Write every day! - January 2020 - Day 1

[zwei_hexen]

Welcome old hands and newcomers alike to a brand-new year, hopefully also with a generous dose of new writing motivation and energy!
Please don't hesitate to ask sylvanwitch or ysilme any questions you have.

Personally, I'm not one for new year resolutions, but to me it always feels like everything is resetting to zero at the start of the year, revealing new energy and opening up new opportunities. Of course, that doesn't negate the issues, problems and worries we can't just leave behind, or which we are confronted anew, so let's make the best out of what we've got, and, as far as writing goes, stick together for another round of mutual support and encouragement! :o) 

If you like, let us know about your goals for the new writing year or the month, look back on your last writing year, or whatever else you'd like to share!

(Ysilme)

Tally for January 2020:
Welcome Post

Let us know if we missed you or if you didn't check in for a while, so we can add you. Of course joining the fun is possible at any point.
~ ~ ~

ysilme here: 2019 has bee a quite good writing year for me, despite the fact that I didn't post much, and nearly managed to not post a single fan/transformative fic at all, were it not for a last-minute pinch hit yet to be revealed. I'm quite happy that I exceeded last year's writing goal by far, as far as word-count goes, and despite the lack of finished works made a decent inroad in working at WIPs, organising, plotting and planning particularly on several longer (and older) projects. I also wrote and published my usual original Christmas story project contribution and already got lovely feedback for it, started to blog a bit more regularly again (with the intention to do this really regularly), and
participated at and won my 7th NaNo (and have been so frustrated about the site's changes that I'm considering not doing it any more because of it). But 2019 also holds a major writing event for me: in November, I had a major plot- and world-building epiphany for my fantasy novel which had been stagnating for a while as I couldn't figure out some basic issues. Most of what I wrote so far will be discarded, including the main characters I'd already developed (although I might recycle these charas at some point), and since then I'm working at the world-building and character development, and doing a lot of research. Now it finally feels like a story complex enough to fill a book-long tale, unlike before. ;o) 
My main goal in 2020 is working at the novel (working title: Tales of the Northlands), working more at some WIPs and posting at least some of them, and right now in January writing my contribution for the My Slashy Valentine challenge which is due on Feburary 7th. I got a cool assignment with a subject I'm really looking forward to write about, but also no requests at all for plot, which leaves me a bit in the lurch as coming up with plot ideas is one of my weaknesses. *g*
Edit to add: I wrote about 900 words today, all non-fic.

sylvanwitch here:  My annual goal for inkingitout is 150K words again.  That will be some combination of original and fanfiction.  My immediate goal for the month of January is to send out at least two original short stories (I sent one just under the wire yesterday).  I also need to review the "ambush project" (an original time travel lesbian romance novel) to see what's left to do; I was on the third draft when I lost motivation back in the fall.  And I suppose I should revisit the lesbian space opera and figure out if its salvageable.  It's time to get serious again about trying to get published.  Otherwise, I hope to have fun playing in my usual fandoms and perhaps one or two new ones (I'm looking at you Witcher).  Today, I added 1239 to a Bond/Q fic I've been working on for more than two weeks, finishing the first draft.  Yay!

Comments

[mtassarin]

Hi, and happy 2020! :) This is my first time doing this. I love the idea.

I kicked the year off with 378 words for my current WIP, a court intrigue fantasy novel with a tentative and in no way final working title Peace Will Come. My goal for the month is 25K, so I'm hoping for bigger word counts in later days. But today I'm still tired from the New Year partying last night and a small dinner celebration of my birthday today, so I count it a big win that I sat down to write at all.

My big goals for 2020 include finishing the first draft of this WIP as well as editing/revising my big finished project, The Choosing One to the best of my ability as I figure out what I'm doing with it: querying or self-publishing. Other than that, I'll probably be working on some shorter stuff set in the same universe as The Choosing One and likely some VtM fanfic.

[sylvanwitch]

Welcome! We're so glad to have you here! Yay!

Your goals, both short- and long-term, sound fantastic and totally doable. Let us know what we can do to help you achieve them. If you need hand-holding, butt-kicking, shoulder-leaning, or some combination of those, we're your hosts. :-) Thank you for coming along on this writing adventure with us!

