Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Way We Are: November Goals Met?

I'm guessing pretty much all of us made writing-related goals in November. It may have been NaNoWriMo, NaNoRe/Rev/ReviMo, or your own tailored writing / revising / query writing / synopsis writing / querying / researching goals. Am I right? Since it's the last day of November, my question today is....

Did you meet your goals this month?

My goals this month consisted of revising, revising, revising, oh, and a little bit of revising. It ended up that I went through this goal a bit faster than I had anticipated, and finished early! Yay! So then I set new goals. Drafting goals. Did I meet them? Even a little bit? Um... I'm going to have to go with a big NO. I ended up going with the more manageable goals of doing everything on my daily to-do list. I even fell short on those more often than not.

But DECEMBER, oh December. That's when I'm really going to figure out how to be a million times more efficient and have more days that I cross everything off my to-do list than days when I don't. THAT'S my goal. Get above 50%.

How about you? Did the fact that you met or didn't meet your November goals effect your December ones?

39 comments:

DRC said...

November goals were set, battled and conquered. I finished my novel, edited it and had it published on Amazon. I suppose you could say it's been a success. Only time will tell for sure. As for December, I'm writing a set of short ghost stories for a competition. I't never ending...

Anonymous said...

I crossed the NaNo finish line last night. And I'll be honest with you, it's the fastest I've ever reached 50K. Maybe I can finish the rest of this story by the end of December. That's another 50K, though...

Talli Roland said...

Happy to say I met my goals for November - yay! My December one is to RELAX. I think that might be a tough one!

Cherie Reich said...

Were my goals met? Yes and no. I did complete novel one, but I'm only half-way into novel two. So perhaps I'll do NaNoWriMo 1.5 or something. I'm sure I'll finish novel two in the next week or so, but it'll cut into my December goals.

It's good to have goals, even if you don't quite complete them. The key is to realize why you may have not completed them, learn, and grow from the experience. :)

JeffO said...

No to meeting all of the November goals, but yes to meeting what was probably the most important one: overcoming the mental hurdle and passing a manuscript on to readers for critique. I did not finish a NaNoWriMo, and, in fact, I think I'm forced to mothball the story for a while, but getting the ms out was more important on many, many levels, so I'm satisfied.

WilyBCool said...

I'm still here! Goal met!

LOL! No, I'm not that pathetic, perhaps close somedays but, I'll get over it.

;D

David P. King said...

Nowhere close, but that happens when you get sick for a couple weeks. Still closer to finishing my goals than I was last month, however. That means December is more booked than previously wanted. Off to finish stuff! :)

Cassie Mae said...

Polishing November. Totally conquered!!!!

Now, querying December? Not sure if I have the guts to take the plunge. Agh!

Kelley Lynn said...

I nailed my November goals.

Goals for December? Finish Manuscript #4 and find an agent for manuscript #2 ;)

Anonymous said...

No my goals haven't been met as much as I'd like. I've learned to be more flexible and hope and pray it will come eventually.

Angela Cothran said...

I made it about half way--but that is 25k words more than I had in October so I feel like it was a win :)

Emily R. King said...

November was a good month. I hope to finish through the first round of edits by the New Year. Wow! Can you believe 2012 is right around the corner?

Sara B. Larson said...

I think this is the first time I've failed at meeting a writing goal, and it was making me crazy at first. But - I made myself let it go. I have a baby who needed me, and a crazy schedule, and things came up. I know I can get the writing done when I have to. So I'm telling myself it's ok that I didn't finish another book this month. It's ok. It really is. He he. Still trying to convince myself apparently...

Stacy Henrie said...

I had a large revision project I needed to finish by the beginning of November and I did! Since then I've been taking things slow with my WiP and preparing for the holidays.

Jennie Bennett said...

I've just about met my November goal, and December should be quite interesting, I'm not sure I'll get anything done :)

Cynthia Chapman Willis said...

Good for you for meeting that initial goal. I had set a goal for November, but then I added more goals and that made a mess of things. I am hoping, though, to still meet my end of year goal--hoping being the key word.

Patti said...

I totally failed with NaNo, so I'm hoping to do better in December. Maybe I'll start with setting more reasonable goals.

