Here are my goals for March:
- Complete my novel revision
- Post two blog entries each week
- Update my journal project and keep it current
One week in on this challenge and I’m fairly wobbly on the balancing act of actual writing versus platform growth and maintenance. I keep picturing Janelle Monae performing Tightrope in my head. I did manage to post at least two blog entries and to work through fifty pages of revision on my latest project, Institutionalized: I’m not Crazy. It’s a young adult (YA) novel about a young girl who is put away in a psych hospital as an out of control alcoholic runaway after she witnesses something she shouldn’t. She struggles with the abrupt changes in her reality brought about by what she witnessed, and how to convince someone – anyone – that she’s not crazy.
Now I only have 240+ pages to go. I just have to make sure I’m revising at least eighty pages a week for the rest of the month. Next month, it’s submission time. *gulp*
I didn’t even touch my journal project. I have been thinking about doing some kind of project/book dealing with autism for a long time, but I haven’t been ready – it’s just too close to the surface, the emotions, for me to write anything good. People are always curious about what life is like with a child autism and it’s difficult to explain in general terms, sometimes. One friend recently asked me if he would ever drive a car. I had to explain that even if he could ever get over his coordination issues, he could never get past his attention issues. Children with autism have difficulty filtering out stimuli and so can easily get overstimulated. Not good for rush hour traffic. Even if an airplane flew overhead – CRASH! So I came up with the idea of journaling my life with my son Trevor for one year. Maybe that could help me show what life with autism is really like and vent all of those emotions at the same time. Trevor turns eighteen next January. All kinds of things will start to change with this birthday. It’s a good year to try it.
Even when I don’t make daily entries, I make brief notes on my calendar and I’m just really behind on putting them down in the actual journal format. That’s the goal for this week for the journal- to get those entries caught up.
How are you doing with your writing goals? I’ll leave you with this motivational song to help you keep the balance going as you try to reach your writing goals as well:
valerie r lawson 
What great goals for the month! Revision is my least favorite thing (I think it is for a lot of people.) Good luck! I’ll be here cheering you on *waves pom poms* #writemotivation
You’re doing great so far, it’s only been a few days. Your novel sounds really intriguing, so I really hope you meet your revision goal 😀
The Journal re: Trevor is a wonderful idea. The more you can educate our unattached world the better. Case in point, I watched an old Bruce Willis movie “Mercury Rising” for the first time and while the young boy who played the autistic child seemed to stay true to what he was directed to do it didn’t quite get at what the autistic world is really like. I was especially disappointed when Bruce’s character, after going through so much protecting, rescuing, and eventually growing emotionally close (in a token scene at the end) allows the boy’s care to be taken over by some unknown foster parents. So the movie works hard at showing the difficulty and major challenges of being present for a child with autism, gets you identifying with that mountainous struggle and let’s you off the hook at the end by turning over the responsibility to someone else so the main character (and the audience) can get on with his (their) life. Doesn’t work that way.
I wont go into the number of times I yelled at the TV when they let go of the autistic child, in traffic, near train tracks, on a busy city street, or decided to have the hero take sleeping pills while the child was awake? “What the FUCK were they thinking?” Where’s child services when you need ’em?
ha ha! yeah, not exactly realistic. watching something like that with you would be like watching grey’s anatomy or any other medical show with tim. he can’t get over all the medical mistakes made. i try to tell him the storyline is more important than the monitor reading in the background, but…he just yells out BS! at every wrong thing they do.
Love the tightrope reference 🙂 Sounds like you’re kicking some serious butt doing those revisions. Eighty pages a week – phew! I don’t do well with revisions, it takes me forever. i’m lucky to get through 50. Good luck and keep cruising right along page by page!! Rooting for you to accomplish your March goals!!
that journal sounds like an awesome idea!
Learning to balance writing with platform building is like learning to walk a tightrope. For a while, you’re going to have a tough time, but eventually it will become second nature.
thanks for all of the writing goal support. i’m gonna need it.
Wow what a fun song! Thanks for sharing that. It’s still early in the month. You got this! And I agree, your novel sounds very interesting! 😀
*Throws confetti*
*\o/*
Hope to see you around! 😀
Thanks so much, Jamie.
Fantastic goals! I’m still struggling with keeping the platform-building vs. the actual writing balanced too. It’s a tough balance! Far too easy to end up only doing one or the other. I look forward to seeing how things progress for you this month!