2022 Writing Goal Tracker – getting it done

2022 snuck up on me. It’s January 8th, and I still didn’t declare my plan for this year. I create a writing goal tracker every year to keep myself accountable and to motivate myself to keep trudging on, one word at a time. Deadlines force me to get a move on, even if I only have to answer to myself because I’m my harshest critic. If I satisfy this critic, I feel very accomplished. Check out my 2020 and 2021 goal trackers.

I will continuously update this post throughout the year so scroll down to the bottom for most up-to-date news on what I’m currently doing.

What would I like to accomplish this year? Finish all my WIPs. Hahahaha. Good joke. There’s no way to finish them all in one year.

But let’s switch things up and try something different this year.

2022 goal: incremental goals.
1. Make a realistic, achievable, bite-sized goal.
2. Reach it.
3. Create the next goal.

I think the best way to finish the many projects I have waiting for me is to make progress in them one step at a time. I don’t like having so much outstanding work to be done. It makes my head spin. I need to clean this up. I hope that this approach will help me achieve that goal.

So let’s take stock of every project that’s awaiting my attention to see where we stand and how likely I can finish it this year.

Works in Progress I’m likely going to work on in 2022

The TriRealm Universe series

This is an epic fantasy series that I’ve started in 2019 and have continuously added to. The universe and the stories within are growing, and I’ve given myself permission to take my time with it. I don’t want to rush this project, but since I’m listing it all, here’s the rundown.

The TriRealm Trilogy:

1. The Merlin Paradox. Draft zero finished. I started working on draft one, then realized I need more rewrites, and changed my mind about the plot. I don’t want to rush this story and botch it up. More thinking and writing needed.
2. Arch Nephilim. Draft zero is about 1/5 written. Lots of work left to do.
3. Title TBD, nothing written yet. I know the key events that will happen in this story, but don’t have a solid plot (and likely won’t until Arch Nephilim draft zero is written).

Other stories within the universe

1. DragonSky. Draft one finished. Only minor edits will be needed to get draft two working and I already know what I want to do with it. This is a novella that’s currently at about 30,000 words so it shouldn’t take too long to finish draft two. This is doable in 2022.
2. Merlin and the Flannan Isle Lighthouse Mystery. About halfway written (or less). This is a short story that I realized couldn’t stay the way it is. It needs a continuation to be a complete story, so it will likely become a novella. It should be a short project once I have a clear idea for finishing it.
3. Merlin and the Invention of Magitech. Another short story. It’s sort of written but I’m not happy with it. I think there’s something else there, a theme that has woven itself in that I haven’t wrapped my mind around yet. Once I figure out what exactly I’ve written there, it should be a quick fix.

The most achievable goal for 2022 – Dragonsky, but I won’t start the year with it.

The New Order of Merlin series.

This series is also epic, but as the big two projects are written, it’s not as daunting as the TriRealm trilogy. Each one of them could be finished this year but as they’re big projects, I might burn out before I complete them. So I predict, I’ll be able to make progress on them this year, but how much, I have no clue yet.

1. The Gathering. Draft one finished. Draft two (likely, the final draft) is halfway through – a half of 250,000 words – a lot of editing is ahead.
2. Cursed. Draft zero finished. Draft one is partially done. I’m on page 113 of 246 – nearly a half. The zero draft is currently at 116k so it’s not as bad as The Gathering.
3. Book 3 has a few scenes written. Lots of ideas, no plot yet. It’s not my priority for 2022.
4. The Well of Youth (villain’s pov story). Draft one is about halfway written (15k). Since this one goes with Cursed, I’d like to finish it as well.

What’s the most achievable goal here? Finish draft one of The Well of Youth. In fact, I might start January with that and get it off my plate. That would be a great start of the year.

Since we’ve got work ready to go for January, what’s up in February?

Open Novella Contest is coming up.