[ysilme]

Welcome to the challenge! :o)

[alexseanchai]

AO3 stats, 2019:
157195 words
22964 kudos
170443 hits

also of note:

I didn't get my first work to 200 kudos in 2019, but my post saying "ménage à quatre" cleared that (in its first forty hours after posting, no less) is timestamped 2018-12-31 09:06 (and I'm not sure when the fic I posted three weeks earlier became my then-most-kudosed, but before I posted that, my most-kudosed had 150ish and it went up in 2013)

I mention this to contextualize my mid-September post commemorating "you're full of something (but it ain't love—right?)" being my first thousand-kudos work

and more context for the aggregate stats:

AO3 stats, 2009–present:
459346 words
36249 kudos
451833 hits

…

(1) I love megafandoms
(2) apparently I got good???
(3) apparently I got popular what the actual fuck

---

goal 1: finish writing where the firelight fades and post the first chapter as hobbit birthday presents 2020 Jan 13

goal 2: write a novel-length story that starts out intended as a novel-length story (firelight, currently 44K, didn't; I don't recall that the only longer thing I've ever written did either, idk it was over a decade ago; these two things and one 20K piece of crap are the only things I've ever gotten into written words that cleared 15K at all)

(this is not my check-in; I'll be back in a few hours)

[sylvanwitch]

Those are some VERY respectable numbers! Also, kudos on all the kudos! Lol! Seriously, it's awesome that you've had such success in your fandom. May that success continue and grow in 2020! Yay!

[china_shop]

Hi! Yay! *rolls up sleeves* I want to work on finishing my WIPs this year. For January, that means:

1. A PWP, which is dragging on far too long because I write sex scenes really slowly whose idea was this again? Goal: finish and post.
2. Time Travel Fic #7. (Inspirational mantra: it doesn't have to be perfect; it just has to be finished!) Goal: get first draft to beta.
3. A Yuletide New Year's Resolution treat. Goal: finish first draft.

1st Dec: Alibi paragraph on the PWP.

I'll be back later on to check in for today (2nd). :-)

[ysilme]

1st Dec: Alibi paragraph on the PWP.
I knew you were ahead of us on the clock, but THIS much? ;o)
Good luck with your goals!

[sylvanwitch]

Re: #2: I'm reminded of a saying I used often when I was in charge of our school's reaccreditation process: Good is the enemy of done. ;-)
I wish you lots of words for all of your goals this month and for the whole year to come!

[trobadora]

Hi! Mainly my goal for 2020 is to do better, writing-wise, than I did in 2019. Last year was the worst writing year I've had since we started Write Every Day, and there were so many months that were nothing but alibi sentences. I was constantly tired and exhausted, I had no time, and I had basically no inspiration. Basically, I want all of that to be different (better) in 2020. (I did recover somewhat toward the end of the year, and I hope that'll carry over into January.) Fingers crossed!

On the other hand, I'm starting the year with an alibi sentence again ... *g*

Anyway, now that Yuletide is over with, I'm going to tackle my next exchange assignment, for sundial_exchange.

[ysilme]

I'm so sorry 2019 was so bad for you in regards to writing, and sincerely hope 2020 will be better!

[ofmonstrouswords]

Happy New Year!

My long-term goals for 2020 include finishing up lingering projects, publishing a few books, and getting moving on series that are occupying my head and kicking over furniture.

Word-count wise, I want to do 3k/week, overall goal being 150k this year.

Short-term...I'm so tired I can't think beyond sleep tonight, so...that.

So far I have written today! I don't know how many words because apparently the Wordpress app doesn't show them, but I did work on my first blog post of the new year. Which is mainly just going into detail on my writing goals, but hey.

[sylvanwitch]

Happy New Year to you as well!

As for today's writing: Words are words! (That could be our unofficial motto, along with, "Any words are better than none." :-)

Your goals sound totally doable, and I wish you the energy, focus, and time to achieve all of them! :-)

[the_siobhan]

2019 was me getting back into writing after a long hiatus.

My 2020 goal is just to write every day, even if it's just a few sentences. I have an original story I wrote years ago that I'd like to turn into a second draft and a couple of new projects that I work on whenever I hate the first one too much to look at it any more.

[sylvanwitch]

Let us know if there's anything we can do to help facilitate the word flow. Your goals sound totally doable, and I wish for you all the words! :-)

[sierranovembr]

I had a smashing start to the year of writing: 1210 words this afternoon! I think that’s more than any day last year, save one.

I signed up for a few bingos, and I would like to earn bingo on them this year. I have a modest word count total I will be working towards as well. Today definitely helped the second while not furthering the first at all.

[sylvanwitch]

That's a spectacular word count and an excellent example of "Begin as you mean to go on." Yay!

