Looking Back to Look Forward

Last week’s post on How We Buckle  Down and Focus on Our Writing, another entry in our How I Write series, really got me thinking since it didn’t seem like I was physcially or mentally able to sit down and focus this past week. The result was the topic that I challenged my accountability group to answer this week: Where are you now? Where is that, in comparison to where you were six months ago? A year? Five years, ten? How have your goals changed? What would you do differently?”

10 Years Ago

We were living two time zones east in Austin, TX. We had two pre-schoolers at that point who kept me busy. Somehow, I was still active with LegendMUD: coding, designing areas, writing quests, descriptions and dialogue for the computer-controlled characters. This was basically a text adventure game that spanned three eras of time and attempted to present “History as it was thought to be at the time.” This meant magic worked according to myth and legends and you could run into virtual versions of many historical figures or even take an active role in those same myths, legends and historical events. I was also doing technical writing as well as doing op-ed and more explanatory pieces surrounding updates and the community. We were well-connected to a diverse group of friends and colleagues in the area.

5 Years Ago

When we moved to San Diego, CA, and basically ripped apart our social fabric once again. We signed the kids up for scouts so they could benefit from the programs and get to know other kids in their school as we didn’t live in the same neighborhood. I was reading up to 2-3books a week while waiting to pick them up from school. I was also no longer involved with LegendMUD but bored as just a player on another game and I was looking for a creative outlet. At this point most of my energy was going into making my son’s Cub Scout experience worthwhile.

4 Years Ago

The next summer, I picked up DH’s copy of Becoming A Writer by Dorothea Brande. I swear, she spoke to me across the decades. She lit a fire under my butt and I couldn’t ignore her. I found the Romance Divas writing forum while looking for information on how to get started and chewed my way through DH’s books on craft, soaking up everything I could. It was at RD that I met Bria Quinlan and Jodi Henley. These two people are still inspirational and influential today. In fall 2007, I started Beneath His Touch, writing for hours in the chat challenges. Thus began my journey of alternating rounds of craft study & bouts of writing.

This cycle continued as a sort of holding pattern as we also dealt with our son’s recurring migraine and sinus issues which led to a quarter of independent study, that stopped my writing dead in its tracks. That was two years ago. I’m slowly recovering and gaining momentum as you’ll see below.

1 Year Ago

Last year, in the week before Thanksgiving, we decided to start house hunting as our lease was up at the end of the year. We found a house, closed on it and were moved in by the second week in February. Silly me, at this point, I was also trying to finish a draft of the full novel I’d started in the fall of 2007 (BHT) and finalizing my goals for 2011. Revealed was stuck at a weird half-way point and the heroine wasn’t very sympathetic. The overall plot was in place, but the hero’s side of the story was mostly missing. And I have a handful of other false starts that I can’t just toss out, because the characters want their stories told. Now, if anyone knows how to keep them quiet while I focus on a particular pair at a time, my life would be so much easier.

6 Months Ago

My oldest promoted from Middle School to High school and I took the plunge to join both RWA National and the local San Diego Chapter. I’ve slowly been pushing myself out of my comfort zone, but I’m still reluctant to push myself. It’s getting easier, especially when I look back like this and see how much I have been able to do. I also finished a round of polish on the full novel I started in 2007 & prepared my first submission to a literary agent. My local RWASD chaptermates are also good about pushing me. I mentioned I needed to start submitting and get my PRO membership. They kept asking if I’d done it yet. Then it was hugs & cheering and “Have you submitted your PRO app yet?” See? They support and propel you along. They’re awesome like that.

Where Am I now?

Many days, I don’t feel like I’ve come that far, but I’m now a recognized PRO member of RWA which means I’ve made a submission and am actively working toward publication. I still haven’t heard back, but their automated receipt was enough! I’m also reworking Revealed and turning it into what it was intended to be instead of taking easy and lazy ways in regard to characters and their reactions and decisions. It’s still the same essential story, but it reads so much better. It’s always a good thing when you can see the strength of the heroine instead of wanting to slap her for being a constant watering pot. I’ve also joined an online chapter of RWA , The Beau Monde Chapter, which specializes in the Regency Era, and boy am I soaking up lots of Town Bronze there! More importantly, instead of feeling like I was spinning my wheels with the same two stories, I started another one to see what I’d learned and to try a slightly different approach. I’ve run into a brick wall, but I think that was just because I called it a NaNo project and got discouraged when I couldn’t hit the numbers. But, I’m not giving up on it!

How have my goals changed?

In the past four years, I’ve moved from writing simply to amuse myself to wanting to see my book on a shelf and treating it more like an actual business. I even have real business cards. My goals are SMARTer. They’re more realistic, more structured, and I’m much more conscious of the longer term goals on a week-by-week basis thanks to my accountability group. My goals are also more public and more ambitious. I’ll be attending the RWA National Conference in Anaheim next summer. You’ll notice my real name is now attached to my writing and social media. I haven’t been laughed at yet for saying I want to write Regency Romance novels. Most people think it’s pretty cool.

What would I do differently?

I definitely would have joined RWA sooner for the support, especially at the local level. I really wish I’d taken both days of Bob Mayer’s Warrior Writer workshop, but I’m glad I decided on the day based on his Who Dares Wins book over the day dedicated to our stories. I needed to hear the bit about stepping out of our comfort zones and that’s where I met Pamela Moran and M. A. Taylor, who cemented my decision to join RWA & RWASD. And yes, I should have listened to them and joined then, not waited two more years. I do wish I’d been more serious about trying to reach a daily or weekly quota that worked with my writing cycle, but that’s something I don’t have to label as a regret, but can take and work toward that in my 2012 goals and beyond.

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YOUR TURN: Can you see your growth and progress toward your goals? Are you happy with where you are now? When’s the last time you did something for the first time?

And if you’d like to read about how the rest of my group approaches their research, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Angeleque Ford * Danie Ford *
* Emma G. Delaney * Kimberly Farris *