Freedom From The Mundane - A Writer's Blog

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

May GDR Review

All of the last remaining issues of Hunting Jack were redrafted and prepared for my last submission to KIC. 'The End' really does mean, the end. I sent them in to my editor and highlighted the last one as marking the conclusion of the story; a lovely feeling of accomplishment.

There was no time to sit back and dwell on the success of finishing the serial. With it being the end of the month, there are still some things I had to get completed that I promised myself I would. Until they were done, I couldn't relax and start thinking about the month of June. Suddenly, next month holds new and interesting projects.

I polished Monday Mornings for the Writing Magazine competition. Unfortunately the issue with the details is still in a box in the garage and could I find it? Nope. I'll have to contact the magazine's forum tomorrow to find out the details for it.

I also complete redrafted some poems and completed the article on Robert Louis Stevenson. I'm not happy with it. It has all the information relevant to the specification, but it reads quite jump-starty. It doesn't flow as smooth I would like it to, so more work is required there.

GDR Review for May

Fiction
* Last 9 issues of Hunting Jack - complete.
* Complete Monday Mornings and submit - complete after 4th draft. Needs submitted to WM competition.
* Complete Whisky Snatching and submit - not done
* Write 3 new short stories - not done

Poetry
* Write 8 new poems 5 new (3 Haiku poems, 2 normal - More or Less, In The City)
* Edit and complete 7 poems in WIP - 4 done (Brunette, Scotland Neglected, Swally, Bohernabreena) 1 binned (Britannia) 2 waiting.
* Write 6 kids poems - not done

Non-Fiction
* Travel article on Edinburgh Literary Figures (priority) - complete. Needs smoothed out.

Marketing and Promotion
* Compile and send out press release for completion of Hunting Jack - decided it wasn't worth it. Will wait until in novel format.
* Try to contact Leith FM one last time - done. No response. Will contact when on air next month.
* Look at possibility of advertising HJ at the Leith Festival - not possible (too costly).

Reading and Research
* Read more poetry and fiction - bought Stolen Mummies by Rick Lupert and RLS novels, Treasure Island, Kidnapped and Jekyll and Hyde
* Keep up to date with KIC e-zines - done
* Research Hunting Jack e-book - done and notes written from research.

Technical
* Write more Web Development manual chapters - reviewed existing chapters and polished up.

Things that turned up
* Deadline provided for KIC e-Book: July 15th. Decided to wait for fortnight after HJ completion to see if I still want to do it.
* Gig review of Prince Buster at Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh
* Gig review of Oasis at Usher Hall, Edinburgh
* Wrote article on e-book creation and pitched to writer-on-line.com 12/5/05

Successes
* Completing Hunting Jack to novel length
* Accepted as official sponsor for PSH Poetry Competition 2005

Failures
* Rejection Letter from Take A Break for Heart of a Child. Resubmitted to Outercast Magazine.
* Heart of a Child rejected from Outercast within 24 hours
* Never wrote for ten days during the month - black hole of inspiration
* Rejection from Spoiled Ink for Loaded

Statistics
Fiction - 12000 (last month 10,000)
Non-Fiction - 3630 (last month 0)
Blog - 19,200 (last month 16,600)

Summary
Despite its ups and downs, May 2005 will be remembered as the month I completed my e-serial, Hunting Jack, to novel length. Outwith my publishing record to date, it is by far my biggest writing accomplishment. It took nine months of turmoil, dedication and commitment, but it was fun and thrilling.

The month had got off to a great start but in the middle I suffered a block of about ten days of no writing. I'm not sure what happened; the only conclusion I could come to was that I was subconsciously not looking forward to completing the book.

On other projects I moved forward well. I reached new curves of learning with poetry through exposure to new and exciting poets, and I wrote a fair amount of non-fiction. I didn't write as much fiction as planned, mainly down to the fact I threw everything into completing Hunting Jack.

There was a lot that didn't get done, but finishing the book strikes them all out.

Next month I can move my GDR plan into new areas. It's almost mid-way through the year already and I have to tie up some of the larger projects for good.

Colin 11:44 am

2 Comments:

Wow! You had an awesome month. Congratulations.

Brenda
I'd say you have every right to feel accomplished!!
;-)

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