Also, good luck with the bingos! How fun!

[umadoshi]

Thanks for hosting!

So far my writing goals for 2020 are to write 120 days/75,000 words this year (between GYWO and inkingitout), which are the same goals I spectacularly failed to meet last year. But I'm going into this year with an active fandom, so we'll see!

I wrote a couple hundred words earlier today. ^_^

[sylvanwitch]

Yay for words and for manageable goals! If we can do anything to help you meet your goals this month, let us know. We're available for the whole spectrum from enthusiastic cheerleading to sincere butt-kicking. :-)

[cornerofmadness]

my goals are simple. Finish. My. Shit.

And to that end I wrote nothing I'm meant to be writing. Head desk.

I wrote 1,697 words on one Prodigal Son fanfic and got 335 words editing and p osting a different prodigal son fanfic

[sylvanwitch]

Sometimes, the (writing) heart wants what the heart wants. Lol!

Seriously, though, I feel your pain, as I share it. I SHOULD be focusing on original stuff, and all I want to do is fill another of my personal prompts bingo square. ;-)

Good luck with getting down the words that HAVE to be written rather than the ones that WANT to.

[nafs]

Happy new year! Thanks for hosting again :D

Thought I might end up checking in with an alibi sentence but ended up expanding a scene that I only had a beginning for. 620 words.

I'm still full of wonder that I'm actually writing again. If you'd told me in January 2019 that I'd be working on the novel in some way or another for five months of the year I would have either rolled my eyes in cynical disbelief or sobbed in relief. Setting a goal seems like tempting fate still, but I'm hoping that the snowball really gets rolling down the mountain and I end up with not only a truly finished draft with but a saleable version by the end of the year

[sylvanwitch]

Happy New Year!

First, today's word count: Awesome!

Next: YOU CAN TOTALLY DO IT! And we're here to help. If you need encouragement of any kind, let us know. I have every faith in your ability to finish the novel! Yay!

[alexcat]

I bgot 181 words today... didn't get much computer time as we saw The Rise of Skywalker, which has me wanting to read and write some SW.

[sylvanwitch]

Haven't seen it yet, but I hope you enjoyed it! Also, yay for words for the new year! Yay!

[yasaman]

Happy New Year! Resetting to zero is a perfect way to put it. I'm not much for resolutions, but I do appreciate that sense of reset. Thank you two for hosting again!

Day 1: Started a fresh WIP today, and go 501 words on it. Planning to finish this one this month, hopefully within two weeks! It's for a challenge due in February.

[sylvanwitch]

Happy New Year to you too!

Yay for so many lovely new words to begin as you mean to go on! You rock! :-)

[lferion]

Day 1 - 120 words on the beginning of a piece for Fan Flashworks and the January SWG challenge.

My goals for January are:
1. to keep my Fan Flashworks streak going, posting a written piece for each of the 3 challenges.
2. Do at least one and hopefully several pieces for the SWG January challenge
3. Post more of the things that are written but only on FFWorks or my journal to AO3
4. Write every day

[sylvanwitch]

Excellent goal-setting, and I mean that entirely non-patronizingly. I think one of my frequent problems has been that I set unreasonable and/or ill-defined goals. Your goals are precise and reasonable and awesome! I wish you good tidings in achieving all of them! :-)

[carenejeans]

Happy new year!

Day 1 writing: 647 words -- more than I've written in weeks! November and December were really hard. Mr. Bookshop had a serious health emergency, which now involves rehabilitation and whatnot, but at least we're no longer in crisis mode. I should be able to write more than alibi sentences now that things have settled down a bit.

My writing goals are kind of vague at the moment. I wrote many, many alibi sentences in the past month and a half -- this group & challenge has a powerful hold on me, apparently! And since the alibi sentences I write tend to be unexpected, peculiar and pointed, I'm going to experiment with using some of them as prompts for longer stories.

Otherwise, I'll probably be working on things already in progress, finish some fannish and original stories, maybe work on the bookshop novel and definitely work on the nonfiction project, which is past due. Sigh.

I signed up again for getyourwordsout for a word count goal of 150K. Last year I signed up for their habit challenge, but I think WED is better for that. Doing both was kind of redundant. So I've gone back to the word count goal to spur me on to write more every day. 8-) Onward and upward!

[sylvanwitch]

I'm sorry to hear about Mr. Bookshop's health crisis and glad to hear that he's doing better now. I wish him as swift a road to full recovery as is possible. I also wish you time and energy for writing now that the storm has passed.

