Welcome back to Part 2 of my Writer's Year.
Although I didn't mention it in part 1, I did set myself an unspoken/written target on my word count this year.
Not only did I want to improve on my 2016 total (see further down the page) but I wanted to exceed 40,000 words. I have to the end of December...
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| My year Part 2... |
(My typing speed is improving.)
So here's July to December.
July
It was an exciting month. My daughter finished University and we attended the
graduation ceremony at Trentham Gardens.
I also led my first
workshop.
August
This month can be summed up with the word boxes. We have work to be done on the house, rewiring and re-plumbing (to start with).The storage unit was sorted and we began sorting, disposing of, and packing.
The quote for the rewiring was selected with a provisional starting date of October.
Guest post by Sally Quilford.
September
The writing stopped for most of this month. But I did attend
a book launch in Waterstones Nottingham, for Cathy Bramley's The Lemon Tree Café.
October
This was a good and bad month.
Having signed up to Readly earlier in the year, I was researching what
magazine filler slots there were available.
As well as sorting and packing I had other time consuming commitments. But they all faded into the background when my OH was hospitalised for a short spell, and recovery was slow. Very happy to say he's okay now and is feeling much better than before that happened.
My shelf sorting revealed my
box of old floppy disks of short stories, articles and my first novel (unfinished). Even better I can access them for future use.
November
Eye issues and new glasses. The unpleasant winter cough and cold bug. :(
December
Two Christmas parties.
Looking back, I haven't made as much progress as I'd hoped on my main project, which is a big disappointment.
But there's been positives across the year. I still co-host #writingchat on a Wednesday evening on Twitter (when I'm not at the writers' club).
I have been a Belmont Belle for 18 months (the Leicester Chapter of the RNA), and celebrated my second Christmas party with them all. :-)
Both of these have given me insights and knowledge I didn't have when I joined them, and in turn they've increased my confidence in so many ways- thank you all.
My 2016 word count was: 34.612
My 2017 word count (currently): 35,884 - to be updated after Christmas.
So to my targets for 2018...
Get that second draft completed.
Continue to be open to writing opportunities and experiences.
Rewrite/revise a few of those short stories I found on my floppy disks.
More reading and much more writing.
And especially to keep writing while all the work is being done on the house...