Small Town Shelly Brown said...

So I crossed the 50k line and felt pretty good about myself but them got a little lazy and I'm wondering how my December goals are going to pan out. I guess I'll just have to see.

Jenny S. Morris said...

You already know my answer. RevMo- It's not just for November. LOL. And I think you can totally pat yourself on the back for November, HELLO, you sold your book.

Anonymous said...

I didn't make my goal, but I kind of knew that I wouldn't. I just write the best that I can and do the most for me!

Chantele Sedgwick said...

YES! I actually made my goal! *PARTY* Thanks for the support in revisions! You rock. ;)

Iain said...

YES! i met my goals. Thanks to you for suggesting the RevMo, and th RevMo gang's support.
I got so much more done that I would have without all of you :o)

Maggie said...

All this achievement around here is making me nervous, I failed massively. But hey, I sent out a lot of queries and am finally getting some requests, so that's a start.

Leigh Covington said...

It was hard for me to blow off writing goals for November, but I did. The only goal I had was to write my papers for school - and that goal was NO FUN! However, I am DYING to get back to writing, and after Friday, I finally can! That's when the goals come out for me! Whoo-hoo!

prerna pickett said...

Ahhh! It's almost December?!? I've almost accomplished my goals. I wanted to get to 25,000 words for NaNo and I should do that by tonight. And I finished my latest edits, too! All in all, a pretty productive month.

Golden Eagle said...

I met my goals this month--or, rather, goal, since I was focusing on NaNoWriMo. I had thought about trying to finish the novel before the end of the month, but since I reached 50k, I decided to leave that for December.

S.P. Bowers said...

Eeep, I've 30 more pages to edit to meet my Nov goal. I can do that before midnight right???

Megan Dolan said...

Hmmm, did I meet my writing goals in November? What comes after FAIL? If failing is stapling your finger instead of the paper, then I tried to use a pickle instead of a stapler. Aaand, that is practically the longest thing I wrote all month. Boo Megan! December will be better. Wait, it will, right??

Unknown said...

I met my goals 200% this November, doing waaaaaay more than I thought I could. This December my goal is to start revisions, while not overloading myself with Christmas preparations. Ha, good luck with that one.

Peggy Eddleman said...

DRC-- Holy frijole! That's an unbelievable amount to get done in one month! Yeah, I think you can safely say it was a successful month.

Joshua-- CONGRATULATIONS!!! And finishing early, too! Best of luck finishing- whether you finish in December or beyond.

Talli-- When you've been working that hard, it is just as tough to relax! I hope you do it, though, and LOVE IT.

Cherie-- Wait. You wrote 1 1/2 novels... all in November?!?! Seriously? WOW! Yep, I totally agree that it's good to make goals. Hm. Did I grow and learn from not meeting mine? A little, I guess. My to-do list about doubled in size, and although I have become more efficient, I haven't found a way to be efficient enough. So I guess I have some more learning and growing to go. :)

JeffO-- Sometimes the goal you set at the beginning ends up not being the most important goal. So accomplishing the most important thing? I say that's a good month, indeed.

WilyBCool-- Ha! Why didn't I think of that goal? It's brilliant! And also, my new goal for December.

David-- :( I got sick, too, which really manages to put you into slow-mode. Luckily I wasn't sick for weeks, though. Dang! That must've been rough.

Cassie-- Nice! Congrats!! And you've got the guts to take the plunge. Come on! Click send. You can do it!

Kelley-- I can't even believe #4 is your goal, when you've only been writing as long as you have. You're amazing!

Madeline-- Ahh. Learning to be more flexible. Definitely an important thing when it comes to goal setting!

Angela-- Awww! I'm in love with your positive attitude.

E.R.-- Um, I think "November was a good month" might be considered a bit of an understatement for you. You're amazing, girl! And no, I can't believe it's almost 2012.

Sara-- Wait, what? You write a book a month? Holy frijole, girl! That's incredible! Come on. Convince yourself it's all okay. I think you've earned a little slack.

Stacy-- That sounds like heaven.

J.A.-- Congrats and best of luck on finishing! December is just about the best month to not plan on getting much done.

