Post 27? Post 1? What do I call this? Post 1, take 2?

Well. Let's start over, shall we?

Two years ago, I started this blog, with the best of intentions. I was going to write. Really write. I had it all planned.

And then family came to stay. And they stayed and stayed and the house became smaller and my writing space became non-existent and my focus turned to living with everything that came from having family live with you for 19 months.

Said family no longer live in the same house, and our home feels bigger, and more full of possibilities. And I've learnt that life doesn't make room for writing. Life is messy and shitty and gets in the way. And there's a tonne of stuff that says I won't be able to write this year.

But I say, too bad. I say, screw it, I'm going to write.

So my goals for the year are firstly:

Get all of my work related writing out of the way sooner rather than later (Jan and Feb, ideally- I have a Masters thesis to write, and I'm not foolish enough to believe I'll have time to work, write my Masters, write for myself and do everything else I want/need to do for the next two months).

Once that's done, phase two begins:

End up with a finished draft of a novel. Any novel. It doesn't have to be great, but it does need to be novel length and finish with an ending that doesn't make me want to pull my hair out and scream.

Keep regularly scheduled writing time each month, and eventually set up a safe writing space.

Write at least one short story (or polish one I've already written) and submit it somewhere, even if it goes nowhere.

Write some detailed character bios or detailed plot summaries. I'd like to have two full length plot summaries done, to kick me off for NaNo (which I'd like to actually attempt this year) and heading into 2017.

That's the plan, anyway. And...I think I can make it happen. Writing is about scheduling time and giving myself permission to try.

26.

Why is it that when you finally sit down to write something, you end up writing something else entirely? A short story that I started awhile back has started to blossom into a full length novel idea and I've been toying around with it in my spare time.

Also, it's April and I have failed to meet my goals for the first quarter. Will I make up for it over the next three months? I hope so!

25.

Having decided to put off redecorating until a less upheaval based time (friends and family coming to stay for extended periods within the next few weeks, plus busy work hours and terrible weather equals too much stress over something that is just slightly changing wall colours!), my desk and chair are once more uncovered and in place. And I am itching to sit down and get some writing done.

Needless to say, my 30 odd thousand word goal for March is a complete impossibility. But I'm all about fresh starts!

24.

Whoops.

Work = life; life = work.

Needless to say, no writing has occurred in awhile. So I bought myself a new notepad and hashed out a character that was feeling a bit flat, and at least now when I get the time to write, I have a better of idea of what to do.

23.

Not much writing this past week- I've been barely keeping up with work as it is (and I'm behind on so many things) so writing has been out of the question. I also feel guilty because I fairly wasted a decent weekend that could have been filled with wall painting in the office.

On the positive side, I'm back in touch with my writing group- one of the others sent out an email, which was lovely as it meant I didn't have to break through my 'what if they've been talking all this time but haven't included me???' worry and make the first move.

I'm also trying to tell myself that I won't hear anything from the competition I entered, so it's silly to wonder about it.

I did see another competition- that you have to pay a small fee to enter- that looked fun. You can only use one side of A4 to tell whatever story you want in whatever way you want. An idea popped into my head, so I might have a go at that. And I really want to sit and write a short for an anthology that's taking submissions at the moment. I just need to buckle down!

22.

How is it March already? Where has 1/6th of the year gone? We're rushing towards the end of March and I'm not going to lie- I won't make my word deadline this month.

The terrible thing about timing is that just as I get busier and busier at work, the weather gets worse and worse and colder and colder. And that makes it hard to do the things that have to be done in a timely manner- which of course eats into writing time.

Deep down, I know this is all just a terrible excuse. But the part of my brain that feels tired and exhausted doesn't seem to care.

The good side of things is that I am scribbling here and there again. I see something that makes me think of a random scene, and I write it. So in that way, things are going well. I just need to have some coherent thought.

I also think that my approach to my contemporary novel I've been working on needs to  be rethought. I think I'm trying to shoehorn too much into too small a space of time, and I can't create the overwhelming feeling of being a fish out of water that the main character needs to feel. So I'm going to have to rethink things, move the timing around (summer holidays will be better than spring break, I think), have the MC develop a relationship with a character who was in the background but clearly needs to be brought to the front and fleshed out more to make the story make any sense, and run from there. There needs to be more self discovery for the MC, and less just letting things happen to him. So we'll see where that goes.

21.

Eep! Not only am I several days behind in my posting, I also have nothing to report. Work has been hectic (first week of semester, which is always crazy), and to top it all off I wasn't feeling very well and have had no energy.

Clearly I need to make a decent schedule and stick to it. I'm so far behind in my goals for the year (only one made so far- submit a story, which is done, although I'm write another for submission in March, so there's that, I suppose!).

I'm holding out a lot of home that the weekend of the 7th/8th will be nice weather. Because if it is, no more procrastinating or being busy- that damn room is getting painted, and my office will finally be done!