Open Novella Contest (ONC) is a yearly writing contest on Wattpad. You’re given a list of prompts, and in a period of 13 weeks, you’re to write a novella from one of them. It’s a fun event that comes with great community participation. I’ve taken part in two already and love both stories that were born as a result (DragonSky and Medium of Eidolon Falls). And that’s why I’m tempted to join yet again even though I really don’t need another story to be added to my unfinished pile.

My plan for ONC 2022 is:

1. Check the list of prompts.
2. See if any of them can serve as the plot idea to write about Bezel, the sleaziest snail in all the realms. I’d like to write a story that will serve as the explanation for how teleporting snails made their way to the Earth Realm – this would be a backstory to the TriRealm trilogy.
3. Optionally, if I can’t find a story idea for Bezel but another prompt is too irresistible for me to pass, write that.
4. If I choose to participate in ONC this year, DO ALL IN MY POWER TO KEEP THE STORY AS A NOVELLA. In fact, I’ll shoot for 15,000 words just to be on the safe side. It’s much easier to expand a short story to a novella than to deal with a novella that has become a novel. No new novels this year, please….
5. And if nothing brilliant strikes my imagination, I must gracefully step aside and not take part in ONC this year.

Last year’s ONC

While we’re on the topic, how about the result of ONC 2021, Medium of Eidolon Falls? Draft one was finished at about 40,000 words. Draft two is a complete rewrite and will be a proper novel, maybe 60-70k words. I’m about 1/4 done with it. Lots of work left to do.

I’d love to finish it this year and if it was the only project, I would, but there’s so much more going on. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I love all of the projects I’m writing, but it sucks to be pulled in so many directions.

There are other projects that are waiting to be written or rewritten and ideas I’d like to explore, but having this unfinished business forces me to put brakes on all of that.

I think this is already a sizeable to-do list. Let’s get cracking with the incremental goals.

The first writing goal of 2022

Goal: finish draft zero of The Well of Youth before ONC 2022.

The second writing goal of 2022

Goal: Work on The Merlin Paradox until March (or longer).

Goal 2 continued

Goal: Take the coming weeks to complete my to-do list.

I want to use Camp Nano this April to push myself further ahead with this project. To give it a fighting chance, I need to complete a few tasks and they aren’t even writing-related:

1. Do taxes.
2. Spring cleaning.
3. Doctor’s appointment.
4. My son’s medical clearance form (for sports).

Sounds like a short list, huh? Yeah, but it’s me we’re talking about here. I’m not looking forward to any of these and I’m sure I’ll find very compelling reasons to procrastinate. But if I want to have time in April, I must get these tasks done now.

Writing related task:

1. Plan a more concrete execution of the finale.

That’s really the only part of the plot that I’m not sure about. I know how it will end, don’t worry, I do (it’s the only acceptable ending), but there are many ways to get there and I want to pick the best one.

Let’s go!

Update

March came and went. It’s been a hectic few weeks. Or months. Or years. I don’t remember when life wasn’t hectic.

Most of my list is done though some partially.

Camp NaNoWriMo April 2022 has begun!

I didn’t even set up a post for that. Ha. I’m usually quick with creating a new post for a nano journal, but this time I haven’t gotten a chance. Maybe I’ll keep my notes here.

I set my goal at 25,000 which is 833 words a day. As of yesterday (4/4), I started falling behind, but I also have just figured out how to solve one of the issues I was stuck on, so I’m hoping this will push things along a bit. Here’s to hoping I can keep myself on top of this goal.

Update: Final camp wordcount: 11,375.

April was very hectic life-wise and I didn’t get as much writing done as I wanted. However, let’s not write off April as a bad month. After all, The Melin Paradox got featured on Campfire Explore and I was interviewed by the Campfire team which was a fun experience. I’m quite happy with how well my project was received on this platform.

Not much written, but a major writing milestone passed and I’ve made great progress with organizing my project within Campfire (I aim to eliminate other planning methods I use if possible), so let’s call this April a win.

