July Goals

For the first time in years, I haven’t suffered the “dog days of summer” syndrome.  *knocks on wood*  It seems like most years, I have to kiss the writing goodbye during the summer months.  It’s too hard to get up in the mornings, because I stay up too late enjoying the evening hours of daylight.  The kids are up later, which make it hard to write at night, and if I’m not getting up early, then I can’t get anything done.

Having a deadline that I really wanted to meet has helped significantly.  I’ve made myself get up early most of June, even on Sundays before church.  Word wars have also been pretty productive.  Yeah, I’m tired, and some days I’m so tired I don’t even hear the alarm, but if I can even get up 3 or 4 days earlier than usual, then I can keep my momentum.  If I can get far enough into that regular writing, then I want to get up.

So to keep that production high into July, I’m still going to be getting up early and getting as much done before the Evil Day Job as possible.  Also, I’m keeping my schedule pretty full, which will keep me too busy to sleep in. 

My goals for July:

1. Maya #2 Synopsis.  Last night, I trimmed the monster nearly 6K synopsis down by 42.5% (yes, Wanda, I had to derive the formula), which is a great start.  I’ll print it out today and work on another major revision over the three-day weekend.  I committed to getting it turned in to Alissa by Tuesday, July 6th.

2. Holiday Novella.  Revise first draft, write blurb and brief synopsis.  Submit by July 15th.

3. Vicki.  *Sherri begins dancing with glee*  Re-read the 30K I have and plot out the rest of the story.  Plot outline due by July 31st.

Looking ahead, my goals for August-October will be finishing Vicki and working on Maya#2 per Alissa’s recommendations.  e.g. I might have to plot more, or I might be writing, but both Vicki and Maya#2 are my goals for the next few months.  I would also like to write a freebie to give away around Victor’s release.  By October, I want to be shifting gears back toward Deathright and Seven Crows – one of which will likely be my NaNoWriMo project.

Of course, any of these are subject to shifting around and re-prioritizing depending on what my editors want to see first.

How are the summer months going for you?  Still productive, or have you decided to kick back and enjoy the warmer months?