I'm so glad to hear that WED is working in a positive way for you. I found it and still find it to be marvelous at making me write *something* even in my foulest mood or when I'm at my most exhausted.

I also LOVE your idea of using alibi sentences as prompts. I keep all of mine in a folder in my computer files and sometimes refer to them when I'm struggling. May the Muse be kind and all the words good ones! :-)

[mergatrude]

Hi! I have goals! I had a good degree of success in September and October, and am hoping to again write more than half the days of the month. I want to earn a streak badge at fan_flashworks.

To that end, I wrote and posted a poem on 1 January - only 20 words, but poetry involves a lot of adding and subtracting.

[sylvanwitch]

Oh, absolutely, re: poetry. 20 words of poetry are not a direct equivalent of twenty words of prose, in terms of time and effort, for sure. Yay! For beginning as you mean to go on and for have manageable goals to strive for! You rock! :-)

[sanguinity]

My goals are to find a way to develop a productive writing routine, despite the new job I just started in December. What that will look like, I don't know. Maybe it will have to wait until the job settles out some, I don't know. But I miss writing-brain.

Jan 1: 900 words.

[sylvanwitch]

First: Great word count! Yay! Strong start to the new year.

Second: I can relate, for sure, re: recovering your writing-brain. I hope you find it soon and that you manage a new routine that brings it back for you. :-)

[silveradept]

I did do writing, with the introduction to snowflake_challenge and working on Songfic #2. Need some levity in the narrative soon, and thankfully, the next planned chapter should provide exactly that.

[sylvanwitch]

Yay for words of all kinds! Enjoy the coming levity, too. I can well relate to wanting things to lighten up a bit already! Lol!

[auroracloud]

Oops, I nearly forgot to check in, I was so darn sleep deprived yesterday! Anyway, happy New Year to you both! I feel the same as ysilme that I don't do New Year's Resolutions, but the beginning of a new year still invites the sense of starting anew, looking ahead, thinking about my goals and evaluating how I do things.

I've decided not to sign up for anything word-count oriented this year, I'll just keep checking in here and have my own qualitative goals, which have to do with specific things I want to write. In January, I want to finish at least one of the two short original short stories I started last month - both are science fiction with f/f, I call one solarpunk though it's not very punk yet, and the other might qualify more generally as futuristic hopepunk - and send one or both onward. Otherwise, I hope to work on my more long-term writing goals. There is the historical novel I've been working on since last July, though I feel like it could use another break and some time to figure out what I'm doing with it. I'm thinking I could use some of January specifically for that, rather than push on writing it, but we'll see how things work out. I also have my so-called ambush project, which started as just something little to write when I was in Ireland in August, and has kind of blown up since then. It's also lesbian science-fiction, and I'm winging the world and the plot as I go, and it wants to be longer than short fiction. I'd love to do a little more on that again as well.

I'm planning to sign up for Chocolate Box, and it would be nice to get my assignment written already in January. I've also signed up for a femslashficlets prompt table where the prompts are queer women's literature quotes, and I'd like to get started on them.

Anyway, on the 1st I worked a bit on the more advanced of the two short stories, the solarpunk one. I also wrote down some ideas for the femslash prompt table!

[sylvanwitch]

I like your goals; they feel focused to me, like you know where you're going and are looking forward to the journey getting there. :-) Yay! As always, let us know if you need anything from us (e.g. *hugs*, butt-kicking, baby animal pictures :-) to help make that journey easier for you.

Also, yay for words! I hope you keep the momentum going!

[ysilme]

Best of luck with your yearly and monthly goal, and of course with the story sent out! ♥ It sounds like you're having quite some good writing-work ahead of you, and managed a terrific word count as well! *hugs*
We're watching the Witcher, too; Siljan is a big fan of the books, although I haven't read them. I haven't given it all my attention so far, mostly reading entries and writing comments while we were watching, but it's getting more and more interesting, particularly Geralt, and I plan to re-watch the episodes in English after we're trough. I seem to really have a thing going for men with long, white or very pale hair. *g*
I also added a bit over 900 words to my tally yesterday, all non-fic but good words. ^^

[sylvanwitch]

First, yay for that word count--that's fantastic.

Then, re: Geralt. Mmmmm. I find him enormously, um, compelling. I hadn't expected to like the show as much as I do, and I'm sad to have watched the last ep last evening, so I'll have to do as you are and undertake a rewatch. I have Feelings that will likely lead to fiction. ;-)