May has come. I should set a new goal. What I really want is to make more progress with The Merlin Paradox. I haven’t added any new chapters since the beginning of the month. Alright. I’ve got my next incremental goal.

Third goal of 2022

Goal: Write the orchard and armonica scenes.

These two scenes are going to be cute and heartfelt (at least that’s what I’m aiming for). I might be able to use snippets of several scenes from draft one (my favorite scenes too) but only if they fit. We’ll see.

Update 1

A big chunk of May passed and I’m still not done. I’ve been slowly adding and so the half of the orchard scene is written, but then, I’ve also been changing things earlier on and editing. I’ve been making tiny incremental progress. Progress is progress so I’ll take it.

Big realization struck me recently that I might have incorrectly identified my global genre. I’ve been always pushing back the romance story to the Minor Subplot bucket but I’ve had quite a lot of revelations lately that make me think that it should be the main story simply because that’s what I end up writing. Why fight it? Let the story become what it’s been forming itself into.

The Merlin Paradox won’t become a full-blown romance but I’m accepting that it is more a story about a relationship between two people than anything else. Let’s embrace the drama.

Update 2

It took all of May and the majority of June but I finally got through these chapters. From 2 planned chapters, they turned into 5 and Ruby accidentally came to his major realization already. This was the Aha! Moment that he was supposed to have much later in the story. I was happy to have crossed this story milestone at last, but oh, dear, what now?

This wasn’t the only thing I was worried about. For a while now I knew that my plan for this book was shaky. There was a point in the finale of the story where I wasn’t sure how I was going to get the characters from point A to point B. I hoped that as I continued writing, a solution would come to me. So now that I changed yet another piece (Ruby’s Aha! Moment), I was doubly worried that my finale wouldn’t make sense.

I hated the uncertainty if I still had a story or if I was working on a dud, so I sat down to plan again. No outlines, bullet points, beats, etc. Instead, I wrote a summary, a set of cause and effect statements starting from the point of the story I was at. It wasn’t straight forward. I’d start writing and come to a dead-end, a question I couldn’t answer, a plot hole, and I’d go back to the last plot point, change a detail, What if this happened instead, and start over. And I continued going like that, exploring different paths until I arrived at the ending at last.

Omg, it makes sense again. The story works. I love this process. I love seeing the potential of what the story will become. I’m excited and motivated again. I’m ready for the next goal.

Fourth goal of 2022

Goal: write the global turning point.

This is the moment of betrayal. It’s where all plans go out the window. Disaster strikes and an unexpected problem enters my characters don’t know how to solve. It will lead to a series of revelations and an All is lost for everyone. All the feels are coming.

I’m guessing that once I write the turning point, all other points will come easily after but I won’t add them to this goal. Let’s get this point out of the way first. I’m probably just a couple of chapters away.

July is coming and with it Camp NaNoWriMo. I set my camp goal at only 5,000 words because I’ll be traveling so I don’t know how much time I’ll have, but I’ll try to achieve this goal during this camp.

Update 1

I swear, one day I’ll figure out this process out and I won’t keep doing this to myself. Alright, so here’s a little problem. I might have stopped by chapter one to add a cute little line (Arthur, the rat, has a heart-shaped cookie now), and I might have glanced at the notes of feedback I got from an industry professional a while back that challenged me to introduce more tension and more hooking hook, and I might have tried out an idea to make that happen, and I might have accidentally rewritten half of that chapter with a small change that happens to have larger repercussions. And that’s how version 5 of this story was born.

So what now? I have three options, really:

1. Save the change for later consideration and continue writing Version 4 as I have been. This would be an easier course of action in some ways – out of sight, out of mind, right? Also, there is always the possibility that I can change my mind multiple times later anyway.
2. Save the existing draft as version 4, make a note to revise the existing chapters with the change later, and continue writing as if it had been version 5 from the beginning. This is what Shawn Coyne recommended Tim Grahl do (in their podcast), and well, I’m a big fan of Shawn’s.
3. Save the existing draft as version 4, start editing the chapters I have to have a proper version 5.