Cynthia-- That's exactly my problem- I added more goals and made a mess of things. Best of luck finishing by year's end!

Patti-- Haha! That's what I think whenever I attempt writing really fast! Set more reasonable goals. I think that's the key right there. I mean you've got to push yourself and all, but making outlandish goals just doesn't ever seem to be very helpful.

Shelly-- Congrats! I think that 50,000 earned you a bit of laziness. ;)

Jenny-- That's right! It's not just for November! And my month was pretty good in the goal accomplishing department. It just feels like I'm ending the month with far more unfinished goals than I started the month with.

Mel-- Awww. I love that.

Chantele-- YAY! Congrats on meeting your goal! YOU rock. :D

Iain-- That makes me so happy! Congrats on getting HUGE AMOUNTS done! Your goal accomplishing on such a daily basis was inspiring!

Maggie-- Querying takes SO MUCH TIME. That's a huge accomplishment! And best of luck on everything. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Leigh-- I did writing and school for a while. The end of the semester is the worst! Writing keeps calling (or yelling) your name, and you can't answer... Sigh. I'm excited for you that you're almost finished!

Prerna-- Congrats on the productive month! I'm so excited for you that you met your goals! (Or that you will have by night's end.)

Golden Eagle-- CONGRATS! Such an accomplishment! And best of luck finishing the novel, too.

S.P.-- You can totally do it! And then celebrate huge! Even if it is midnight. :)

Megan-- This might possibly be the funniest comment I've ever gotten! I laughed out loud, then read it to my family who also laughed out loud. Yes. December will definitely be better. I mean, you've got nowhere to go but up, right? :D

Peggy Eddleman said...

Imogen-- WOW! A huge congrats to you! And definitely best of luck in December.

Anonymous said...

My goal for December - finish the first draft of the NaNo book I wrote... achieved 50K..yippee... but the word count is more like 90...:)

Jillian Schmidt said...

I won NaNoWriMo with time and words to spare, and I also continued the monthly version of Write 1 Sub 1. (So glad that microfiction counts!) It was a great November overall, though now I really need to figure out my goals for December.

Julianne Donaldson said...

I admire people with fixed goals. Mine tend to be more fluid, and sound something like "do everything I can today." I would love to streamline my goals and somehow make them less overwhelming.

Trisha said...

I met most of November's goals, but still got to catch up a bit on the short-story writing.

Anonymous said...

It´s always good to look back to check if we did meet goals, either to do the happy dance or to readjust a tad...
*Happy dance* I met my goals :-) I have passed the 37000 line by writing at least 600 words everyday. Well actually since I got my netbook, I am currently going 1200 words per day during my commute...And I established a blogging schedule, I really am enjoying this blogging experience: reading others, writing mine and the comments, oh the comments make me so happy! Good luck for your December goals!

Susanna Leonard Hill said...

I did PiBoIdMo so my goal was 30 picture book ideas in November. I met that goal with 34. But I also wanted to get another ms written and 7 revised, and I didn't finish those. Nose to the grindstone now!

Peggy Eddleman said...

tfwalsh-- CONGRATS!! To not only get your 50,000, but to get to THE END must feel soooooo good.

Jillian-- With time AND words to spare- that's awesome! But wait. I don't understand the write 1 sub 1 monthly thing. Are you saying that you do that EVERY MONTH?! Whoa. WHOA. That is even more amazing!

Julianne-- I love goals like that! :) But I'm with you. I need to streamline mine and make them less overwhelming.

Trisha-- Congrats! And best of luck on the short story writing!

Commutinggirl-- Happy dance!! Congrats! I'm so happy for you! Don't you just love your netbook? I love mine like nobody's business. It makes writing in sitting-at-home-at-my-desk places possible, and that makes all the difference in the world. And I have loved blogging so much more than I ever anticipated, too!

Susanna-- Congrats on the 34 picture book ideas! I really love that concept. And what the what?! You were also going to write another MS and revise SEVEN?!?! Wow! That's amazing! Best of luck!

Tara Tyler said...

i have updated my goal for editing to finish by the end of the year. i did very well in nov. but still have a little more to go...
darn the holidays getting in my way =)