RoW80 - Round One Goals

It's nearly time to start!  But before the Monday morning starting-pistol is fired I need to set my goals.  So take a deep breath, a healthy dose of reality and just a pinch of optimism.  Count to ten, and decide that my goals for round one are threefold: writing, editing and outlining.

WRITING: Finishing the first draft of the novel I started during NaNo 2010: The Last Days of Lucanium.  This should take approximately 30,000 words, so I'm aiming for an average of three thousand words a week.

EDITING: Working on the novel I started during NaNo 2009: The History of Haplow House.  The first draft was finally completed in August, and since then I have avoided reading it over.  I want to come to the editing with a completely fresh view.  There are seventy scenes in the draft, making up thirteen chapters.  This averages out to one scene a day.

OUTLINING: The Listeners: a story which I have been mulling over for some time, but not yet properly outlined.  There will probably be 150 - 200 scenes in this story, so I'm aiming to outline two or three scenes a day.

Working at this pace, I would reach my goals in seventy days, leaving ten days allowance for emergencies, illness, delays, and general "life-getting-in-the-way-of-art-ness" that is bound to happen.  Such as, to take a random example, moving house on January 8th.  Things like that.  If I look like finishing early, I will start editing Lucanium.  Or maybe I'll just kick back and enjoy the feeling of achievement.

Click here to see more goals, set by other RoW80 participants.  I'm going to go finish packing...

Warming up the engine

Less than 48 hours to go, prep done and typing fingers straining at the leash.  Just to make things even harder for myself more interesting I've signed up for NaBloPoMo, which requires a blog post every day.  There are no restrictions on length, subject matter or quality, but you must post something every day throughout November.  I have decided to track my NaNo experience.

There are several things I want to keep an eye on this November:

• how planning helps me this year, compared with no planning at all last year
• what affects my writing speed, style and satisfaction (time of day, what I've eaten, weather, before or after meds taken, etc.)
• if having a writing schedule helps me keep to other schedules, or if it interferes with them
• the effect of this challenge on my physical and mental health

...and last, but not least...

• can I suppress my inner editor?

Some days may see very short blog posts, but I will post something even if it's just "AAARGH!!" or "Bad day.  Goodnight".  Or, if it's a good writing day, "Can't talk.  Writing!"