I’ve already decided that I’m not going with option 1. Version 4 is backed up already, just in case if version 5 doesn’t work out, but knowing how this process has worked for me in the past, it’s very unlikely that I’ll return to it.

So now we have only options 2 and 3.

And here’s the thing, as much as I want to listen to Shawn’s advice, I mean, it makes sense—get the story out of the way first before you edit—I’ve come to some new revelations lately regarding my writing process that disagree with Shawn’s advice. I’m planning to write a fully fledged blog post about it, but in a nutshell, I feel better/confident about what I’m writing when the chapters have been edited.

There’s also a second reason that’s making me lean towards that option and that is that a little change can have large consequences, and together, they can compound into changes so extensive, the entire story changes. So, I don’t want to ignore the possibility of how that small chapter one change affects the subsequent chapters. Ignoring the potential that I’m no longer writing the same story I had started writing makes me very uneasy and confidence is important to make progress. Doubt demotivates me. I want to have an assurance that I’m doing the right thing.

This leaves me with a new plan which has become an unexpected goal for 2022. The previous goal is still on, but I need to cross this curve first.

Update 2

Turning point written. It’s a good one, definitely turns everything on its head. I’m happy.

Fifth goal of 2022

Goal: evaluate the effects of Chapter One change on the plot of this story and revise if needed

I want to do an entire workup of this story again. I suspect that I’ll be able to answer questions I struggled to answer before, and I don’t think a lot has changed so it shouldn’t be too big of a job. Really, Ruby’s motivation and his perceived problem has changed, that’s all. The actual problem, as well as Seri’s story, remain unchanged.

I expect that I will come to a conclusion that it is for the best and that I’ll revise the other chapters, but I want my next step to be an informed decision. If so, then the revision is part of this goal. If I decide that the change doesn’t change as much as I thought it does, then I might just leave myself notes of what needs revision later.

Wish me luck.

Current status: 14 chapters are written, 13 of which need analysis and revision. The full story plan has been thoroughly analyzed before so it only needs a review to see what is affected.

Update

I revised the first 5 or so chapters. More revisions will be needed later but can wait. Right now I’m making progress adding new chapters and would like to keep the momentum.

Sixth goal of 2022

Goal: Write All is lost for both characters

Current status: I’m on chapter 22! Yay. Ruby’s All is lost moment has began. Seri’s is about to unfold.

But as December rolled around, the fatigue of working on one project for nearly a year has finally caught up with me. I’m ready to put that project aside, and I feel like I’ve accomplished even more than what I was shooting for. I’ll pick it back up again later.

So, it appears that it’s time for the next goal.

Seventh Goal of 2022

The project currently on my mind is Medium of Eidolon Falls, but I’m not sure yet how deep into it I’m going to dive. Right now I’m fleshing out the characters and the world, updating my Campfire project with notes and backstories, and thinking about how I’d like to tell that story. I have some ideas already, but at this point I’m just feeling out the project, I’m not 100% committed to working on it.

I still haven’t touched Cursed and I was really hoping to finish it and close that chapter of my writing journey. So I’m feeling a lot of guilt over why I’m not working on that.

Goal: Figure out the plan for the next year

As there are only a couple of weeks left in the year, I think this will be a good time to reminisce on what the best course of action will be. Maybe I can work on both projects at the same time? We’ll see. Wish me luck.

UPDATE

I’ve taken my time to figure out what I’m doing with this story, and I have a clear idea of what I want to work on next year.

What’s in the future for The Medium of Eidolon Falls? It’s staying as is. I’ve decided to leave that story at the first draft state and write a completely new story that uses the same characters but a different story premise.

I had a lot of reasons for why, and the process of figuring it out was what ultimately led me to next year’s goal.

Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with what I’ve accomplished within 2022. It wasn’t entirely what I was planning but nonetheless, great progress. Here’s to an even better year ahead.