. Unfortunately real life got in the way big time. I had a huge deadline for the Evil Day Job that could not be altered (The IRS can be like that!!) which zapped all my time and energy.

However even without that deadline its still been a lot harder than it used to be. It really does feel like my writing muscles have atrophied. I haven’t used them like I used to over the past several months. Between promoting my release, the holiday’s and my new job, I’ve allowed my writing muscles to become weak. And it’s going to take a decent amount of work, energy and time to get them back to fighting shape, but I'm determined to do so.

And my New Year’s goals did their job. The days I was able to make my goals, it was because I pushed through to meet my promise to myself. Because I wanted to make one more red X on my calendar.

But in order to make my third goal (to submit something by the end of the month) I need to step it up. I need to push through the exhaustion. I need to make my writing more of a priority. That's the only way I'll be able to have a shot at the dreams I want to achieve. To keep pushing, to keep going, to work through the pain.