Monthly Update: September

I had wanted to use these monthly updates as a form of accountability, and have managed to – once again – miss a few posts. I have instead decided to set monthly goals (which, spoiler alert, I did not meet all of for September).

SEPTEMBER GOALS:
1.) Finish and submit a Writers of the Future submission ✅
2.) “Trash draft” of act 2 of WIP🟡
3.) Read and apply lessons from Save the Cat!🟡
4.) Exercise more✅
5.) Celebrate birthday✅

HOW I DID:
1.) This one made me laugh because it went against everything I had decided. I had wanted to really focus on my WIP, but of course, that didn’t happen. I was at least successful in submitting this story, and am proud of the result.
2.) I almost completed this for September. I had about two chapters left, but have run into a wall that came from a lack of in-depth planning. I think I need to take a look at my “trash-drafting” process and add some scaffolding methods to it: keep the creative freedom of not having a plan or direction and see what happens, but then go back and write out a plan and edits before repeating the “trash-drafting” of later points in the novel.
3.) I read through the book, but have yet to fully apply the lessons. I am trying to break it down into pieces for the next Writers of the Future story, which I am hoping to be able to submit to each quarter in addition to actually making progress in the novel.
4.) Check!✅
5.) This was an easy gimme goal so that I could at least accomplish one of the extensive list, but I had an incredible 27th birthday.

A FEW PICTURES FROM MY FOXWOODS TRIP:

PLANNING AHEAD: OCTOBER GOALS
1.) Finish some deep outlining for WIP: characters, worldbuilding, and plot beats so that I can be fully prepared to dive in for NaNoWriMo
2.) Read at least two books: one for fun and one for craft
(already read Howl’s Moving Castle for monthly book club, finished Annihilation: The Southern Reach Trilogy, plan to read Harry Potter for my Epic Novel Writing Class, and want to dig in deep to applying STC! to actual writing pieces)
3.) Finish a draft of the Writers of the Future story to hit it every quarter
4.) Aruba!

EPIC NOVEL WRITING CLASS:
This started for me in mid-September, and is a workshop taught by David Farland. So far we’ve read and dissected The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and had to watch the Star Wars movies to dissect the hero’s journey. We will be pulling apart Harry Potter to understand J.K. Rowling’s use of emotional draws, then next up will be Lord of the Rings for its broken narrative style and Dune for world building (which will be convenient timing to see the new movie as well!). The second half of the course is focused on our own writings, and applying these methods to be workshopped and critiqued. Excited to continue to provide updates on this!

Can’t wait to check back in next month and see if I managed to hit my goals and stay accountable!